Tavia, what is the most surprising thing you've discovered about young scriptwriters these days? Do you think the YWP might be fostering the next Charlie Kaufman or Wes Anderson? What is the zaniest plot idea you’ve heard out of a participant?

Funny you should ask. I actually had the opportunity to meet a classroom full of young scriptwriters this morning at Hayward High School, just a few miles down the road from Script Frenzy HQ. Ms. Daskarolis so graciously allowed Jen Arzt and I to spend an hour with her creative first-time Script Frenzy participants, and it was amazing.

These students were writing everything from teen horrors to workplace romances to vampire mysteries to tear-jerker family dramas to action-packed superhero flicks. We were blown away by how enthusiastic the students were in sharing their ideas with us and in how creative and well thought out their plots were. It's just so exciting to see teen writers at work, penning the movies that they want to see, and writing something that they really care about.

Jen and I came in to teach the students how to write loglines. When I mentioned that they each needed to summarize their entire screenplay in a sentence, one student scoffed at me:

"One sentence," he said, "How about one word: 'College.'"

Granted, the students got right on task without much help from us. These students must have been writing their loglines while we were teaching because by the time I said 'go' and started walking around to see if anyone needed any help, most of them were already finished. Not only are these students brilliant, they're fast to boot. If I had any advice for Hollywood executives worried about the fate of the silver screen, it'd be to start looking to a younger generation for their next blockbusters!

And to Wes and Charlie: Look out!

Tavia Stewart is the Program Director for Script Frenzy's YWP. Her 2009 script is Never Say Always, a dramedy starring Phil Collins.