At the end of most sessions on all 5 Days of Live Panels we will have a Happy Hour – i.e. we will reserve some time for that kind of social interaction and informal networking that is so much a part of our traditional Annual Conferences. Not the same as doing it in person but hopefully useful to get/keep people in touch throughout SRN2021.
Here is a breakdown of what a Happy Hour can consist of:
PITCHING – Do you have any ongoing or future projects (academic or creative), publications, symposia, grant applications that involve collaborative research and you’d like to pitch to colleagues and delegates?
We will kick off every Happy Hour by giving everyone the chance to do just that. Your pitch can be anything between 30 seconds to 3 minutes (max) and should include a quick overview and your contact details (you can also show related materials, if you have any available). To give you a sense of how it works, I will be the guinea pig on Day 1 so I can throw in the hat the idea of a collection of papers from SRN2021 for a publication proposal.
Once the pitches are over (or if there are none) we will quickly move on any of the options listed below.
ANNOUNCEMENTS – Maybe you have just finished a research project and have a recent or forthcoming publication or other creative projects you might want to announce.
PUBLISHERS’ CORNER – These may range from the familiar Journal of Screenwriting and Palgrave Macmillan’s Screenwriting Studies book series to any other outlet as long as the announced titles pertain to Screenwriting Research/Studies. Special offers from publishers to SRN members/delegates are most welcome, as are calls for future submissions/proposals.
WORKING GROUPS – We will report about existing working groups at the AGM, and the Research-based working group will host a Table Read in Panel 10. However, Happy Hours might be a great chance for delegates to get in touch with them, or to propose and set up a new one.
GENERAL NETWORKING – General, yes, but perhaps you want to find like-minded colleagues to discuss specific topics/areas of inquiry so as to establish new working relationship/collaborations (or strengthen existing ones) and brainstorm ideas for future collaborations or something along these lines.
Note: for all the above (i.e. pitches, announcements, publishers, working groups, networking) it would be best if individual delegates let us know in advance so we can reserve enough time in their desired slot (i.e. day and session); however, you might get inspired when attending a particular panel or by listening to colleagues during the Live Sessions, and therefore impromptu requests will be welcome anyway at the beginning of each Happy Hour too, so please, do not be put off if you have not “booked”. Conversely, the two options below do not need any prior requests anyway.
PANEL EXTRA TIME – panellists and delegates who wish to continue their discussion even after their allocated panel time is over, can do so in the Happy Hour with or without their respective Chairs. Simply tell us either by the end of your panel, or at the beginning of the Happy Hour.
LAZY CHAT – And finally, Happy Hours can also simply be used for hanging around a little longer with colleagues you were hoping to see in person. And remember to have your favourite brew (of tea… or else) at hand.
One last thing…
BREAKOUT ROOMS
Zoom allows to split attendees in separate Breakout Rooms, which can be used for any of the options described above so that a particular group of people can liaise privately – i.e. still in the same Zoom session but separately from all the other attendees. In short, we can set up the rooms and assign specific delegates to any of them.
For instance: the Panel Extra Time can be given one first off at the beginning of a Happy Hour; but you might want to book one in advance for General Networking with specific colleagues on a specific day/session; or once you have Pitched a project, you can have your breakout room to see if anyone is interested in hearing more about it.
In short, you can request to have a Breakout Room by contacting info@srn2020.com in advance or you decide and let us know on the spot during the Happy Hour.
Please note that, unlike discussion panels, and given their more informal nature, Happy Hours won’t be recorded.
Here below you can find the Happy Hours events/activities planned so far. Do send in your requests and they will be added to the timeline.
DAY 1 – Paolo Russo pitching edited volume plan from conference papers
DAY 2, SESSION 1 – Armando Fumagalli and Paolo Braga announcing publication of Storia delle series TV edited volume
DAY 3, SESSION 1 – JT Velikosvky: a) pitching The Edge of War (a sound-only film for blind/visually-impaired) – trailer available HERE; b) announcing forthcoming book P3 of EC: and c) seeking participants in short online survey on a Computational Creativity (A.I.) movie project
DAY 3, SESSION 2 – Anna Kumacheva pitching/crowdfunding her short movie project Transgressing – trailer available HERE
Camila Agustini introducing FRAPA, the main Screenwriting Festival in Latin America
Kira-Anne Pelican presenting her book The Science of Writing Characters
DAY 4, SESSION 1 – Ann Igelström presenting the ECR Symposium (coming up November 2021)
Julian Friedmann announcing publication of Make Money Screenwriting (e-book 1 in a series of three) + FREE chapter PDF to all delegates
Craig Batty announcing forthcoming issues of Journal of Screenwriting and calling for future article proposals + FREE issues of the journal available to all delegates until 21 September
DAY 4, SESSION 2 – John Finnegan with news and updates on his podcast #TheScriptDept.
Rosanne Welch on submitting book reviews to the Journal of Screenwriting
Anna Weinstein announcing “Screen Storytelling” new book series from Bloomsbury on noteworthy writers + and CfP for first volume (on Shonda Rhimes)
J.J. Murphy announcing his forthcoming book, The Florida Project
DAY 5, SESSION 1 – Steven Maras outlining submission protocols for the Studies in Screenwriting book series by Palgrave Macmillan
Kat Montagu to announce publication of The Dreaded Curse of Screenplay Formatting book