Award-winning filmmaker and storyteller Harvey Ovshinsky leads a six-session workshop called "How to Complete Your First Movie Script in Six Months" in Ann Arbor, starting in January.

This support group for aspiring/frustrated screenwriters will meet once a month, beginning January 4, at the Jewish Community Center of Ann Arbor. 

The workshop costs $325; to register, call 734-971-0990. (For more information, call 734-996-8011.)

Participants will receive a sample script; a complete bibliography of screenwriting books, publications and contests; information about software for formatting scripts; and the latest version of Ovshinsky’s popular handout, "The Ten Most Important First Rules of Storytelling." Writers will receive direction, motivation and personal attention, both from Ovshinsky and each other as they share their works-in-progress with the group. The goal is for each participant to complete a first draft of a finished screenplay by time they "graduate" in June.

Ovshinsky has taught screenwriting and documentary filmmaking at Wayne State University and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University, Madonna University, Schoolcraft College and Macomb County Community College. Ovshinsky and his story consulting and video production company, HKO Media, have been awarded broadcasting's highest honors, including an Emmy Award, a Peabody, a DuPont-Columbia University Award, and the American Film Institute's Robert M. Bennett Award for Excellence.