BROOKS INSTITUTE SCREENWRITING INSTRUCTOR WINS $10,000 AWARD

Santa Barbara , Calif. – (September 13, 2007) -- A Brooks Institute instructor and his writing partner recently won $10,000 in a major scriptwriting competition that drew 3,600 entries.

Brian Price, who teaches screenwriting at Brooks Institute, teamed with Samuel Gailey to win the Scriptapalooza International Screenwriting Competition. Price said it was the first time he had ever entered such a competition since college.

"I'd kind of forgotten about it," Price said of his April entry. "I was leaving the house to come up to Brooks when my girlfriend said I had a message on the phone." When he called, the voice on the telephone said, "So, have you heard? ‘Whale Farts' won Scriptapalooza." Said Price, "That is probably the first time those four words have been together in a sentence."

It was all a surprise to Price. "I was completely floored. I knew there were 3,600 entries. I also knew the script was good."

At first, Price said, "I didn't believe it. I made the person on the other end of the phone say some of the story elements back to me." Still not sure of what he was hearing, "I said, ‘Are you kidding me?' so many times" Price explained.

The script is a humorous re-telling of the Moby Dick story, in which a character terrified of water goes on an adventure with a crazy captain. Price calls it, "City Slickers Meets Jaws." At times the comedy had generic names, such as "Sink or Swim." However the writing pair wanted a more provocative, outrageous title to grab a reader's attention. Thus "Whale Farts" was born.

Though Price has been a screenwriter for 10 years, this is his first collaboration with Gailey. They met at a writer's group and discovered they had a similar sense of humor. More projects are planned by the team.

Collaboration is good for comedy Price believes. "You are trying to make each other laugh," he said. "You need that other person to know if it's funny." The pair thought having a partner might cut their writing time in half. "The irony for me is that it often takes longer with a partner," Price said.

First they outlined the plot in detail, mapping out the story's key events and scenes. Next they divided up the elements and each worked his portion. When they had a draft, they exchanged what they had done and re-wrote. "It was kind of an experiment to find the way that worked for us," said Price of the collaboration.

While the cash award is appreciated, Price said the real benefit of winning the competition is the exposure the script will receive. The Scriptapalooza organization is known for shopping the winning script and top contenders to connect the writers with production companies. Leading organizations such as Disney, the William Morris Agency and the Robert Evans Company have regularly requested scripts from the projects placing high in the competition. Price started to get meeting requests shortly after the competition results were announced.

About Brooks Institute

Brooks Institute celebrates more than 60 years of educating students in the visual and media arts. With campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California, the school offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in fields including Professional Photography, Visual Journalism, Film and Video Production and Graphic Design, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography. Brooks' graduates are visible nationally and internationally, working for distinguished organizations including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Los Angeles Times and other national media outlets, including Hallmark Publishing, Cousteau Society, HBO, Kodak and other industry leaders in the visual media arts fields. For more information about Brooks Institute and the school's programs, visit www.brooks.edu, or call 805-966-3888.