Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Dear readers,

It is my pleasure to present you the second issue of Screenwriters’ Perspectives. Unlike our inaugural issue, in addition to publishing academic film analyses, we have introduced three new sections to our issue this year: interview, theme of the year and hidden gems. The interview section highlights the profile of rising figures in the screenwriting industry, while the theme of the year section features a compilation of reviews on films that convey the same topic, one that our editorial board has decided to be of particular importance in that given year. Finally, the hidden gems section, which showcases a collection of films that members of our club consider to be underrated and deserve greater recognition. We hope that the introduction of these novel sections will broaden the breadth of the content in our journal and enrich your reading experience.

This year for our interview section, we are very honored to publish the interviews that we had with Mr. Michael Tucker and Professor Daniel Scott Tysdal. Michael is the creator of the YouTube Channel “Lessons from the Screenplay”, and Daniel is an Associate Professor at the Department of English in the University of Toronto. Apart from the interview section, for our traditional academic film analyses section, we are publishing ten original analyses this year, specifically featuring Michelle Cruz’s analysis on Hidden Figures and Freya Abbas’ analysis on Roma respectively. Finally, for our ‘Theme of the Year’ section, in light of the continuous racist incidents that still unfortunately prevail in today’s society, we decided that anti-racism would be an important topic to address this year. In doing so, we hope to promote film in discussions of racial inequality: how screenwriting can challenge us in so many ways and help us see aspects of problems of which we had not previously been aware.

Apart from this, on behalf of our club, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to Professor Tysdal for accepting our invitation in becoming our club’s faculty adviser. He has spared a significant amount of time to participate in our club’s activities on a volunteer basis. We are very grateful for his participation and we are looking forward to establishing more collaborations with him in the future. I would like to thank Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC) for their support in funding the publication of this journal. This initiative would have not been possible without their financial support. Special thanks also go to all the students who have contributed to our issue this year, including all the editors, authors and designers. It is a such a pleasure to see the content of our journal to be increasingly diverse and enriched.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that this year will be my last year of this club’s presidency. I founded this club back in 2018 with the aim to provide a high-quality learning environment for students who are interested in learning screenwriting at U of T, and with the help from many enthusiastic and dedicated peers, such as Elizabeth and Vikram, the club has amazingly matured and developed over the past few years. It is my absolute privilege to work with these individuals and witness the club’s significant transformation since its establishment. I hope that my departure will create more opportunities for prospective leaders in the club, and that the future presidents will guide the club in a new direction while maintaining the traditional academic nature.

Kenneth Ting

PhD Candidate, Department of Immunology, University of Toronto Founder & 2018-2021 President of Screenwriting at Victoria College