- Writer/Director/Producer/Teacher Joan Scheckel is the internationally renowned creator of The Technique(TM), the most influential new approach to writing, directing and filmmaking craft in Hollywood today. Joan is known as the "director's guru" and as a master teacher in the tradition of Stanislavski, Strasberg and Joseph Campbell. Joan's groundbreaking work challenges our cultural addiction to conflict and calls for a new storytelling paradigm that embraces feeling and meaning. Her innovations inform every level of the mise en scène, from writing, acting, directing to visual style.
Joan trains and then teams with directors to develop, workshop, write, direct and produce material from the ground up. Including such iconic hits as: Niki Caro's Oscar Nominee Whale Ride, Dayton/Faris's Oscar Winner Little Miss Sunshine, Mike Mills's Oscar Winner Beginners (Executive Producer), Joey Soloway's Emmy Winner Transparent (Consulting Producer), Joey Soloway's Golden Globe Nominee I Love Dick (Producer), Sarah Shapiro's Peabody Award Winner UnREAL, Rupert Sanders's Oscar Nominee Snow White and the Huntsman, Nick Jarecki's Golden Globe Nominee Arbitrage, Sacha Gervasi's Spirit Award Winner Anvil Story of Anvil, Karyn Kusama's The Invitation, Mark Romanek's One Hour Photo, Miranda July's The Future, (New Yorker Magazine Best of the Decade List), Liz Feldman's Emmy Award Winner, Dead To Me, Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski's Unorthodox and many, many more.
Joan was also co-writer on The Vintner's Luck, directed by Niki Caro (Mulan), starring Jeremie Renier and Vera Farmiga.
Overall, Joan has worked on 84 feature films and television shows. 74 came to her with unfinished drafts, no financing or cast, and with first time or early-career writer/directors at the helm. 83 have been released, earning over 800 nominations and 406 wins including major category nods at the Oscars, Spirits, Golden Globes, Sundance, Cannes, Bafta, Emmys, PGA, DGA etc.
This year alone, graduates of The Technique(TM) have garnered over 63 award nominations from Sundance to Oscars and Emmys.
Joan has been profiled and featured for her work and her influence on a generation of directors in many articles and publications such as: NYTimes, LA Times, Marie Claire, Deadline, Indiewire, Vox, IF Magazine, California Sunday, The New York Observer and more.
Now Joan is poised to create a slate of books, films, labs (live and online), podcasts, and apps.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Joan Scheckel Filmmaking Labs - Joan Scheckel, producer, writer, director and creator of The Technique(TM), is known throughout Hollywood and the international film world as the crucial force behind the most exciting films and television being made today. The Technique(TM) is the most influential craft to be developed since Strasberg's "The Method" and is changing how stories are told being told in Hollywood right now.
Utilizing The Technique(TM), Joan and has developed 81 completed features and television shows. 80 have been released. 71 came to her without financing. The works have been nominated over 1000 times and won over 450 times, including major nods at the Academy and Emmy Awards. Altogether the films have earned over 2 billion dollars. Having worked with so many of cinema and televisions most vital new voices, Joan's sphere of influence continues to expand.
Works include: Richard Press' upcoming "Farnsworth House" (Executive Producer); Jill Soloway's Emmy Award Winning "Transparent" (Consulting Producer S1-S3) and "I Love Dick" (Producer); Mike Mills Academy Award Winning "Beginners" (Executive Producer) and his most recent film "20th Century Women"; Niki Caro's "The Vintner's Luck" (Co-Writer); Sarah Gertrude Shapiro's Peabody Award Winning "UnREAL"; Niki Caro's Academy Award Nominated "Whale Rider", Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Academy Award winning "Little Miss Sunshine"; Rupert Sanders Academy Award Nominated "Snow White and the Huntsman"; Alison Maclean's Venice Little Golden Lion Winner" Jesus' Son" and New Zealand Film and TV Award Nominated "The Rehearsal"; Miranda July's Golden Berlin Bear Nominated "The Future"; Richard Press' Spirit Award Nominated "Bill Cunningham NY"; Sacha Gervasi's Spirit Award Winning "Anvil: The Story of Anvil"; Mark Ruffalo's Sundance Award Winning "Sympathy For Delicious"; Jill Soloway's Sundance Award Winning "Afternoon Delight"; Nick Jarecki's Golden Globe Nominated "Arbitrage"; Mark Romanek's "One Hour Photo" and many more.
With The Technique(TM), Joan has created a revolutionary new approach to writing, directing and acting craft which takes on Hollywood's outmoded story models and asks, "What happens when we take out all the fighting and all the fucking?" Joan questions our addictions to conflict-based narratives and instead reveals a new paradigm for storytelling that embraces action, feeling and meaning.
As a master of film and episodic craft, Joan believes passionately in the power of story. "I believe human beings crave authentic connection to themselves and others - and find it in stories that are daring, real, and true to the heart. From this root, I am compelled to bring about stories that inspire life."- IMDb Mini Biography By: Joan Scheckel Filmmaking Labs - Writer/Director/Producer Joan Scheckel is the internationally renowned creator of The Technique(TM), the most influential new approach to writing, directing and filmmaking craft in Hollywood today. Joan is known as the "director's guru" and as a master teacher in the tradition of Stanislavski, Strasberg and Joseph Campbell. Joan's groundbreaking work challenges our cultural addiction to conflict and calls for a new storytelling paradigm that embraces feeling and meaning. Her innovations inform every level of the mise en scène, from writing, acting, directing to visual style.
Joan trains and then teams with directors to develop, workshop, write, direct and produce material from the ground up. Including such iconic hits as: Niki Caro's Oscar Nominee Whale Rider Dayton/Faris's Oscar Winner Little Miss Sunshine Mike Mills's Oscar Winner Beginners (Executive Producer) Joey Soloway's Emmy Winner Transparent (Consulting Producer) Joey Soloway's Golden Globe Nominee I Love Dick (Producer) Sarah Shapiro's Peabody Award Winner UnREAL Rupert Sanders's Oscar Nominee Snow White and the Huntsman Nick Jarecki's Golden Globe Nominee Arbitrage Sacha Gervasi's Spirit Award Winner Anvil Story of Anvil Karyn Kusama's The Invitation Miranda July's The Future, (New Yorker Magazine Best of the Decade List) and many more.
Joan was also co-writer on The Vintner's Luck, directed by Niki Caro (Mulan), starring Jeremie Renier and Vera Farmiga.
Overall, Joan has worked on 84 feature films and television shows. 74 came to her with unfinished drafts, no financing or cast, and with first time or early-career writer/directors at the helm. 83 have been released, earning over 800 nominations and 406 wins including major category nods at the Oscars, Spirits, Sundance, Cannes and Emmys, Golden Globes etc. This year alone, there are 15 graduates of The Technique(TM) with Sundance Official Selection films and 24 Emmys, Golden Globes and Oscar nominations.
Joan has been profiled and featured for her work and her influence on a generation of directors in many articles and publications such as: NYTimes, LA Times, Marie Claire, Deadline, Indiewire, Vox, IF Magazine, California Sunday, The New York Observer and more.
Now Joan is poised to create a slate of books, films, labs (live and online), podcasts, and apps.- IMDb Mini Biography By: FILMMAKING LAB STUDIOS
- ChildrenCaseyChild
- Sang the "Star Spangled Banner" at Chicago's Comiskey Park for a White Sox/Yankees game.
- I don't mean fire as in "Danger!" but fire as in "Life!" I teach tools, I try to inspire creative investigation, but ultimately, the labs are a place for the director to explore what moves him. The work is to reconnect with the surprise, the shock, the delight of living. We easily become dead to the delight of living. How do we reawaken and reconnect? The artist assists us in that reawakening.
- A great actor lives naked on the stage or on screen, meaning that he is completely revealing of the self. Not the ego, but the self. He is intellectually, emotionally, physically free so that he is unencumbered - he is free to reveal the depth and nuance of a character's inner life. (He is) adept, surprising, revealing - in that magical state of living which is receptivity and response. I never know what he's going to do next - I relish that.
- I don't teach a formula, I feel formulas are ruinous. But if I can work with an artist to think more daringly, more creatively about what it is they do, then perhaps an individual voice can awaken in an individual way.
- If you can truly discern your character's emotional journey, you can develop a structure that is both clear and specific to your theme. Your vision will shine through in all it's uniqueness, and your story becomes accessible to others.
- When we go to see a film, we participate in a dialogue, one that can help us know ourselves and the world in a deeper, more beautiful way. And for me, what is beautiful is what is real.
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