Screenwriting Workshop Begins May 15

If you have, throughout your divorce process, made your friends say, "oh no he did not," or "are you kidding me??!" more than three times, then maybe you have a good story to tell. Writing can be a low-cost therapeutic way to process your emotions about a difficult time. So, if you think you have enough for a book or a movie -- here's your chance to kick it off:

Screenwriter Beaty Reynolds will be offering a three-week workshop at 6:30 p.m., May 15, 22, and 29 at the Phillip Rush Center and a portion of the proceeds from the classes will be donated to Georgia Equality. The Phillip Rush Center is located at 1530 DeKalb Ave. Atlanta, GA 30307.

Rooted in independent filmmaking, the classes will focus on character-driven story development and tackle the FOUR CRITICAL ISSUES that sabotage the vast majority of screenplays. The seminar will include in-class writing exercises. The cost is $75.00.

During his 20 years in Hollywood, Reynolds wrote screenplays for such producers as actress Diane Keaton, Laura Ziskin ("Pretty Woman," "Spiderman" series), Diana Kerew ("Paris Trout"), Arlene Sellers (Circle of Friends) and Mark Gordon ("Saving Private Ryan"), as well as Paramount, Sony Pictures, Fox, Columbia Studios, NBC, CBS, and HBO. He is the writer of “Puppy Love,” which won best short film at the L.A. Independent Film Festival and stars Grace Zabriskie. An except from his novel JUNKYARD PEOPLE was published in the MID-AMERICAN REVIEW. Reynolds' plays have been performed in New York, New Orleans, and Atlanta.

He is the writer and producer of THE MIGHTY KING OF LOVE, which is currently in post-production in Denver and Los Angeles.

Contact to Sign Up: Beaty Reynolds @ 303-909-8995 or beatyre@msn.com

Why You Need an Advance Directive for Healthcare

Thanks to the Georgia State Retirees Association, which invited me to speak to them yesterday about the importance of Advance Directives for Healthcare. Why should you execute an Advance Directive for Healthcare? Here are some of the big ones:

1) It's free. The Georgia Legislature created a form, so you don't have to worry about the language or pay a lawyer to do it.

2) It allows you to die with dignity. We are all going to die, but we will not all have choices about how it happens.

3) It costs you money NOT to execute one. Guess who pays the tab if you are in the hospital in a coma for months? Your estate. This can mean there is nothing left for you to leave your heirs in your Will after all, if they have to sell your assets to pay medical bills first.

4) You might want to override the default decision-maker. If you have an unmarried partner (of any gender), and you want that person to make decisions about what happens to you, you need to name that person as the decision-maker.

5) You want to spare your family the anxiety of second-guessing what you would have wanted. Don't assume your adult children just know what you want -- they might not.

Advance Directives do not need to be notarized, so if you can find two adults who will not benefit from your death, you can execute one right now. Do it.