Faculty Profile
Zena Dell Lowe
graduated with a degree in Performing Arts from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena before earning a BA in Honors Literature from Cal State University Northridge. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Apologetics from Biola University. Zena worked successfully as an actress in theatre, independent films and national commercials before transitioning behind the scenes as a writer, producer and director of plays and short films. Her play, Happy Holidays, Pending… was produced at the acclaimed Actor's Co-op in Hollywood. She won a Silver Award and a Telly Award for her short film, The Haunted Heart in 2001. Her most recent short film, “Hard Shell,” is currently in the festival circuit, and was accepted into the acclaimed Reel Women’s International Film Festival in LA (screening in March 2009). Zena tours as an actress with the Vigilante Theatre Company in Montana. She also works as an adjunct professor at Covenant Christian College in Georgia and teaches screenwriting and playwriting at various writer’s conferences around the country. Zena is a co-founding partner and producer for Skirt Films, a Bozeman based production company. Zena’s full-length feature script, “Home of the Bewildered,” is slated to begin production in 2010
Teaches
Hollywood Story-Telling Tools: What Hollywood Knows that Every Writer ShouldFor screenwriters and fiction writers alike, this series will teach you how to write visual, powerful, and commercially viable stories that can compete with anything coming out of Hollywood.1. Finding Your Story The choice of what story you are going to tell is the most important decision you will make as a writer. In this class, we will discuss three great sources for good stories (and one bad one). We will also go through personal and market place factors you should consider as you choose what story to tell, and how to apply the “Hollywood formula” to your story.
2. Three Act Structure Have difficulty getting from Act One to Act Three? Do you find that your story lags in Act Two, or worse, you get lost and don't know how to finish? If you've tried other approaches to the three act structure, but still seem to have difficulty finishing your project, this is the class for you. We'll use the Hollywood Beat Sheet to learn how to flesh out our story, and develop an easy to use roadmap to help us get to the end. This class may change your life. It changed mine.
3. Creating Great Characters Why do some literary and cinematic characters seem real while others fall flat? How can we create 3-D characters? This course will break down the essential elements of a great character and enable you to develop unforgettable characters for your stories.
4. Essentials of Great Dialogue Do you find yourself wishing your dialogue was a little spicier, and a little less contrived and drab? This course will teach eight essentials of great dialogue and twelve tools you can apply to make your dialogue sharp.
5. Story as an Art Form: Seven Levels of Meaning to Apply to Your Work There are seven levels of meaning in visual story-telling, but most writers only use one. In this session we will consider what we mean by calling fiction a “visual” art form, and discover how to construct more complex visual imagery so as to portray deeper levels of meaning through your stories.
6. Calling & Responsibility: What is a Christian Artist? Why should Christian writers work in the mainstream and not just put out Christian novels? This course will probe the moral dimensions of novel writing and challenge Christians about what it means to be a Christian artist. These are things every Christian should think through before they ever put pen to paper.
Elective Workshop: Industry Standard Formatting For wannabe screenwriters only. Want to know what can ruin your chance of ever being read? Ignoring industry standard formatting. This course will teach you how to properly format your script. It won’t guarantee a great story, but it will make you look like a professional.