In 2010, I received a Fulbright Scholar’s Award to teach screenwriting at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. It was actually a two year award that enabled me to return in 2011 as well. To say the very least, it was an enormously rewarding experience since working with Brazilian students was very different than working with American students in terms of the types of stories they wanted to write about. Not only was I able to work with many of the film students at USP, but I had the opportunity to several Brazilian directors and producers and see much of São Paulo, an enormous city by any standard.

The experience was so rewarding that I decided to apply for a Fulbright Specialists Award.  These awards are different from the Scholar’s Award in that one can apply every two years rather than every four.  After making some connections with the University of Stockholm, they invited me to teach a four-week screenwriting course there in late November and December, 2014 and I shall be doing that.  I have taught screenwriting throughout Europe, the UK and Latin America and each time I visit a different university I’m excited by what ideas the students suggest.  Earlier, I was invited by the University of Copenhagen to teach there as a Fulbright Specialist in 2016 and I look forward to that opportunity as well.

Recently, I was invited by the University of Trieste, Italy to teach an extensive screenwriting/film studies course there in the fall of 2015 as a Fulbright Scholar.  At this time, I’m awaiting work from the Fulbright Commission as to whether or not it has been approved.  If so, it would be third Fulbright I will have received with a possibility of a fourth in 2016.  Needless to say, these experiences have contributed immensely not only to my teaching, but to my own writing.