SOME local artists and creative industry players received filmmaking, producing and related nuggets from famous American film producer and writer Matthew Negrete as a knowledge exchange gesture at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare yesterday.
Famed for popular films such as The Walking Dead (2010), White Collar (2009) and Graceland (2013), Negrete is in the country for a television writing intensive programme, courtesy of Almasi Collaborative Arts, a Zimbabwean-American dramatic arts collaborative organisation.
The television writing intensive programme commenced on June 5 and will run until June 17 at Reps Theatre in Belgravia, Harare.
“Almasi is really excited about this latest training exchange and believes that it will benefit the Zimbabwean dramatic arts sector,” Almasi Collaborative Arts Associate artistic director Elizabeth Zaza Muchemwa said.
Muchemwa said the television writing intensive programme was featuring six Zimbabwean emerging and mid-career screenwriters.
“The six participants for the TV writing intensive were selected through an open call towards creating new dramatic work. The intensive training will culminate in public readings of excerpts from the new work,” she noted.
“The Almasi TV writing intensive programme is designed to bring Zimbabwean emerging and mid-career screenwriters into a safe and free environment where they can deepen their understanding of television and filmwriting.
Through the programme, Muchemwa said the participants would learn the fundamentals of writing for screen, what it means to work in television from a United States perspective and more about career prospects.
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“The process is expected to enable participants to hone their skills, identify their strengths and areas of interest with the overall intent of assisting them to create their own film and television narratives that can be felt on the global stage,” she said.
Negrete is currently the showrunner/executive producer for The Walking Dead: World Beyond. Before show running The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Negrete served as a writer and producer on its flagship series The Walking Dead from Season 4 through to Season 9. Prior, he wrote for United States’ Graceland and worked as a writer and story editor for the US series White Collar.
Negrete’s writing career began in animation, writing and producing for Walt Disney Television Animation and Nickelodeon.
He developed and executive produced the series American Dragon: Jake Long for Disney Channel and which was later transited into live action drama.
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