Hill award winner teaching how to write a film script | The Chestnut Hill Local
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Hill award winner teaching how to write a film script
Ever dream about writing a movie script? If so, you just may want to take courses on the subject offered in October by Mt. Airy Learning Tree (MALT). The Introduction to Screenwriting course begins Oct. 14 and meets at MALT headquarters for six weeks. Intermediate and Advanced Screenwriting begins Oct. 19 and meets at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Chestnut Hill for four weeks.
The instructor, David Greenberg, an award-winning filmmaker who has lived in Chestnut Hill for 35 years (and Mt. Airy and Germantown before that), is no film neophyte. Greenberg, who has taught screenwriting and …
Hill award winner teaching how to write a film script
David J. Greenberg, who has written more than 60 film scripts for features, documentaries and short films over the last four decades, is teaching two screenwriting courses for Mt. Airy Learning Tree.
Photo courtesy of David Greenberg
Posted
Thursday,October 1, 202612:00 am
Ever dream about writing a movie script? If so, you just may want to take courses on the subject offered in October by Mt. Airy Learning Tree (MALT). The Introduction to Screenwriting course begins Oct. 14 and meets at MALT headquarters for six weeks. Intermediate and Advanced Screenwriting begins Oct. 19 and meets at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Chestnut Hill for four weeks.
The instructor, David Greenberg, an award-winning filmmaker who has lived in Chestnut Hill for 35 years (and Mt. Airy and Germantown before that), is no film neophyte. Greenberg, who has taught screenwriting and film history at Moore College of Art & Design, Drexel University, and the former University of the Arts, has written more than 60 film scripts for features, documentaries and short films over the last four decades.
A graduate of the film program at Temple University, Greenberg has developed projects for the film division of a record label that were pitched to HBO, director Abel Ferrera, actor/director Forest Whitaker and others. His original screenplays have attracted attention throughout the industry, from Oscar-nominated producers to Sundance Award winners.
His 1995 short film, “The True Meaning of Cool,” won an award from the American Film Institute. “Interrogation,” a short film written and directed by Greenberg, won a Special Jury Prize at the 2015 L.A. Neo-Noir Film Festival. His 2025 film, “Seclusion,” which is available on several streaming services, won honors including the 2023 award for best feature at the Chandler International Film Festival in Phoenix.
“Growing up in the area,” he told the Local last week, “I always flipped through the MALT catalog to see if anyone I know was teaching a class. Now, people tell me that they see me in the catalog, and it increases my already substantial pride in the community, being part of the institution that is MALT. I often say that being in the MALT catalog is the Northwest Philly version of being on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
“Last year, I got hired to direct and co-write a short film, ‘There’s Something I Have To Tell You,’ a romantic comedy-drama about bipolar disorder that was made to demystify or attack the stigma associated with the condition,” he continued. “It has been submitted to a bunch of film festivals, and there was a great screening in Wilmington this past spring. There’s nothing like watching your film with an audience, especially when they like it as much as this crowd did. We were so worried that the comedy didn’t work, but people were roaring with laughter throughout. It is on YouTube now.”
Greenberg also recently finished co-writing a screenplay with the man who gave him his first screenwriting job in the 1990s. It’s called “Waiting For Balboa,” and it is set in an old school Philly bar in August 1978, just after the first MOVE confrontation and about the time when Sylvester Stallone was in town to scout locations for “Rocky II.”
Another project, “Last Night,” is about a middle-aged couple who have decided to amicably end their relationship after 15 years and wind up spending their final night together walking around the city and toying with the idea that maybe they can still make the relationship work. It’s “Before Sunrise” in reverse.
“I’m still tweaking it,” Greenberg said, “but I am ready to look for financing. Sometime this fall, I am writing a screenplay for a pair of twin sisters in Sweden, and it will be shot in Switzerland next year.”
Greenberg also made a documentary about food insecurity, “I Am Hungry In Philadelphia.” He recently screened a teaser trailer for the film. “I was blown away,” he said.
Greenberg is now going into his third year of teaching for MALT.
“It’s been great,” he said. “I love teaching this subject and several of my students have hired me for my screenwriting, coaching and consulting services.”
Greenberg also wrote a book, “Screenwriting for Micro-Budget Films,” which was published in 2021.
“It’s a really niche topic,” he admitted. “Even the people closest to me haven’t read it, so it’s not exactly flying off the shelves, but it is an especially important subject these days when more and more people are making films for less and less money.”
Two other recent films, “Stomping Ground” and “Prisoner Trump,” have received mixed reviews.
“I knew ‘Stomping Ground’ would get a lot of bad reviews with some glowing reviews sprinkled in, and I am okay with that,” he said. “I set out to make an intense, sad and disturbing film, a ‘feel bad’ movie, not a crowd-pleaser. So, did it light up the box office and put me on the map? Not at all, but while I would never say no to a little bit of fame and glory, I am happy that I made the film I set out to make.
“I think ‘Prisoner Trump’ got shadow-banned,” Greenberg said. “Every time I shared the trailer on Facebook, it simply didn’t appear. It did get some great reviews, including one that singled out the ‘razor sharp satire.’ It’s a very silly film, but I enjoyed the experience of going out to L.A. for the shoot.”
For more information, visit davidjgreenberg.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
