Screenwriting with Ambition
“My teaching and filmmaking are very connected,” says screenwriter and clinical professor Michelle Amor Gillie.
The Chicago native uses her roots as a landscape for her storytelling. Her family upbringing and the dynamics of Windy City politics have inspired various television and writing projects, including the CBS drama “The Honorable,” and a new project she recently sold to Lifetime. And it’s that firsthand experience she brings to the classroom.
As a clinical professor of screenwriting at LMU’s School of Film and Television, Gillie helps students hone their craft and imparts practical lessons to help them in their journey: to tell stories only they can tell, keep networking and writing, find balance, and, above all, remember their value. “I know from my own experience how important it can be to have people in your network who extend a hand,” she says. I like to be that for my students.”
“It’s such a joy to teach the next generation of screenwriters, especially LMU students who are truly some of the brightest and most talented I’ve worked with,” Gillie says. “Plus, teaching has made me a better writer.”