By Laura Koenig | The Echo
In his youth, he dreamed about becoming a dentist. But God soon led Hollywood scriptwriter and best-selling author Bill Myers to a different career- film directing. Now, his name is on the covers of multiple books and in the credits of TV shows and movies. Myers came to share his experiences with a scriptwriting class at Taylor this J-term.
His name became ingrained in many of our childhood memories through shows like "McGee and Me!" and book series such as "The Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle." Myers brought his wisdom and experience to the classroom, teaching students about the influence of the media, the importance of integrating faith and the tools for creating quality scripts.
Myers talked about the role that movies, TV shows and books play in setting the moral standards in our culture.
"I don't care how smart you are or how moral you are, I can change your outlook on any situation if you watch enough of my stories or anybody's stories," Myers said.
Because of the power of the media, Myers recognizes the importance of bringing the hope and message of Jesus Christ into his work, mostly by showing his audience who God is. He reflects this in his teaching and his company, Amaris Media, International-a company which creates motion pictures and media for children and adults.
"It's not so much being Evangelical, but letting people see who God really is and then letting them make their own decision," Myers said.
Myers equipped each student in his class with tools to craft quality scripts that glorify God, whether they write for secular or Christian markets. A few tools the students studied were the basic structures of scriptwriting, business, dialogue and comedy. They practiced each tool in class under Myers' guidance.
The students began by writing a rough draft of a script, editing it everyday after learning new elements of formatting, plot, dialogue, characters and humor.
"Through this step-by-step process, I found the bare-bones story I had thrown together on day one could have more artfulness and meaning than I had imagined possible," said junior Alexis Colón.
Several students mentioned that Myers taught them how to make the dialogue "dance" while constantly challenging them to become better.
The scriptwriting class taught Taylor students the foundational tools for scriptwriting while weaving in the concept of the bigger picture: glorifying God. Myers saw each student improve throughout J-term as he used his decades of experience to guide them.
He recognizes the importance of artisans and the power they have to change a culture.
"I guess that is why I'm not satisfied with my life yet," Myers said. "I don't want to change a life. I want to change the whole stinkin' culture. And you can do it through the media."
