Las Vegas Screenwriter Makes Good
Dan Decker provides Dramatic Short Films and Theater Productions
May 24, 2008
Las Vegas resident Dan Decker just keeps doing what he’s doing, whether Hollywood agrees with him or not. His group, Theater Las Vegas, has produced a short film, Just Coffee, with nine more short films in the works. His book, Anatomy of a Screenplay is used at colleges and film schools across the U.S. And, he consults to the film offices of Utah, Virginia, Mississippi, Illinois and Nevada. In September, he will be offering a free one-day screenwriting seminar, sponsored by the Nevada Film Office, in Las Vegas and Reno. He expects the seminars to be full.
A Screenwriting Genius?
Decker says that he served five years as Executive Director of a children’s drama program, and then founded and ran a commercial screenwriting school in Chicago for 15 years. He said that for the short film (in Las Vegas), students were told to develop a story for two characters in five pages or less. The production of the short films came out of a lecture he gave for the Las Vegas Screen Actors Guild/Nevada Conservatory. “They invited me to talk, so I talked on writing for actors, and acting for writers,” he says. “Two actors did a reading of a scene in the conservatory workshop and they ended up in the film. The SAG Nevada Conservatory lectures are open to the public.”
Just Coffee, which is three minutes long, is the story of a woman who enters a coffee shop. She is preoccupied, and wants “Just Coffee.” The film was written by Laura Heine, says Decker. “She’s very talented,” he says.
Decker explains that the short films are meant to be “three-minute calling cards” for the actors. In addition to posting them on the internet, they will fit on small DVDs and can be handed out with business cards. He says that he is working on other projects for Theater Las Vegas, as well.
American Hamlet
“I have a number of theater projects I am working on right now,” he says. “I am a big Shakespeare fan. I have written a new version of Hamlet that applies contemporary screenplay guidelines to the story. It’s a restructuring – there are only eight characters in it.”
American Hamlet is ninety minutes long, with no intermission. The play is in the reading stages, with plans to be on stage in the fall.
“We plan to do a school tour in the fall,” Decker says. “It will be a fully-staged production for high school students. The key to American Hamlet is that it is accessible. Americans will understand every word. It is gripping – the audience will be on the edge of their seats for the full 90 minutes.”
Decker says that he has “always been writing something.” “It was a long journey to get to where I write every day,” he explains. “You have to commit to doing it. That commitment is an act of faith. You take the leap and hope that something will happen.”
An Argument
Decker will not discuss his educational background, other than to say he was a Drama major. He did not go to film school. He has plenty to say, though, about writing.
“Writers, when left to their own devices, will write character-driven stories,” he says. “Unfortunately, the audience (for film) is used to blockbusters. The question is, did the audience desert the dramas, or did Hollywood desert the audience?”
Decker says that people still want drama. Theater Las Vegas is meant to provide it. He adds, “Once you get the quality on the stage and do it consistently and professionally, people will come. Over 36,000 people drive from Las Vegas to Utah to see the Shakespeare festival every year. Last year, the city of Henderson did Shakespeare in the Park. Nine thousand people showed up in one weekend.”
In addition to his work with Theater Las Vegas, Decker says he has a one-man play that he wrote that might go off-Broadway. Shakespeare’s Roses, “…another Shakespeare thing,” may be staged in Las Vegas before it goes to New York, he says, as part of the inaugural season of a new theater.
 |
