Workshops, Lectures & Seminars Gilbert P. Mansergh Consulting How to write with a moviemakers eye Go to the movies with this noted film columnist and learn how increasing your visual literacy will make you a better writer— no matter what you write. Using film clips from “Out of Africa,” “Double Indemnity,” “The Big Sleep,” and dozens more, this lecture (or the longer, hands-on workshop) guides you to the entertaining and informative discovery that “what makes movies work” can make your fiction and nonfiction writing work as well. 50 minutes to 3 Hours (Handouts Provided)
     In lectures, workshops and seminars, Gilbert P. Mansergh, M.A. adroitly combines his training in developmental and educational psychology with carefully selected film clips and presents them within a thematic, participatory structure. The result is quite astounding—the whole is somehow greater than the sum of the parts.
     Several popular topics are displayed on this page but don’t let this limit your imagination.  Gil’s enjoys creating entertaining and informative new presentations to meet your specific needs.
What are Alfred Hitchcock’s 13 Writing Secrets? The “master of suspense” (with his wife, Alma,) co-wrote many of the screenplays for his movies. Learn how understanding the “Hitchcock style” can guide you to creating your own voice as you frame a bare-bones story, let your fears work for you, and create surprise and suspense. Film Clips are from “Psycho,” “Dial M for Murder,” “North by Northwest,” “The Lodger,” and a dozen more classics. 50 minutes to 3 Hours (Handouts Provided ) They Predict: Science vs. Fiction in Sc-Fi Films Movie makers have always enjoyed sharing their visual representations of “the future.” Often their predictions are amusingly wrong, but other times, their future seems uncannily like our present. Gil shares clips from dozens of films including classics like H.G. Welles’ “Things to Come,” Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,” and a campy 1930’s Maureen O’Sullivan musical comedy called “Just Imagine” as well as tales from “long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away.” 3 Hours (Handouts Provided ) The Myths and Realities of Growing Old: What We Can Learn From How Seniors Are Portrayed in Films In the last century, society viewed growing old as a series of losses which eventually lead to frailty and death. But in our new millennium, researchers discovered that many of the widely held myths of aging (perpetuated by movies and other media) were untrue. Almost overnight, the terms “healthy aging,” and “active aging” became popular and recent movies reflect this new perspective. But perhaps this pendulum has swung too far. Gil shares up-to-the-minute research data regarding the realities of the biological, social and emotional issues in the aging process and pairs this information with carefully selected movie clips to prompt discussions. Clips are from movies starring Henry and Jane Fonda, Art Carney, Jackie Gleason, Judy Dench, Jack Nicholson, Lupe Ontiveros, James Earl Jones, Remy Gerard, Joan Chen, John Wayne, and Tom Hanks. 3 Hours (Handouts Provided) Sample Workshops, Lectures & Seminars Psychotherapy Stereotypes and Professional Ethics in the Movies (Meets the CA mandated requirements for an Ethics and the Law class) In this seminar, we screen a number of films which illustrate different stereotypes filmmakers use when portraying the therapist, the client and the psychotherapeutic process. Relevant sections of the Codes of Ethics for Psychologists, LCSWs and MFTs are presented and compared side-by-side. The codes, along with research summaries and editorial commentaries from professional journals, prompt consideration of ethical and legal conflicts. Films include: The Prince of Tides, Good Will Hunting, Ordinary People,What About Bob?, Awakenings, Girl Interrupted, Mumford, As Good as it Gets, A Beautiful Mind, and Running With Scissors. 6 Hours (Resource Manual Included) Spousal/Partner Abuse: Assessment, Detection and Intervention (Meets the CA mandated requirements for an ADI class) Uses lecture, handouts, role-play and clips from What’s Love Got to Do With It?, The Great Santini, Enough, Public Enemy, The Quiet Man, and a dozen other films to help you identify and analyze patterns of emotional, physical, sexual and economic abuse and develop effective strategies to change the cycle of violence. 6 Hours (Resource Manual Included) Parenting Teens This seminar utilizes a number of films which focus on these developmental transitions—the choices to be made and the chances to be taken by children and parents on the journey they take together from adolescence to young adulthood. We invite mental health professionals to earn Continuing Education Credits as they learn how to utilize the powerful imagery of movies. Films include: Pleasantville, The Man In the Moon, Clueless, The Rivers Edge, Puberty Blues, 16 Candles, Breaking Away, Kids, Dazed and Confused, Say Anything, Boyz N the Hood, The Ice Storm, My Family, Avalon, The Joy Luck Club, Varsity Blues, 13, and Traffic. 6 Hours (Resource Manual Included) Writer’s Workshops Film Lectures The Cinema Therapy Newsletter #7 Oct. 24, 2003 Birgit Wolz Cinematherapy.com Continuing Education Seminars Seminar Feedback
 
 
NEW! Catching the Online Express: Taking Advantage of Web-Based Opportunities Premiering at the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference in late August, Gil’s new workshop is a practical, information-filled and easily understood outline of how writers and world-changers can quickly learn to access and utilize the power of the internet. This multi-media presentation includes slides from actual websites integrated with clips from Pirates of Silicon Valley, Dot.com, and others. 50 minutes to 3 Hours (Handouts Provided)
 
NEW! How to Effectively Use Broadcasts and Podcasts to Create a Bestseller
Word of mouth is still the best way to sell books, and today’s successful authors have two powerful electronic tools for getting their message to potential readers. Premiering at the Redwood Branch of the California Writers Club in November, this entertaining workshop uses clips from actual author interviews, publisher’s websites and podcasts to illustrate  what works—and what doesn’t.
50 minutes to 3 hours                               (Handouts Provided)