Bond’s star attraction Filmmaker shares tips on Coast
AMERICAN filmmaker Billy Frolick, who co-wrote DreamWorks’ box-office hit Madagascar, is using his silver screen experience to inspire budding screenwriters as a guest lecturer and tutor at Bond University.
A working screenwriter who has penned nine books and worked as a journalist, Mr Frolick is a NYU film school graduate who studied under the famed professor (and Martin Scorsese mentor) Haig Manoogian.
The former adjunct instructor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts arrived on the Coast in April to teach Screenwriting 1 and Screenwriting 2 at Bond until August while film professor Kevin Roberts is on leave.
“Kevin got in touch and asked if I wanted to take his two classes. I thought it was a once in a lifetime opportunity so I seized it,” Mr Frolick said.
The sort of writing gig people are drawn to for love, not money, Mr Frolick said understanding how screenplays work was an important skill for anyone working in the industry to have – from executives and finance experts to cinematographers and producers.
“Would I recommend anyone do it? Not necessarily. I recommend that whatever area you want to work in, you know how scripts are put together,” he said.
“It’s really about creating memorable characters. The characters then tell you where to go. The characters feed the story. It’s a much better approach than plotting.”
Mr Frolick, who made his directorial debut in 2014 with the acclaimed feature It Is What It Is, which he also wrote, said the inexperience of youth was often the greatest challenge his screenwriting students faced.
“It’s always great to find a personal angle to whatever you’re writing,” he said.
“You can transpose emotional truth into anything.
“A lot of students have a hard time figuring out what to write about. They’re only 22 or 23, so they tend to write about parties – students meeting up with old high school mates, who haven’t been gone for more than three months. “