[0] Hawaii Screenwriters Take Top Honors At 2000 Maui Writers Conference.

Business/Entertainment Editors

WAILEA, Hawaii--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 13, 2000

Hawaii screenwriters won big this year at the 8th Annual Maui Writers Conference. The event which wrapped last week with over 1400 attending, also conducts a national screenwriting competition with awards announced at the renown gathering of the entertainment and literary worlds. Voted the "No. 1 Writers Conference in the World" by Writer's Digest Magazine, the four-day event featured workshops and sessions led by the biggest names from Hollywood to New York at the luxurious Grand Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii.

Produced by John and Shannon Tullius and the Maui Writers Foundation, the event featured a wide range of panels, discussions and presentations. From the show stopper performances by Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt and brother Malachy McCourt, discussions with J.K. Rowling's (Harry Potter) editor and publisher Arthur A. Levine of Scholastic Books, to an in-depth look at publishing today with Amazon.com's Lyn Blake and Clare Ferarro of Viking Press, moderated by NY Times best-selling author John Saul, the weekend lived up to its stellar reputation.

Andy Cohen, director of the MWC Screenwriting Competition announced the winners at the closing ceremonies of the conference on September 4. Cash prizes totaling $4,000 were awarded, in addition to complimentary passes to Maui Writers Conference 2001 for top winners. 1st place winner was Charlie Memminger of Honolulu, Hawaii.

A noted columnist for Hawaii's Honolulu Star Bulletin, Memminger's screenplay "fly" is set in a California mental institution and tells the story of an over-the-hill newspaper columnist who discovers a swimming prodigy and exploits her to save his job, but a secret in her past may doom them both.

2nd place winner, Rich Figel, of Kailua, Hawaii, won for his entry entitled "The Doll Killer", a tale of an aspiring actress who is hired by a mysterious Muslim woman to baby-sit her doll - and then is accused of murdering the woman's real baby. 3rd Place honors went to Vicki Adams of Edmonds, Washington for her screenplay entitled "Breaking Ice", about an ambitious venture capitalist who finds himself stranded in the Alaskan arctic and dependent upon an enigmatic woman and her championship dog team to escape a group of pursuing assassins in time to clench the deal of a lifetime.

Winners of the Maui Writers Conference Rupert Hughes Prose Competition include 1st Place - Christian Lay for "Tien Mu's Mirror", 2nd Place - Joyce Osterman "The Matter Stream", and 3rd Place - Catherine G. Bruhn, "Lives of the Virgin Cowgirl Saints".

A total of 16 young high-school writers won scholarships to the 8th annual Maui Writers Conference this year. The program is aimed to create more opportunities for students to hone their craft prior to attending college. Open every year to juniors in high school, there are now California based students among the scholarship winners. 1st place honors went to Corey Samuels of Maui High School for "Iron Tears", 2nd place honors to Heather Mehl of Colfax High School in California for "Dawn to Dusk" and 3rd place honors to Kay Fukunaga for "Past the Farthest Horizon".

Aspiring authors and screenwriters learned the nuts and bolts of the trade, from over 90 sessions that span the genres of fiction, non-fiction, marketing, publishing, television, screenwriting and e-publishing. Attendees spanned the globe, coming from as far away as Tasmania, South Africa, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Netherlands, British West Indies, Canada, England. Every state in the U.S. was represented, from Arizona to Wisconsin.

Presenters included the creme de la creme of NY Times best-selling authors and entertainment industry leaders such as, acclaimed memoirist Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes), Malachy McCourt (A Monk Swimming), John Saul (Right Hand of Evil), Dorothy Allison (Cavedweller, Bastard Out of Carolina), Terry Brooks (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace), Catherine Coulter (The Edge), Michael Palmer (Extreme Measures), Susan Wiggs (The Horsemaster's Daughter), Dave Pelzer (A Child Called "It"), Bryce Courtenay (The Power of One, The Potato Factory), Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for The Writers Soul), Richard Paul Evans (The Christmas Box), Tony award-winning director Michael Greif (Rent) and noted personality and motivational speaker Wally "Famous" Amos.

An impressive list of screenwriters, producers, agents and managers were on hand including screenwriter John Rice (Windtalkers), writer/director/producer Allison Anders (Border Radio, Gas Food Lodging, Sugartown), screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, Man On the Moon), producers Tracie Graham and Alison Rozenzweig (Windtalkers, Ladies Night), producer and former network VP Kim Rozenfeld (Two Guys and a Girl), Senior VP at Paramount Pictures, Chip Diggins, manager/producer Andy Cohen (It Takes Two, A Chance of Snow), writer and former Fox studio exec Christopher Vogler (Writers Journey: Mythical Structure for Writers) and USC School of Cinema-Television's Richard Krevolin (Screenwriting from the Soul).

Dozens of first time authors were signed by agents and those with representation received interest from publishers that included the top houses from New York. Over 25 top editors from New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles including representatives from HarperCollins, Pocket Books, Beyond Words, Three Rivers, Broadway Books, G.P. Putnam & Sons, St. Martins Press, Viking, FSG, Riverhead, Crown Books, Little-Brown, Warner Books, Celestial Arts, and Ballantine Books.

Agency representatives include representatives from Crawford Literary Agency, Creative Culture, William Morris Agency, Fuhrman Literary Agency, Ruth Cohen, Inc., Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Sterling Lord, Barbara Braun Associates, Jane Freymann Literary Agency, Forth Write Literary Agency, Heacock Literary Agency, Mildred Marmur Associates, Linda Mead Agency, Doris S. Michaels Literary Agency, Nazor Literary Agency, Craig Nelson Agency, RPLA Literary Agency, New York Literary Group, Jody Rein Books, B.J. Robbins Literary Agency, Kul'cha Literary Agency, McBride Literary Agency, The Literary Group, Zachary/Shuster Agency, Manus & Associates, Harvey Klinger, Larsen/Pomada, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, Reece Halsey Agency, Heacock Literary Agency, Middlefork Entertainment, and Grade A Entertainment among others.

The 2001 Maui Writers Conference will be held August 31-September 3. For more information on The Maui Writers Conference and Retreat, visit the website at www.mauiwriters.com or call toll free 888-WRITER3 (888-974-8373). In Hawaii, contact the MWC office at 808-879-0061.

Maui Writers Conference & Retreat is produced by the Maui Writers Foundation, Inc. and is sponsored by Writers Digest, Amazon.com, Publishers Weekly, BusinessWire, Grand Wailea Resort, Outrigger Hotels-Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines, Hawaii Tourism Authority, The Maui Visitors Bureau, The County of Maui, Santos!PR, Skinner Entertainment, Grade A Entertainment, and Get Up and Go Travel.