UNHM Hosts Pitch Fiesta Mocktail
 
By Kim Lamarre-Wall, UNHM College Relations

The UNH Manchester Communication Arts program hosted a Pitch Fiesta Mocktail, a mock film festival cocktail party where UNH Manchester students pitched their screenplay ideas to classmates and guests. 

Pictured from left to right are: Barrett Huntress, Jasmine Harris, Adam Lauferswiler and Cara Long, UNHM communication arts students. (Courtesy photo.)

The class examines the pre-production phase of moving image media, focusing especially on the art and business of writing for the screen. The student screenplay titles included “Bread and Wine” and “Et Tu?” by Barrett Huntress; “What Luck” and “Spoiled” by Cara Long; and “I Do” and “Five Alarm Fire” by Shana Hybsch.  The Pitch Fiesta was part of an assignment in the Introduction to Script writing course offered in the UNH Manchester Communication Arts program and taught by award-winning screenwriter and playwright Dana Biscotti Myskowski.
 
The UNH Manchester Communication Arts major is grounded in the liberal arts and has three suggested concentrations: news, moving image media, and relational communication. Students explore the how and why of the ways we communicate with other people: through our words, our actions, and our technologies. Students develop a valuable combination of practical knowledge and critical thinking ability that is attractive to employers in communication-related industries and professions such as film, radio, television, journalism, public relations, sales, advertising, counseling, conflict mediation, and others.
 
New Hampshire-based, award-winning screenwriter and playwright Dana Biscotti Myskowski teaches screenwriting as an adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire-Manchester and is ScriptBiz Director for the Rhode Island International Film Festival.  Her multimedia script "Breathing Space" premieres this fall at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord. Her romantic comedy feature-spec "Box Score" has been selected for a staged reading at the New Hampshire State Library this fall. Her stage adaptation, "Fluffy Follow Devil" based on Mark Twain’s "Tom Sawyer," debuted in July. Her latest projects include penning a “Writing the Short Script” book proposal that she is working on with her agent; presenting workshops for film festivals and writer’s organizations, and offering her services as a reader and reviewer of short scripts.  She holds a professional certificate in screenwriting from UCLA.