Joel Levin

Instructor Bio:

M.F.A. in film directing (USC); former NYC IATSE camera assistant, junior development exec for Nickelodeon Movies, freelance script reader, and VP Final Draft Technical Support since 2004. Mr. Levin has authored the last four Final Draft manuals and FD’s online knowledge base.

Instructor Statement:

Script coordinators and writers’ assistants have a tough job, and if there are gaps in their knowledge of one of the main tools they use, the job is even harder. My goal is to turn out Final Draft experts so that when they’re working on a film or a show, the one thing they won’t have to worry about is how to wrangle the program. I’ve helped showrunners, IT people, script coordinators and writers’ assistants, A-list writers, UPMs and ADs, college kids and elderly people, and a lot of writers just starting out; I can work with whatever skill level you bring to the class. There’s no creativity here – we’ll be looking at Final Draft not as the program in which you write your masterpiece, but as a machine used for collaborative film and television production. There are right and wrong ways to use it, and I‘ll be demonstrating features and best practices that will (hopefully) make your next – or your first – job as a script coordinator or writers’ assistant a little easier.