Roz Sohnen filmmaker, writer, teacher The newsletter: May 2024 10th Edition Photo by Roz Sohnen WEEKEND A friend told me that he recently signed with a partner at a prestigious agency. As the head of the literary feature department there he told my friend that he wanted to work with him for the very reason everyone else turned him down all this time. “You don’t write conventional, three act hero, goal, antagonist scripts. You write about the human condition. And you do it in a way that puts people in touch with their own humanity.” This is not easy. But, my friend Seth is an exceptional write ..read more

  Roz Sohnen    filmmaker, writer, teacher   The newsletter: April /May 2024                                      9th Edition                                            &nbs ..read more

Roz Sohnen filmmaker, writer, teacher The newsletter: March/April 2024 8th Edition The new film directed by Wim Wenders, PERFECT DAYS, is a masterpiece. And yet it is the kind of film we discourage our students from making. The protagonist doesn’t have a goal or a want, there is no obstacle to getting what he wants, and there is no character transformation. (Be advised, spoilers follow) When we teach beginners to write screenplays, there are many rules about structure, an inciting incident, a conflict, increasing the conflict and raising the stakes for the main character, all in the effort to ..read more

Roz Sohnen filmmaker, writer, teacher The newsletter: February 2024 7th Edition Photo by Susan Millar/ Upsplash My dear friend, MV, passed away and she was buried Saturday. I had known her for over half my lifetime. She was a kind, intelligent woman of many talents and I was so fortunate to have her in my life for so many years. I spoke to her every Saturday for years. Her mother was an American and her father was Greek. MV was born in Drama, Greece and emigrated to the US with her parents when she was 8 years old. She did not speak a word of English and was not permitted to take her doll wit ..read more

Roz Sohnen filmmaker, writer, teacher The newsletter: January 2024 5/6th Edition HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024! This is a still frame from my first film, PINK, shot in 16mm. (Distributed by Phoenix Films, Inc.) As January seems to be a time of reflection, I looked at this once again. Why did I choose this profession and make this film? I became a filmmaker/screenwriter because I didn’t see the people I knew reflected on the screen and I wanted to tell stories about those characters. I still feel that those stories are important. Why do you write? My background is visual, so I think in images. I started ..read more

What inspires you? Where does inspiration come from? The photo above is of a laundry in my neighborhood. This is what a “Chinese Laundry” looked like when I was growing up. So, this store is a relic of the past. You don’t find these hand laundry stores anymore. The couple that own the store must now be in their seventies and still work every day except Sunday from 8AM to 7PM. And they have been doing it for over forty years. They’ve put their children through college, and one through medical school. There is a story here. Who are they? How did they get into this business? Will they retire? It ..read more

Roz Sohnen filmmaker, writer, teacher The Newsletter: Sept/Oct 2023 3rd Edition Still photograph from the motion picture, 12 ANGRY MEN directed by Sidney Lumet, 1957 GREAT NEWS! TheROZMethod.com is now up and running and I would love to hear from anyone who checks it out. Let me know if everything is working properly and any suggestions you might have. On October 18th I will offer a free class in LOOKING AT FILM at 4PM and again at 7PM. The class will focus on the use of the camera in the film 12 ANGRY MEN. When I first discovered how Sidney Lumet and Boris Kaufman solved the problems of shoo ..read more

I will call this the BARBIE issue. No, I haven’t seen the film. And I am not planning to see it. Why you might ask? Greta Gerwig, a “feminist filmmaker” with indie credentials! Those who know me, know that I’m not all that fond of comedies, and I think it is really a Mattel movie. Another corporate Hollywood movie to subtly or not so subtly support consumerism. My first film, PINK, created while I was still a student at NYU was a more serious examination of what it means to be female and grow up in this culture. And, an entertaining story about a troubled white teen who reaches out to her bla ..read more

Excerpt from GQ interview with Martin Scorsese ..read more

WRITING THE SCENE In this 4-week online experience, Filmmaker and Professor Roz Sohnen will show you how to take your scene writing skills to the next level. She'll demonstrate how to work with Point of View via film clips, and using her students' scenes as examples. Roz will open each session with a brief overview on a technique and then dive into LIVE student scenes, bringing students onscreen for a behind-the-scenes look into the scene writing experience. After her live scene reading sessions, Roz will hold a live Q&A for you to get all of your most pressing questions answered! If you w ..read more