CHICAGO — Screenwriters Lucy Alibar, Academy Award nominee, and Bob Gale, writer of the cult classic “Back to the Future” movie trio, are among Hollywood celebrities at DePaul University’s Page One Entertainment Writing Conference April 20 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Hosted by at DePaul’s School of Cinema and Interactive Media in the College of Computing and Digital Media, the daylong conference is designed to showcase the works of leading writers across all aspects of entertainment from films to television to games. The workshops aim to help students, local artists and writers become better writers and filmmakers to further cultivate the film and television community in Chicago and Illinois.

Earlier this month, DePaul announced an alliance with Cinespace Chicago Film Studios to create an exclusive cinema production stage that will provide students with film and television production experience in the midst of a working studio, while growing a skilled local workforce in the entertainment industry.

“The Cinespace alliance is an amazing opportunity for DePaul screenwriters as well. As directors and producers look for material to shoot on the new stage, we hope they will turn to the film and television writers within the cinema program to find their material,” said Kristen Jo Benedyk, chair of the screenwriting program at DePaul.

Benedyk launched the Page One conference last year and drew in such writing innovators such as “Saturday Night Live” writer Michael McCarthy, who founded Second City’s writing program.

The conference is free and open to the public. All sessions will take place at in the CDM Theatre in the lower level of the Richard M. and Maggie C. Daley Building, 14 E. Jackson Blvd.
 
Saturday’s Page One Entertainment Writing Conference workshops include:

10:30-11:30 a.m. “Horror, Franchises and Writing with a Partner.” The writing team behind the movies “Saw IV, V, VI” and “Saw 3D.”

Noon-1 p.m. “TV Time: Creating a Show and Finding Your Audience.” Comedy legend Michael McCarthy (“SNL,” “The Drew Carey Show”) and Emmy Award-winning TV writer Georgia Jeffries (“China Beach,” “Cagney & Lacey”).

1:30-2:30 p.m. “Game On!” A conversation with “Assassin’s Creed” game writer Corey May.

3-4 p.m. – “Don’t Quit Your Day Job.” Emmy and Writing Guild of America Award winning daytime writers Janice Ferri Esser Sherman C. Magidson, and Kay Alden Nelson.

4:30-5:45 p.m. “Breaking In and Staying In.” Featuring three of L.A.’s youngest, freshest, hottest writers, Lon Zimmet, Ian Shorr and Jordan Pope-Rousch.

6:30-7:30 p.m. “A Conversation with 2013 Oscar nominated Screenwriter Lucy Alibar.”

8-9 p.m. “A Conversation with Bob Gale, writer of the “Back to the Future” series.

For more information about DePaul’s Page One Entertainment Writers Conference, visit their Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/13l8WjR.

For more information about DePaul’s Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting, visit http://bit.ly/Z6O9ks.