Ruth Witteried

As Visual Media Director, Ruth Witteried works with all programs based in the visual arts, including screenwriting and film production. As Executive Director of the FiLMLaB competition and project, she produced the 2012 FiLMLaB short, Alis Volat Propriis, winner of the 2013 OIFF Best Comedic Short; 2013′s Coffee.Table.Book.; 2014's Unwelcome Guests, and in 2015, The Return of Bug Eyed Bill. She acted as Film Coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference from 2011-2013 and occasionally teaches screenwriting at Clark College. She currently is Executive Director of Willamette Writers' FiLMLaB. You can follow her on Twitter @sityourassdown1 or Facebook at FiLMLaB. Contact her. (visualmedia@willamettewriters.org)

Revelation, Story, and Plot in a Script for a Film Short

by Bill Johnson I teach that a story creates movement and the movement transports an audience. This dynamic holds whether the story is a novel, screenplay, play, short story, or short script. The language used to talk about stories often conveys movement: story arc, hero’s journey, plot points. Stories that fail to establish they are moving…

Hollywood Drive & Talk or: Seth Jaret Gets Real

by Ruth Witteried Some days it’s hard to know which way is forward. In this changing landscape of film and publishing, there is no single road to success. Instead, there are several; usually slow and tedious like the I-5 bridge at rush hour. If you’re lucky enough to survive the slog with your dreams intact and…

A Lesson In Production

by Ruth Witteried Last week, Conference Chair and executive producer Stefan Feuerherdt and I “took a meeting” with director Chris Alley and his assistant director, Anthony Forsyth. We met at Palio’s over coffee and pie to discuss pre-production and story elements. Our winning writer, Barbara Thomas, many states away, was unable to join us as…

Pre-Production Begins on “Inspiration”

 By Ruth Witteried FiLMLaB has begun pre-production on Barbara Thomas’s winning short, INSPIRATION. Director Christopher Alley is working out the final script details with the writer and executive producers; scouting locations for the shoot, casting the roles and lining up a professional crew. To give you a sense of scope, let’s take a look at…

What Matters Most in a Short Script

Find out what matters most in a short script with Erik Bork I recently judged five short scripts for the Willamette Writers Conference’s FiLMLaB contest. It took me back to my own challenges in writing a compelling short script years ago in film school.  And I was reminded of the specific elements that some say tend…

FiLMLaB: And the Winner Is……

By Ruth Witteried It is a beautiful May Monday, following a stunning weekend where many of us salmon bellied Portlanders stepped away from our writing to get outside and soak up some free vitamin D. Whether you found yourself fishing on the Columbia, biking along the Willamette or tending your garden . . . .…

Belated FiLMLaB Opportunities

by Ruth Witteried Sometimes opportunity comes knocking exactly when you expect it; other times it just shows up, unexpectedly late, waiting for you to open the door. Such is the case with FiLMLaB. Last week we received an email from a Northwest production company that features short film in many of its projects. They had…

Off to the Judges!

by Ruth Witteried Last week four short scripts were forwarded to our celebrity judges for evaluation in the final round of FiLMLaB’s Script-to-Screen competition. In two short weeks we will have a winner and pre-production will begin. What will that look like? Pre-production is everything that has to take place before the cameras begin rolling:…

FiLMLaB Semi-Finalists Announced!

by Ruth Witteried Happy Monday, Happy April and Happy Day to our FiLMLaB Script-to-Screen Semi-Finalists! Willamette Writers are thrilled to announce the advancement of the following writers and their winning scripts to the Semi-Final round of judging: Dinner with Netanyahu, written by, Stacy Jo Coffey Inspiration, written by, Barbara Thomas Java Rush, written by, Jennifer Kaczmarek…

Welcome Judges!

FiLMLaB is honored to announce our finalist judges for the 2013 Script-to-Screen Contest:   Erik Bork is best known for his Emmy and Golden Globe-winning work as a writer-producer on the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and From the Earth to the Moon.  He has sold pitches, written pilots and screenplays on assignment for Universal Pictures,…