Angelfire Arts
Wendy Jane Henson, MA
Welcome. Come in. Don't be shy.
This site is for people who chase the Hollywood dream. Or at least those who think they want to try. It is a dream that many people have. All are encouraged to make use of this site, whether it is simply to answer a question, or to find helpful reference materials.
I began writing for print when I was in high school. My articles have appeared in national magazines and on the Internet. My novel, Honor Song, was adapted from my screenplay of the same title. As much as I love writing, however, my greatest passion is drama.
Originally trained as an actress, I hold a bachelor's degree in theater arts and a master's degree in screenwriting. Working in educational and non-
I was greatly encouraged when my first screenplay was a finalist in the Artist Trust Awards and then a quarterfinalist in the Nicholl Fellowships, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Since then, I have written four more scripts, including:
HONOR SONG, winner of Acclaim Screenwriting Competition and Gap Awards, a Nicholl Fellowship semifinalist, and a quarterfinalist in the Fresh Voices, StoryPros, and Cynosure Awards.
YONKHEER, a finalist in the Nicholl Fellowships (one of ten scripts selected out of 6,073 entries) and the Creative World Awards, also earned semi and quarterfinalist placements in the Script Savvy, Fresh Voices, and Austin Screenwriting contests.
Contests are one way to gain access to the film industry, and happily, all of my screenplays have performed well in competition. To date, I have had three film options. One of them was an "almost produced" experience that revealed the frustration and stress of development hell. I hope to have fingernails left when one of my scripts finally reaches the screen. (Fair warning: Writing a screenplay is the easy part. Selling one, let alone getting it produced, is far more difficult. But more about that later.)
I have taught theater arts and creative writing at Portland Community College, Portland State University and Marylhurst University in Portland, Oregon. I also taught screenwriting online for the film industry trade magazine, Hollywood Scriptwriter, and I have been a mentor for the Santa Fe Screenwriters Conference. When I began teaching, I couldn't find a suitable textbook for first time screenwriters, so I wrote SCREENWRITING: STEP BY STEP. Translated into various languages, including Chinese, it is used for screenwriting courses worldwide.