The Screenwriting Collective

Black Bear Film Festival enhances our community with educational programs provided by grants from The Greater Pike Foundation.

Every second Tuesday of the month at our office, Black Bear Table Reads offers local writers an opportunity to have their script read out loud by actors and fellow writers - also available via Zoom.

The experience helps screenwriters and filmmakers develop their craft and get valuable feedback. If you have a script you would like to hear read by our table readers, send us a message on Facebook or email and we’ll schedule your script for a reading this year.

We proudly offer free access to a limited number of member accounts to Final Draft, the number-one selling screenwriting software program used by industry professionals.

We’ll also be adding more workshops and opportunities to learn about screenwriting and filmmaking for our community this year and we hope you’ll join us!

We’re always looking for more writers, actors, and filmmakers to share their talents, so please reach out to Veronica with a message if you are interested in joining us and we’ll include you on the table readers’ email list for more information and reminders.

Our Featured Screenwriter for February is Deborah Lerner Duane. A full Table Read of her play, OFFICE PARTY will be available on the Black Bear Film Festival YouTube channel!

Deborah Lerner Duane has studied playwriting with Joshua Harmon, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Rogelio Martinez and Heidi Schreck. Her play Bed and Breakfast was a 2017 McLaren Comedy Festival finalist (Midland, TX). The Luna Stage New Moon Festival (West Orange, NJ) presented staged readings of Called on Account of God in 2015 and Family Strangers in 2016.

In 2015, Happy Hour was one of nine plays selected for production by the Heartland Theatre Company’s Ten-Minute Play Festival (Normal, IL).

Deborah’s pre-playwriting life includes a career in public relations, a BA in Communications and a Master’s degree in Jewish-Christian Studies. She currently serves on the board of the Sister Rose Thering Fund for Education in Jewish-Christian Studies and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

What Group Members are saying…

“I’m a Port Jervis-based writer and photographer, whose humorous listicles have been published by Cracked.com (as the Rev Les Crowley) as well as the Philadelphia-based literary magazine Apeiron Review (multiple issues). I was also was featured - and interviewed - by Inspired Eye.

The Final Draft license will enable me to use an industry-standard tool I might not otherwise be able to afford. I’m schizophrenic and collect Disability. Being able to use this tool will enable me to enter contests and get work seen by fresh eyes. While I wouldn’t call myself a “disability activist”, my writing often features characters who deal with mental health issues and usually wind up on top.

Thanks, Black Bear Film Festival, for making this opportunity possible.”

— Steve Fretz

I’m a current undergraduate student studying English with a concentration in Theatre and Film.
As a student, I’m still learning the industry standard and Final Draft will help me to more easily format my scripts properly. Through using Final Draft, I hope to become more efficient and effective in writing and reading in the industry standard.

Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity.

— Charlotte Wirth