Faculty Feature: Trey Ellis

Trey Ellis is a novelist, screenwriter, playwright, essayist and professor. He is the author of Bedtime Stories: Adventures in the Land of Single-Fatherhood. His acclaimed first novel, Platitudes, was reissued by Northeastern University Press along with his influential essay, “The New Black Aesthetic.” He is also the author of Home Repairs and Right Here, Right Now which was a recipient of the American Book Award. His work for the screen includes the Emmy nominated Tuskegee Airmen, and Good Fences starring Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg which was shortlisted for the PEN award for Best Teleplay of the year. His essays have appeared in The New York Times, Playboy, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, GQ and Vanity Fair, among others and he has contributed audio commentary to NPR’s All Things Considered. His first play, Fly, was performed at the Lincoln Center Institute, The Vineyard Playhouse and Washington, D.C.’s historic Ford’s Theater where the First Lady and her family were in attendance. He is a regular blogger on the HuffingtonPost.com and an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of the Arts at Columbia University. He is a 2012 Fletcher Fellow and non-resident fellow at Harvard University.

Trey is teaching a Weeklong Screenwriting Workshop at this summer's conference. "This is a course designed for anyone interested in tackling storytelling for film and television. You have a story to tell and you've decided that the best way to express it is through film or television. In this workshop we will explore the peculiar demands of the screenplay form; the pacing, characterizations and physical constraints to writing the blueprint for a filmed story."