Michael David Quinn
Visual Storytelling Bronx Community College - CUNYAbout Me
For the past year I have been an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the film program of Bronx Community College (BCC) in New York City, where I've been teaching "Introduction to Visual Storytelling." I have received excellent evaluations from faculty who have observed my class —but the person I replaced is returning from her sabbatical next fall, so I am looking for a new opportunity to teach screenwriting and/or playwriting and what I've come to call “the strategy of narrative.”
That year of teaching at BCC was preceded by nine years of running “pitch classes” for the BCC film program in which the students presented their ideas for their five-minute thesis films and I critiqued each project’s strengths and weaknesses, following up with one-on-one evaluation of the various drafts of their screenplays. Indeed, the class I am teaching now is an outgrowth of that decade of work with aspiring filmmakers (some of whom now work in the industry).
I have a long list of credits as a playwright and television writer and my work in other genres as well (I often say I’ve written everything but space shuttle manuals and bad checks). Among the highlights: TV scripts for All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital (where I picked up my Emmy) and children’s cartoons. I am also the author of various stage comedies and dramas (and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama playwriting program). Additionally, I’ve written journalism for a range of outlets (I worked at TIME magazine for 11 years in various sections.
I can provide references from the chair of BCC’s Department of Communication Arts and Sciences and the director of the film program, my syllabus for “Introduction to Visual Storytelling,” the PowerPoint slides I created to summarize the key points of each lesson, even a video of one of my pitch classes.
I am looking for opportunities in New York City and New Orleans, but I also have experience in teaching remotely.
Michael D. Quinn
Degrees
Bachelor - 1976
Theatre Studies
Binghamton University, State University of New York
Master - 1978
Theatre Studies
Binghamton University, State University of New York
(MFA) Master of Fine Arts - 1984
Playwriting
Yale University
Teaching History
Visual Storytelling
Bronx Community College - CUNY
Aug 2022 - May 2023
For nine years I ran “pitch classes” for the Bronx Community College Media and Digital Production program where students presented their ideas for their five-minute thesis films and I critiqued each project’s strengths and weaknesses, following up with one-on-one evaluation of the various drafts of their screenplays. An expanded version of this became my "Introduction to Visual Storytelling" class in which the students; were introduced to the basic elements of story structure (exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution); watched, discussed and wrote about films that demonstrated those story elements in action; and wrote two short screenplays per semester based on what they learned in class, I also incited filmmakers who had recently graduated from the BCC film program to come to class, screen their work and talk about it with my students.