Ken Kwapis Master Class: "But What I Really Want to Do is Direct"

The Department of Film and Media Studies presents:
Ken Kwapis Master Class: "But What I Really Want to Do is Direct"
7:30 - 9pm Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Acclaimed film and television director Ken Kwapis will conduct a Master Class about his career for Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community on October 20, 2020 at 7:30pm.

Ken Kwapis has charted a career full of exceptional movies and television, from seminal shows like The Office to beloved films such as He's Just Not That Into You. In his first book, BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO IS DIRECT (on sale Oct 6, 2020; St. Martin's Griffin), Kengives readers an intimate look at the director's life, drawing on his own experiences in the business. At some times painful and stressful, while at others hilarious and jubilant, this book provides an unfiltered view of what it truly takes to call the shots on set.  

Kwapis has directed eleven feature films, among them A Walk In The Woods, based on Bill Bryson's acclaimed comedic memoir, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, adapted from the beloved young adult novel. Other films include the rescue adventure Big Miracle, and the romantic comedies License to Wed and He Said, She Said (co-directed with Marisa Silver). His feature debut was Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, starring Jim Henson's Muppets.

For television, Kwapis helped launch nine series, including the groundbreaking HBO comedy The Larry Sanders Show, Fox's Emmy Award-winning The Bernie Mac Show, and NBC's The Office. Kwapis directed the pilot of The Office and its series finale, along with many memorable episodes—"Casino Night," "Booze Cruise," "Diversity Day," to name a few. He earned an Emmy nomination for directing the episode "Gay Witch Hunt." Kwapis also earned an Emmy nomination for his work as a producer-director of Fox's Malcolm In The Middle. Other series Kwapis helped launch include NBC's Outsourced, Showtime's Happyish, and Netflix's #blackAF. He directed numerous episodes of shows such as Freaks and Geeks, One Mississippi, and Santa Clarita Diet.

His book, BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO IS DIRECT (2020) is both a career memoir and a guidebook for aspiring filmmakers. A limited number of signed copies of the book will be available at Still North Books, 3 Allen Street in Hanover.  15 copies will be available to students for free, courtesy of the Film and Media Studies Department.  Please contact Prof. Mark Williams [mark.j.williams@dartmouth.edu] to be on the list for these free copies of the book!

The Zoom Webinar link is: https://dartmouth.zoom.us/j/97181646753?pwd=ZE1WanJFQ1F5RFRpMnZSZGw3RHhsdz09