Screenwriter And Director Paul Schrader Visiting Nantucket For Almanack Screenwriters Event

The Almanack Screenwriters is hosting a soiree featuring a conversation with screenwriter and director Paul Schrader next Friday - and tickets are on sale for as little as $50.

Schrader is the director of several iconic films including American Gigolo, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, and First Reformed. He is also the writer of several Oscar-winning movies such as Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ.

"We really tried to create something that would be interesting and valuable and also sort of unique," Almanack Screenwrters Director Lydia Cavallo Zasa said. "He's such a legend. He's a really interesting thinker and speaker."

To join the question and answer session with Schrader at the Dreamland Friday evening costs $50, with an additional $100 charge for guests who wish to attend the subsequent afterparty at Harbor View.

"I find his work to be timely because it's about stuff today, but also timeless because it's about the human condition," Almanack Screenwriters Associate Director and screenwriter Bill Gullo, who will be moderating the conversation, said.

The soiree is the colony's primary fundraiser, facilitating its programming for the year, including the month-long October writer's retreat at the main campus in Polpis.

"Truly, the real value of that month is dedicated time and space to really focus and go deep on a project," Cavallo Zasa said of the retreat. "We incubate them away from the commercial pressures of the industry...they're really able to focus on the work and the art and the story."

During the retreat, the four selected screenwriters work on feature film scripts while isolated from the concerns of everyday life. Their meals are cooked by a private chef, and they receive feedback and lessons from both industry mentors and peers. Founded in 2001 by John Johnson, the retreat is modeled after similar artist's colonies common in other fields but somewhat rare in screenwriting.

One of the four spots is reserved for the winner of the Nantucket Film Festival's Tony Cox screenplay competition - this year, Missy Hernandez.

"We have always been close sister organizations," Cavallo Zasa said. "That [position] actually is the primary value of the award."

Originally known as the Screenwriters Colony, the Almanack Screenwriters has seen a number of successful alumni over the years, including Sian Heder, the Oscar-winning writer of CODA, It writer Chase Palmer, and Jason Kim, who wrote for the Emmy-winning shows Barry and Girls.

"One of the challenges about writing is that you can allow everything to get in the way of writing," Kim said of the Colony. "Dedicating a month to a single project is a rare gift, and the Colony allowed me to open a window of time to remove the clutter, sit down, and write."