OUR MISSION
TO SUPPORT ANYONE
OVER THE AGE OF 50 WHO HAS
EVER DREAMED OF ENRICHING
THEIR LIVES THROUGH
THE ARTS.
K.A.F.'s Vision
The Krevolin Arts Foundation is a home for the Arts.
One day it could be sponsoring an art exhibit. The next day, it could be offering a play workshop, and then, the next month, it could be hosting an artist in residence who is developing a new novel!
Yes, all classes, events, and lectures take place for the purpose of inspiring the public, assisting creative arts practitioners in gaining expertise and recognition, and leaving a lasting legacy for generations to come.
---------------------------------
OUR PROGRAMMING
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAMS
Creatives in all media who are selected for the artist-in-residence program will have the opportunity to focus on their work while living in the K.A.F. headquarters,
a stunning Florida beach bungalow. This includes 10 hours of consulting a
week with Prof. Krevolin, with the potential for a public showing of their
work at the culmination of the residency.
(More info about these on the page entitled -- "residencies," and please note that at this time, we are in a fund-raising phase,
and there must be a fee for all artist residencies.)
-----------------------------
WORDSTOCK
(3 days of Stories and Learning)
Every year, we will offer the premiere writer's retreat/workshop in the state of Florida to support those
who want an intimate experience to develop their writing skills.
Come join us -- Jan. 24-26th, 2025
(More info about Wordstock on the following page. Please check it out.)
--------------------------------------------------
FUN FUND-RAISING EVENTS
Join us as we offer public events such as art exhibits and performances featuring the work of both K.A.F. program participants and other creatives from around the globe.
-------------------------------------
But who is this guy, Professor K.?
What the heck are people saying about him?
|
"Prof. Rich Krevolin's class was the best class on writing I ever took. Many of the lessons he taught me are still with me as some of the most important elements of my writing process." -- DANNY STRONG, award winning writer of DOPESICK, EMPIRE, HUNGER GAMES MOCKINGJAY, Lee Daniels' THE BUTLER, RECOUNT, GAME CHANGE 
|
"Thank you for teaching me about screenwriting and storytelling."
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Rich was a Professor of mine while I attended USC Film School and he was always such a great and positive teacher and supporter of me and my work!"
-- ERIN O'MALLEY, Producer, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, NEW GIRL,
DA ALI G SHOW, THE SARA SILVERMAN SHOW.
"Prof. Krevolin has a tremendous critical eye. Because of his
insightful and specific notes given while writing my first book,
DRIVING THE SAUDIS, quickly became a New York Times
Bestseller and a People Magazine Top Books Pick. He has a
thorough understanding of story elements and structure,
accompanied by a compassionate and generous nature --
and his ability to convey his knowledge is unsurpassed.
Don't send out a manuscript or screenplay without
consulting with him first!"
-- JAYNE AMELIA LARSON, author of the nonfiction New York Times
Bestseller, DRIVING THE SAUDIS (Simon & Schuster, 2012)
And a recent comment from a workshop attendee:
"I write to express my deepest and most enthusiastic gratitude to you for a most inspiring and deeply informative two day course in Screenwriting. Simply put - I had more fun under your tutelage than I have had in a long time. Further, the knowledge you imparted will serve me well in any endeavor. I will never look at a film or ad in the same complacent way again. The. Nuances you exposed for me to observe in the visual media are astonishing. I cannot wait to attend your seminar." -- Dr. Joel Franck, Workshop attendee
LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST TO HEAR MORE ABOUT HOW PROF. KREVOLIN MAY HELP YOU
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rich-krevolin-author-storyteller-playwright-professor/id1464616905?i=1000455272260
insightful and specific notes given while writing my first book,
DRIVING THE SAUDIS, quickly became a New York Times
Bestseller and a People Magazine Top Books Pick. He has a
thorough understanding of story elements and structure,
accompanied by a compassionate and generous nature --
and his ability to convey his knowledge is unsurpassed.
Don't send out a manuscript or screenplay without
consulting with him first!"
-- JAYNE AMELIA LARSON, author of the nonfiction New York Times
Bestseller, DRIVING THE SAUDIS (Simon & Schuster, 2012)
And a recent comment from a workshop attendee:
"I write to express my deepest and most enthusiastic gratitude to you for a most inspiring and deeply informative two day course in Screenwriting. Simply put - I had more fun under your tutelage than I have had in a long time. Further, the knowledge you imparted will serve me well in any endeavor. I will never look at a film or ad in the same complacent way again. The. Nuances you exposed for me to observe in the visual media are astonishing. I cannot wait to attend your seminar." -- Dr. Joel Franck, Workshop attendee
LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST TO HEAR MORE ABOUT HOW PROF. KREVOLIN MAY HELP YOU
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rich-krevolin-author-storyteller-playwright-professor/id1464616905?i=1000455272260
Krevolin's NOVEL -- THE COMPLETE DIARIES OF YOUNG ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Was NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018 by Kirkus Reviews
"Ever wonder where Arthur Conan Doyle got his Sherlock Holmes ideas? From his thrill-packed diaries, according to these takeoffs on the iconic detective series. Mixing facts about Conan Doyle’s life with fictional sleuthing, these mock journal entries span 1878 to 1883. The author, a medical student in Edinburgh, supposedly played Watson to the real-life Dr. Joseph Bell, a Holmes-ian professor complete with deerstalker cap, meerschaum pipe, and insufferable omniscience. An entertaining, rollicking addition to the Holmes-verse, combining real-world lore with over-the-top melodrama."
Was NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018 by Kirkus Reviews
"Ever wonder where Arthur Conan Doyle got his Sherlock Holmes ideas? From his thrill-packed diaries, according to these takeoffs on the iconic detective series. Mixing facts about Conan Doyle’s life with fictional sleuthing, these mock journal entries span 1878 to 1883. The author, a medical student in Edinburgh, supposedly played Watson to the real-life Dr. Joseph Bell, a Holmes-ian professor complete with deerstalker cap, meerschaum pipe, and insufferable omniscience. An entertaining, rollicking addition to the Holmes-verse, combining real-world lore with over-the-top melodrama."
----------------------------------------
WATCH A TRAILER OF PROF. KREVOLIN LECTURING
TELLING BETTER NARRATIVES...
One Story At A Time...
----------------------------------
Below is an interview from THE BIG THRILL,
the magazine of the Int. Thriller Writers
Industry Focus: Richard KevolinFrom Coffee Shop to Big Screen:
Hollywood for WritersBy Layton Green
This month I have a special guest on International Thrills. I’d wager that all writers have at least one mentor who has impacted their careers along the way, from high school English teachers to professional editors to older writers. I have several, and one of them is Rich Krevolin, an extraordinary storyteller who has spent most of his life creating stories in various forms and imparting his wealth of knowledge to students the world over. Rich is an award-winning screenwriter, author and playwright who taught for many years in the USC film school, considered by most to be the No. 1 film school in the world. Rich has tutored more than 20,000 screenwriters and novelists, and his students have gone on to sell film scripts and TV shows to Universal, Fox, Paramount, Dreamworks SKG and numerous other big studios and production companies.
Many years ago, I signed up for one of Rich’s private seminars and was blown away by the breadth of his knowledge. When I heard he was coming to ThrillerFest to teach the Masterclass on Screenwriting for Novelists, I jumped at the chance to chat with him in person and discuss his fascinating career, the art of storytelling, and the long hard road a novel has to travel to make it to the Big Screen.
Thanks for taking the time to chat, Rich. Before we get to the good stuff, the super-easy, five-step process for adapting a novel into a million-dollar screenplay, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you come to be the Buddha of Storytelling?“
As a grad student at USC, I was awarded a teaching fellowship and then I created a series of lectures that I started delivering around the country. At one of these lectures, an acquisitions editor, Paula Munier, heard me speak and told me I should write a book on writing, so I compiled my lectures and wrote my first non-fiction writing book, Screenwriting From the Soul. (Years later, Paula actually became my agent.) Once that came out, I was swamped with scripts and manuscripts that people were emailing me. So, in a way, I sort of stumbled into it, or you might say it was thrust upon me as a result of my love of teaching. And I kept doing it, because I enjoyed helping people and it’s one of the few jobs you can do in bed in your underwear.
You’re a published author, playwright and screenwriter. Do you find one path easier or harder than another?
Well, they’re all pretty freaking competitive. Think about it. If you study hard and work hard and finish med school or law school, there are thousands of jobs out there for qualified people. But the arts aren’t like that. Even if you get an MFA in writing, that doesn’t mean you can even make a living as a writer. So, they all are difficult, but today, there are also opportunities that didn’t exist before. You can self-publish, you can produce your own plays, you can make your own low-budget film based on your script. So for the person who loves it and refuses to take no for an answer, there are more options than ever. And recently, I have come to see that I have many more clients who are novelists rather than screenwriters. I think this has come about because of several factor: the spec script marketplace has dried up and there are a hell of a lot more novels published every year than TV and film projects that are produced.
What traits do you think make for a successful novelist? Do you think that same skill set transfers to screenwriting? What else might be needed?
I always tell my clients that nobody writes a perfect first draft. The main thing that separates a published author or a produced screenwriter or playwright is that a real pro is a person who knows what to edit out and what to add to that imperfect draft to make it into something better that people want to publish or produce. And the professional writer understands that there could be many, many drafts involved and that it’s his or her job to take notes and to constantly revise the work.
Which aspect of screenwriting do you think novelists have the hardest time grasping?
In the most reductive sense, novelists deal with the inner lives of their characters while screenwriters must deal with their outer lives. In other words, novels are psychological, while scripts are visual. (And stage plays are dialogical.) So, the act of trying to write a script is a wonderful exercise in learning to tell a story visually and embody the golden rule of “Show me, don’t tell me.” As a result, I urge all my clients to try to write a script or adapt their novel into a script, because the act of doing so will make them into a better writer even if they never get their script produced.
Let’s assume one is thinking ahead, at the story conception phase. What does a novelist need to keep in mind if he or she would like to see a work adapted one day?
Those novels that tend to be adapted share certain similarities. First, they are successful brands that have a following and second, they have great, fresh, unique protagonists with stories that can be produced into a TV or film series franchises.
Do certain themes, stories or genres sell better than others?
I do think we see certain themes emerge as a result of the emotional and psychological needs of today’s culture. Hence, if there seems to be a lack of justice in society, I think you will see that some of the most popular stories emerging will be those that confront the theme of justice. Beyond that, I do also believe that aspiring writers need to think deeply about genres, in general. In other words, if they are considering writing a legal thriller, for example, they need to read all the best novels in that genre and have a deep understanding of what readers of that genre expect in terms of storytelling. Genres have fairly rigid rules and it’s impossible to achieve success in that genre without an understanding of those rules. In addition, with a deep understanding of the rules of each genre, you come to see that you must stay within the guard rails of that genre but also push the limits of these boundaries so that your work stands out and is differentiated from all the other work in that genre.
In your opinion, what are the best ways to generate film and TV interest in one’s novel? I assume mega-bestselling sales numbers is the general rule, but have you seen any other routes to success?
Yes, because producing a TV or film series is so expensive, in Hollywood today, the primary issue in terms of which novels to adapt is one that is based upon the pre-existing success of the brand. This makes sense, since successful novel series already have a large fan base that will be interested in watching the TV show or film adaptation. With that said, the best way to have a successful novel series is to have a film or TV series based upon the novel, so it becomes a sort of vicious circle. The fastest way to hurdle over the fact that maybe your novel is not a successful brand is to write a script adaptation yourself to prove to the world that it would make a good film or TV series.
Do you advise working with a film agent, entertainment attorney, or both?
Yes, like the New York publishing world, the world of Hollywood is driven by agents and lawyers so it does help to work with them. With that said, if one doesn’t have either, there are still ways to make contacts and move forward without them, and then if one makes inroads, the agents and lawyers will happily appear to help seal the deal.
Let’s assume one’s work has been optioned. Do you think it’s a good idea to try to adapt one’s own work? What considerations should be made?
Yes, I recommend adapting one’s own work, if you feel like you have the openness to change. What I mean by this is that yes, nobody knows more about your story than you, but due to the nature of scriptwriting, the screenwriter must be willing to combine characters, edit scenes and make massive changes to the story. Either way, as I mentioned, there is much to be learned about both novels and scripts by engaging in the process, since it will force you to understand both mediums at a much deeper level and since scriptwriting is such a highly structured form, you will be forced to become a better storyteller.
If the choice were made to adapt one’s own work, where would you begin? What resources do you suggest?
Well, without this sounding a bit too much like a shameless self-serving plug, I would recommend that anybody who is interested in writing scripts and/or engaging in the process of adaptation, read my book, HOW TO ADAPT ANYTHING INTO A SCREENPLAY, which presents a five-step adaptation process.
I once heard you say that the screenwriter owes nothing to the adapted work, i.e., to the original novel?
What this means is that the adaptor must not be slavishly faithful to the original work. It is the adaptor’s job to do whatever is necessary to write a good movie and if that means changing or adding or editing out elements of the original story, it must be done.
Any final advice you want to pass on to novelists with dreams of navigating the tricky waters of Hollywood?
Be bold, be daring, tell your story and as long as you keep becoming a better writer, keep writing and revising. And don’t send your work out too early!
Who are your favorite screenwriters?
When I was a film student, I read some of the early scripts of Shane Black and loved them, but there are many wonderful screenwriters out there, alive and dead–Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges, Woody Allen, Aaron Sorkin, Larry David, etc.
What should we wear to our Red Carpet premiere?
I suggest wearing black since it’s slimming.
Hollywood for WritersBy Layton Green
This month I have a special guest on International Thrills. I’d wager that all writers have at least one mentor who has impacted their careers along the way, from high school English teachers to professional editors to older writers. I have several, and one of them is Rich Krevolin, an extraordinary storyteller who has spent most of his life creating stories in various forms and imparting his wealth of knowledge to students the world over. Rich is an award-winning screenwriter, author and playwright who taught for many years in the USC film school, considered by most to be the No. 1 film school in the world. Rich has tutored more than 20,000 screenwriters and novelists, and his students have gone on to sell film scripts and TV shows to Universal, Fox, Paramount, Dreamworks SKG and numerous other big studios and production companies.
Many years ago, I signed up for one of Rich’s private seminars and was blown away by the breadth of his knowledge. When I heard he was coming to ThrillerFest to teach the Masterclass on Screenwriting for Novelists, I jumped at the chance to chat with him in person and discuss his fascinating career, the art of storytelling, and the long hard road a novel has to travel to make it to the Big Screen.
Thanks for taking the time to chat, Rich. Before we get to the good stuff, the super-easy, five-step process for adapting a novel into a million-dollar screenplay, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you come to be the Buddha of Storytelling?“
As a grad student at USC, I was awarded a teaching fellowship and then I created a series of lectures that I started delivering around the country. At one of these lectures, an acquisitions editor, Paula Munier, heard me speak and told me I should write a book on writing, so I compiled my lectures and wrote my first non-fiction writing book, Screenwriting From the Soul. (Years later, Paula actually became my agent.) Once that came out, I was swamped with scripts and manuscripts that people were emailing me. So, in a way, I sort of stumbled into it, or you might say it was thrust upon me as a result of my love of teaching. And I kept doing it, because I enjoyed helping people and it’s one of the few jobs you can do in bed in your underwear.
You’re a published author, playwright and screenwriter. Do you find one path easier or harder than another?
Well, they’re all pretty freaking competitive. Think about it. If you study hard and work hard and finish med school or law school, there are thousands of jobs out there for qualified people. But the arts aren’t like that. Even if you get an MFA in writing, that doesn’t mean you can even make a living as a writer. So, they all are difficult, but today, there are also opportunities that didn’t exist before. You can self-publish, you can produce your own plays, you can make your own low-budget film based on your script. So for the person who loves it and refuses to take no for an answer, there are more options than ever. And recently, I have come to see that I have many more clients who are novelists rather than screenwriters. I think this has come about because of several factor: the spec script marketplace has dried up and there are a hell of a lot more novels published every year than TV and film projects that are produced.
What traits do you think make for a successful novelist? Do you think that same skill set transfers to screenwriting? What else might be needed?
I always tell my clients that nobody writes a perfect first draft. The main thing that separates a published author or a produced screenwriter or playwright is that a real pro is a person who knows what to edit out and what to add to that imperfect draft to make it into something better that people want to publish or produce. And the professional writer understands that there could be many, many drafts involved and that it’s his or her job to take notes and to constantly revise the work.
Which aspect of screenwriting do you think novelists have the hardest time grasping?
In the most reductive sense, novelists deal with the inner lives of their characters while screenwriters must deal with their outer lives. In other words, novels are psychological, while scripts are visual. (And stage plays are dialogical.) So, the act of trying to write a script is a wonderful exercise in learning to tell a story visually and embody the golden rule of “Show me, don’t tell me.” As a result, I urge all my clients to try to write a script or adapt their novel into a script, because the act of doing so will make them into a better writer even if they never get their script produced.
Let’s assume one is thinking ahead, at the story conception phase. What does a novelist need to keep in mind if he or she would like to see a work adapted one day?
Those novels that tend to be adapted share certain similarities. First, they are successful brands that have a following and second, they have great, fresh, unique protagonists with stories that can be produced into a TV or film series franchises.
Do certain themes, stories or genres sell better than others?
I do think we see certain themes emerge as a result of the emotional and psychological needs of today’s culture. Hence, if there seems to be a lack of justice in society, I think you will see that some of the most popular stories emerging will be those that confront the theme of justice. Beyond that, I do also believe that aspiring writers need to think deeply about genres, in general. In other words, if they are considering writing a legal thriller, for example, they need to read all the best novels in that genre and have a deep understanding of what readers of that genre expect in terms of storytelling. Genres have fairly rigid rules and it’s impossible to achieve success in that genre without an understanding of those rules. In addition, with a deep understanding of the rules of each genre, you come to see that you must stay within the guard rails of that genre but also push the limits of these boundaries so that your work stands out and is differentiated from all the other work in that genre.
In your opinion, what are the best ways to generate film and TV interest in one’s novel? I assume mega-bestselling sales numbers is the general rule, but have you seen any other routes to success?
Yes, because producing a TV or film series is so expensive, in Hollywood today, the primary issue in terms of which novels to adapt is one that is based upon the pre-existing success of the brand. This makes sense, since successful novel series already have a large fan base that will be interested in watching the TV show or film adaptation. With that said, the best way to have a successful novel series is to have a film or TV series based upon the novel, so it becomes a sort of vicious circle. The fastest way to hurdle over the fact that maybe your novel is not a successful brand is to write a script adaptation yourself to prove to the world that it would make a good film or TV series.
Do you advise working with a film agent, entertainment attorney, or both?
Yes, like the New York publishing world, the world of Hollywood is driven by agents and lawyers so it does help to work with them. With that said, if one doesn’t have either, there are still ways to make contacts and move forward without them, and then if one makes inroads, the agents and lawyers will happily appear to help seal the deal.
Let’s assume one’s work has been optioned. Do you think it’s a good idea to try to adapt one’s own work? What considerations should be made?
Yes, I recommend adapting one’s own work, if you feel like you have the openness to change. What I mean by this is that yes, nobody knows more about your story than you, but due to the nature of scriptwriting, the screenwriter must be willing to combine characters, edit scenes and make massive changes to the story. Either way, as I mentioned, there is much to be learned about both novels and scripts by engaging in the process, since it will force you to understand both mediums at a much deeper level and since scriptwriting is such a highly structured form, you will be forced to become a better storyteller.
If the choice were made to adapt one’s own work, where would you begin? What resources do you suggest?
Well, without this sounding a bit too much like a shameless self-serving plug, I would recommend that anybody who is interested in writing scripts and/or engaging in the process of adaptation, read my book, HOW TO ADAPT ANYTHING INTO A SCREENPLAY, which presents a five-step adaptation process.
I once heard you say that the screenwriter owes nothing to the adapted work, i.e., to the original novel?
What this means is that the adaptor must not be slavishly faithful to the original work. It is the adaptor’s job to do whatever is necessary to write a good movie and if that means changing or adding or editing out elements of the original story, it must be done.
Any final advice you want to pass on to novelists with dreams of navigating the tricky waters of Hollywood?
Be bold, be daring, tell your story and as long as you keep becoming a better writer, keep writing and revising. And don’t send your work out too early!
Who are your favorite screenwriters?
When I was a film student, I read some of the early scripts of Shane Black and loved them, but there are many wonderful screenwriters out there, alive and dead–Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges, Woody Allen, Aaron Sorkin, Larry David, etc.
What should we wear to our Red Carpet premiere?
I suggest wearing black since it’s slimming.
Push the buttons above to read good articles on
Brand Narratives.
And please look below and
check out some of the seminars and teaching events
Just did a little radio interview in London about narratives..._
and check out this article on moral ambiguity in Film and TV.
and check out this article on moral ambiguity in Film and TV.
My new documentary film, "MAKING LIGHT IN TEREZIN" and the companion book have just been released and are available on Amazon and ITunes...
Unlike other Holocaust stories, my doc is uplifting and inspiring. The New Haven Register called it, “Moving… Miraculous… Life Altering.” Check it out here…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogguOPv5fqo
You can purchase the feature length film on Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Light-In-Terezin/dp/B00JU8V6HE
and you can download it on ITunes at
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/making-light-in-terezin/id825279891
and you can get the book at
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Light-Terezin-Show-Helps/dp/0615765947
Want to learn more about this film. Listen to writer, director, producer Richard Krevolin
talk about it on the Empowered Living Radio Podcast
Laughter in the Dark with guest Richard Krevolin on Empowered Living Radio
on Blog Talk Radio: http://bit.ly/1qzK3LD
on SoundCloud: http://bit.ly/1wsKNIx
Unlike other Holocaust stories, my doc is uplifting and inspiring. The New Haven Register called it, “Moving… Miraculous… Life Altering.” Check it out here…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogguOPv5fqo
You can purchase the feature length film on Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Light-In-Terezin/dp/B00JU8V6HE
and you can download it on ITunes at
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/making-light-in-terezin/id825279891
and you can get the book at
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Light-Terezin-Show-Helps/dp/0615765947
Want to learn more about this film. Listen to writer, director, producer Richard Krevolin
talk about it on the Empowered Living Radio Podcast
Laughter in the Dark with guest Richard Krevolin on Empowered Living Radio
on Blog Talk Radio: http://bit.ly/1qzK3LD
on SoundCloud: http://bit.ly/1wsKNIx
- BELOW IS A TRAILER AND AN EXCERPT FROM MY NEW FULL-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY,
- "MAKING LIGHT IN TEREZIN."
KREVOLIN ARTS FOUNDATION IS A REGISTERED 501(c)3 Not for profit
organization in the state of Florida.