Travis, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and author of Los Angeles Times #1 Best Seller The Director’s Journey: The Creative Collaboration between Directors, Writers and Actors, had been invited to speak about the writer/director relationship and how to make the most of it.
“The event was designed to shed some new light on the relationship between the director and the writer,” said WSC Co-Chair Carole Leigh Podell, who also served as moderator.
“Mark Travis is an insightful teacher who has a unique way of using the traditions of the theater to address the obstacles of filmmaking. He showed that you can always, as the director, get your point across and allow the writer to have their expression all the while keeping the communication open and safe to continue the journey together.”
In addition to directing series television and documentaries, Travis has directed over 60 theatre productions in Los Angeles and New York and received over 20 awards for theatre directing. He has been sharing his techniques at film schools and organizations all over the world since 1992.
“I think the members got some new tools to work with,” Podell observed. “Many of those I spoke with appreciated some of the techniques on how to work with different kinds of creative artists to get their vision from the page to the screen.”
