Dr. Samuelsen earned a Bachelor's Degree from Brigham Young University in 1983 and a Doctorate Degree from Indiana University in 1991. He teaches theater courses on history, theory, criticism, and playwriting. Eric Samuelsen has received the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) Award for Drama an unprecidented 3 times: For Accommodations: a Play in Three Acts in 1994; Gadianton in 1997; and The Way We're Wired in 1999. (Tim Slover has been granted the same award twice, and Thomas F. Rogers, Neil Labute, Margaret Blair Young and J. Scott Bronson have each received it once.)

Anybody who has browsed the ldsfilm.com website is aware that this is a purely informational website, offering no goods or services and accepting no outside funds. Dr. Samuelsen's services are offered in a similar spirit. Through long participation on AML-List we have become familiar with Dr. Samuelsen's expertise as a critic, writer and playwright. We have discussed his screenplay evaluation service with him, and we are wholeheartedly recommend this as an opportunity with no strings attached that is certain to improve the quality of your film.

There is no expectation that money will change hands. Dr. Samuelsen is not interested in becoming a co-writer on your film or "breaking into" movies. Dr. Samuelsen has no interest in influencing what type of genre your film fits into (if any), what its message is, or how it will be filmed. His focus is on the quality of the writing. Whether you're writing a comedy or a serious drama, for mass appeal or an art house crowd, good writing makes any film better.

Any screenwriter, director or producer with a screenplay slated for production (or with a reasonable expectation of being produced), is invited to write to Dr. Samuelsen at eric_samuelsen@byu.edu. Please provide the following information, as much as possible:

• author of the screenplay
• length of the screenplay
• anticipated length of the film
• genre
• describe the story (two or three sentences)
• director
• producer/production company
• anticipated production date

This information will be forwarded to Dr. Samuelsen, who will contact you with instructions about how to send him the screenplay. Dr. Samuelsen will be happy to work with your production company's nondisclosure agreements and other legal documents.

In addition to a written evaluation, one outside script per year will be allowed in the Writers/Directors/Actors workshop (WDA), in which it will be intensively workshopped by student actors and directors. There is no cost associated with this, and writers are welcome to withdraw their work for consideration. With regards to "outside" scripts (those not written by BYU Theater Department students), only feature length screenplays with a reasonable chance of being produced are eligible for consideration in WDA.

This service is provided out of an earnest desire to improve the quality of Latter-day Saint filmmaking.

Here are some additional points to keep in mind:

• Dr. Samuelsen and his staff only have time to read and respond to screenplays by writers who are genuinely interested in feedback. They don't need any kind of guarantee that their suggestions will be implemented. But they do want to be sure that the writer is interested in improving.

• An expert script critique is available to short films as well as feature-length films. In either case, there should be a reasonable possibility that the script will be produced.

• Finally, Dr. Samuelsen notes: "I really do just want to see the work improve. I really don't want anything in return. If my suggestions do result in an improved script, and the filmmakers want to express their appreciation, then a donation to the Department Media Arts Production fund would be welcome, but I don't want in any way to suggest that my contributions come with any strings attached."