ere They Write The Dreams
U-M film curriculum is a launching pad for aspiring screenwriters.
ERIN PODOLSKY
Special to the Jewish News
B
efore Jim Burnstein came
on the scene in 1995, the
University of Michigan's
program in Film and
Video Studies offered only one
screenwriting course.
Today, there are classes for both
film and television writing and
rewriting — with additional
advanced offerings led by Burnstein
and visiting screenwriters. Detroit
Free Press film critic Terry Lawson
teaches screenwriting courses every
semester.
In addition, there are many schol-
arships and contests within the pro-
gram, as well as the University-
wide Hopwood Awards for creative
work in writing. Past Hopwood
winners include playwright Arthur
Miller and director-screenwriter
Lawrence Kasdan.
Burnstein's involvement began
when he was approached by Film
and Video Studies program head
Gaylyn Studlar soon after the 1994
release of Burnstein's film
Video's production side around
screenwriting,",Burnstein says. "She
came to me and asked what I need-
ed to make this the best undergrad-
uate program in the country."
Finding Benefactors
New Line Cinema founder and
President Robert Shaye donated $1
million to the program through his
Four Friends Foundation.
The gift funds the James Gindin
Visiting Artists Series, which brings
Hollywood screenwriters to Ann
Arbor to lecture and work one-on-
one with students, and the Donald
Hall Collection, a library which
houses a massive collection of
screenplays and DVDs.
Past Gindin Artists have included
Nora Ephron, John Sayles and
Miguel Arteta.
Shaye, who grew up in Detroit
attending Congregation Shaarey
Zedek, graduated from the U-M
Business School in 1960, before
heading to California.
He says he made the gift not only
to honor a pair of English profes-
sors who "changed his life," but also
as a way to give a boost to a film
school somewhat off the beaten
path between New York and Los
Angeles.
"There are virtually no film pro-
grams that concentrate on
scriptwriting, the virtual essence of
successful film. I feel the programs
we provide are the best way to cat-
alyze the best scriptwriting in the
country," he says.
The program has also received
much support from Peter Benedek,
a 1970 alumnus who is one of the
founders and senior partners of
United Talent Agency in Los
Angeles.
The Peter and Barbara Benedek
Artist in Residence grant brings a
screenwriter to campus to teach
courses and work with students for
an entire semester. Benedek, whose
wife co-wrote The Big Chill with
Kasdan, sees the U-M program as
something both practical and rich
with tradition.
"As soon as students get to film
school, they want to grab a camera
Renaissance Man.
"Gaylyn was the one who had the
grand plan of building Film and
SCRIPT from page 53
"I was thinking, 'Of course, they'll
think this is ridiculous.'
"They loved it."
It took Burnstein almost an entire
year to escape from law school and
embark on a journey to a career he is
truly passionate about: screenwriting.
It was another three years before he
got a job in Macomb County that
would inspire his first movie,
Renaissance Man. And another 18
years until it got- made.
And all the while Burnstein was
working toward what have become his
ultimate goals: selling screenplays and
turning the University of Michigan
Erin Podolsky is a Huntington Woods-
based freelance writer.
12/27
2002
54
undergraduate screenwriting program
into the best in the country.
The U-M program, which the
Plymouth resident has coordinated
since 1995 under the auspices of Film
and Video Studies program director
Gaylyn Studlar, has become just that.
As for the success of Burnstein's own
screenplays, all one has to do is grab a
back issue of Daily Variety from late
September.
Burnstein and LA-based writing
partner Garrett Schiff— who also hap-
pens to be Burnstein's cousin — made
the front page of the industry newspaper
with their sale of The Quarterback's Tale.
The original screenplay tells the
story of a young man in the public
relations department of an NFL team
who is assigned to work with his boy-
hood football hero.
Ironically, the script is a true family
effort — the initial idea came from
Burnstein's father's disappointment at
discovering Joe DiMaggio's character
flaws when the elder Burnstein read a
biography of the Yankee slugger.
Becoming A Writer
Born in Detroit in 1951, Burnstein
thought his life would take a typical
Jewish-kid-in-the-'50s path.
His father, Alfred, was a used car
dealer, and his mother, Charlotte, a
homemaker who helped found the
Detroit chapter of the Alzheimer's
Association.
Burnstein's parents currently reside
in Southfield.
His older brother, Richard, lives in
Chicago and works in marketing,
while his younger brother, Jeff, lives
near Burnstein in Plymouth and is the
marketing and public relations vice
president for the Robotics Industries
Association in Ann Arbor, as well as
executive director of the Automated
Imaging Association.
"One way or another, I guess we're
all writers," Burnstein says.
The Burnstein family belonged to
Temple Israel, and Jim graduated from
Birmingham Groves High School, where
he first met his future wife, Cynthia,
now a high school English teacher at
Salem High School in Plymouth.
He then entered the University of
Michigan, where during his freshman
year, his penchant for writing began to
gather steam.
"The thing that I was absolutely
blown away by and most interested in