The Bermuda International Film Festival will be offering budding writers a unique experience next month to learn the ins and outs of Hollywood screenwriting from those working in the trenches of the competitive industry.

BIFF is hosting the three-day seminar from June 20-22.

Hollywood-based scriptwriters David Garrett, Brian Sawyer and Gregg Rossen will present the seminar, which is presented in partnership with Butterfield Bank, sponsor of the festival's Bermuda Film Academy educational programme.

The event is the first of four film-related seminars to be held by BIFF over the next 12 months.

An introductory session will take place from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, June 20 and be followed by full-day sessions on both Saturday (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m.-5 p.m.).

The sessions will explore the creative, business and motivational challenges that every screenwriter faces.

The seminar will educate participants in the fundamentals of screenwriting and the Hollywood system, presenting the tools that aspiring screenwriters need to create marketable scripts.

The screenwriting trio has successfully presented the seminar at festivals throughout the United States, as well as in Stockholm, Reykjavik and Sydney.

"David, Brian and Gregg are working screenwriters who know how to get a screenplay written, and also how to navigate the Hollywood system," said BIFF director Aideen Ratteray Pryse (pictured).

"This is a very practical, hands-on seminar that will give you advice from the trenches about how to create and sell a commercial, successful script. We expect that it will be extremely popular, and so we are advising early sign-up." Mr. Garrett has written scripts for directors Ivan Reitman at DreamWorks, Tom Shadyac at Universal and Peter Segal. He co-wrote 'Deuce Bigelow: American Gigolo', and wrote 'First Pet' and 'Corky Romano' for Disney.

He has co-written and produced a dozen pilots, series and specials for ABC, NBC, CBS, UPN, Comedy Central, Showtime and Fox. He is an attorney, a member of the California State Bar and a graduate of UCLA Law School.

Mr. Sawyer's short film 'Tex the Passive Aggressive Gunslinger' played at a variety of film festivals around the world, including BIFF in 2001. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of California (Berkeley).

He works closely with Mr. Rossen, also a Berkeley grad, who won the Student Emmy Award for Best Comedy for his short film, 'The Grail Guy'. His most recent short film, 'The Revenge of the Red Balloon', debuted at Slamdance in Park City and has won several festival awards.

He is a regular contributor to MovieMaker magazine and helped edit the screenwriting book, 'Story Sense', by Paul Lucey.

The twosome sold their comedy screenplay 'Nascar Girl' to New Line Cinema, their comedy script 'Guida' to Revolution Studios and the dance-spoof pitch 'Save the Last Dirty Flashdance for Footloose Bill Elliott' to Tapestry Entertainment.

They are currently developing 'Model Family', a TV pilot starring Jamie Kennedy for Twentieth Century Fox Television based on the short film they wrote, directed and produced.

They recently co-wrote, 'Pixar's 20th Anniversary Special' for ABC. They are currently producing the John Delorean picture 'Hard Driving' which is currently being written by Marcos Efron.

The seminar is limited to 36 participants. The cost is $199. To register, please go to the festival web site at www.biff.bm, and download an application form. A full description of the three-day seminar is available on the website.