From Script to Film: One Filmmaker’s Journey

Friday, November 3 at 10:30 AM
in the Courtyard

and 

Monday, November 6 at 10:30 AM
in the Raymund Room

Longtime writer and editor Bruce Novotny decided time had come to make a film of his own. With no experience as either a director or producer, and a lot of questions ahead, he plunged headlong into the mysteries of filmmaking. What came out the other side was a lovingly crafted short film, and a newly-minted filmmaker with a director’s credit on his résumé, plus valuable lessons in writing and post-production, disciplines he thought he’d mastered.

Bruce worked for almost two decades as a film and TV editor, getting his start at a world-renowned agency in Malibu, where he worked on public affairs campaigns, studied today in university political science programs. He edited feature films and documentaries, series TV and music performances. Bruce co-produced a successful series of PSAs supporting marriage equality in 2009. This summer he finished writing, producing and directing a film now in post-production.

Bruce published a novel, Tales From an Endless Summer (Down The Shore Press), in1996, and wrote regular columns for newspapers on the Jersey Shore before moving to Ventura County. He’s currently a practicing screenwriter in addition to his work as an editor. His education came from the Universities of Notre Dame and Cambridge, representing both on the soccer pitch, and is active with the Notre Dame Club of Ventura County.