American Screenwriters Association

The American Screenwriters Association (ASA) is a community of screenwriters and filmmakers, sharing their combined knowledge of screenwriting and the movie industry as a whole. Its primary mission is to help emerging screenwriters hone their screenwriting skills and market their screenplays . They encourage dialogue between screenwriters, producers, filmmakers, actors, and industry to ensure mutual success. They seek new avenues to promote and market their members’ screenplays, and develop new relationships within the industry to increase member visibility.

Originally founded in 1996 by John E. Johnson in Cincinnati, OH, in response to the void he perceived between emerging screenwriters and the industry. A short four years later, ASA had grown to 650+ members in 8 countries, conducts 2 international competitions, is implementing an exciting pilot project with Time Warner Cable this fall, and recently acquired responsibility for the longest running screenwriting conference in America, SELLING TO HOLLYWOOD. tJohn's first break came while he was having lunch with a friend in Wilmington, NC. John overheard an assistant producer discussing the need for more extras on a film being done there, Simple Justice, starring Andre Braugher, Samuel L. Jackson and James Avery. Interrupting their conversation John talked his way into a featured extra role playing a court reporter, photographer and spectator. He was also a casting assistant for the independent movie This Train. John has gone on to write numerous screenplays (To No Avail, The True Life Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Fish, The Last Time I Saw Eve, Christmas on Jane Street) and radio dramas, and eventually formed the American Screenwriters Association(ASA). Leading the charge for emerging screenwriters, John built the ASA into a 1,300 plus member organization with members in thirty-two countries on four continents in 939 cities. ASA now runs the longest running and premier screenwriting conference in the world, the ASA International Screenwriters Conference, offers an industry-leading International Screenplay Competition with more than 1,200 entries a year, and initiated the Screenwriting Hall of Fame Awards honoring individuals who have made contributions to the art of screenwriting. He was invited by the International Bar Association to be a panelist at the 57th Festival de Cannes discussing adapting literary works into screenplay, and was a featured speaker at the Les Journées du scénario à Marseille ("Days of the Scenario in Marseilles")in Marseille, France. John has also taught at the Austin Film Festival, the Marco Island Film Festival, Baltimore Writer's Conference, the Midwest Music and Film Conference and the Waterfront Film Festival, and is a Second Decade Council member of the American Film Institute (AFI). He has appeared on CNN International as a speaker on Racism in Hollywood, and has been featured in various trade publications and newspapers such as Screenwriting Secrets (Writers Digest), Script, Honolulu Star Bulletin and Creative Screenwriting. he organization became dormant after John Johnson's passing in 2008.

ASA was reborn in January 2012 under the direction of Steven Kirwan, (Editor, Publisher, Screenwriter), and Executive Director and Screenwriter Ron Montana (Author - Ride a White Zebra, Sign of the Thunderbird, more).

External links

• Official website