TITLES

Wishbone — PBS
Screenwriter — 5 PBS episodes

• Rip Van Winkle (Big Feats! 1995)
• Silas Marner (Big Feats! 1995)
• "The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allan Poe (Big Feats! 1995)
• Hercules — also released as a home video (Big Feats! 1995)
• The Monkey King — an Asian folktale (Big Feats! 1996)

Barney & Friends — PBS
Screenwriter — 46 PBS episodes (Lyons Group 1991-2002)

Screenwriter — 11 home videos, including:

• Barney's Talent Show (Lyons Group 1996)
• Barney's Adventure Bus (Lyons Group 1997)
• Barney's Sense-sational Day (Lyons Group 1997)

Author — 29 books, including:

• Barney's Big Balloon (Barney Publishing 1995)
• Barney & Baby Bop's Band (British Puffin Books 1995)
• Catch That Hat (Golden Books 1996)
• Sharing Is Caring (Golden Books 1997)
• You Can Count (Publications Intn'l. 1997)
• Barney's Alphabet Adventure (BP/Kideo 1998)
• Barney's ABC Animals (Scholastic 1999)

Duel Masters
Author — 4 chapter books adapted from Cartoon Channel TV episodes, including:

• Lost in Darkness (Scholastic 2004)
• Winning Streak (Scholastic 2005)
• Psych Out (Scholastic 2005)
• Coin Toss (Scholastic 2006)

Author — Dragonfire (Scholastic 2006) — original picture book for early readers

Francesco's Friendly World
Screenwriter and lyricist for nearly 30 songs — 3 animated home videos

• The Gifts of Christmas (Edumundo Productions 1997)
• The Broken Cross (Edumundo Productions 1997)
• The Last Stone (Edumundo Productions 1998)

Author — The Gifts of Christmas book adaptation (Edumundo Productions 1997)

Song lyricist — Francesco's Songs of Happiness CD (Edumundo Productions 1997)

BOZ
Screenwriter — four animated home videos

• Friends & Helpers (Exclaim 2005)
• Bananas, Bubbles and Busy Bodies (Exclaim 2006)
• A Wowie BOZowee Christmas (Exclaim 2007)
• Pleasing Thank-You's (in production) (Exclaim 2007)

Author — 7 books, including:

• God Loves Your Nose (Zonderkidz 2006)
• Good Morning, BOZ (Zonderkidz 2006)
• I Love My Family (Zonderkidz 2007)
• Count Your Blessings! (Zonderkidz 2007)
• Christmas with BOZ (Zonderkidz 2007)

Christmas, Special Delivery
Author (not lyricist) of stage musical sold nationally (Hal Leonard 2001)

AWARDS

Emmy nomination — Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series 1993

GRADES

• K-12
• Parent, Teacher, Community-Library sessions

LENGTH

• 30 minutes for the little ones
• 60 minutes for 3rd grade up

AUDIENCE SIZE

Smaller groups of 70 or less allow more personal interaction, but larger audiences in an appropriate venue are welcomed.

PROGRAMS

The session guides attendees through the process of story creation — from concept brainstorming through the joy of completing the final draft. Frequent audience participation supplements numerous video clips and text samples from television scripts and books Mark has written. Students learn how storylines are triggered and characters developed. They'll observe how a writer climbs into a dog's head to tell a story. They'll witness a TV scene translated to the theater-of-the-mind in a book adaptation. They'll don editors' hats to shred a poem Mark wrote at their age. They'll even see Barney in a whole new light when asked to critique a scene from the producer's chair! And there's always a generous amount of fun rolled in.

The session adapts nicely to different age groups, and Mark is happy to tailor it to reinforce specific directions of the faculty's daily instruction. Time permitting or allotted, Q&A sessions are welcome.

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS

Let's Write a Book! — 30 minutes; for K-2

Mark turns the tables by helping the little ones build their own story to "read" to their parents at bedtime! Teachers complete the lesson after Mark's departure, motivating the children to illustrate and bind their version of the tale for first edition release to their family libraries! This session is best held with smaller groups — a single class; no more than two — in an intimate classroom or library setting.

Writer Workshops — 60-120 minutes

Writing workshops for smaller groups allow review & discussion of student efforts during the session. Workshops can focus on one of the following topics:

• Story concept development — 3rd grade to 12th
• Character development — 3rd grade to 12th
• Song lyrics & poetry — 3rd grade to 12th
• Introduction to screenwriting — 5th grade to 12th

A WORD FROM MARK S. BERNTHAL

"I love to write. I love to teach. I hope to inspire those with a gift for storytelling to make that a career goal. But realistically, most attendees have decidedly different inclinations. So, the most interesting challenge of the day is showing those kids that something they don't particularly enjoy doing can actually be a lot of fun if they approach it creatively. After all, even nuclear scientists need decent writing skills!"

FEES

$950 per day for 4 sessions, plus travel & lodging expenses. Neighboring schools can split the day/sessions, A.M./P.M.

SET-UP AND EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS

1. A presentation room which can be darkened to allow clear projection of the seminar's visual content.
2. A projector capable of connecting to Mr. Bernthal's laptop computer to display the PowerPoint presentation holding the text slides, graphics and video clips.
3. The largest screen possible for the room and expected audience. Please try to mount the screen high enough that attendees have a clear line of sight. If a pull-down screen isn't mounted from the ceiling, it might help to raise the screen's height through placement on a table.
4. A clip-on microphone — if possible, wireless — for larger audiences and rooms. Mr. Bernthal likes to wander. If that's not available, a clip-on or hand-held microphone with a fairly long cable would work. If the session is to a smaller group in a small room, a microphone probably won't be required.
5. A podium and small table to hold a laptop computer.
6. K-2 session only — an easel with large paper.
7. Drinking water.

AUTOGRAPHING

Autographs are happily provided for kids wishing one. However, Mark's primary interest is motivating students to aspire to their own names on the front of a book or screenplay someday. Books are not sold during Mark's visits.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MARK S. BERNTHAL

• Biography
• References

CONTACT INFORMATION

Mark S. Bernthal
6520 McCormick Ranch Court
Plano, TX 75023-3722
Phone: 972-618-2626
E-mail: msbernthal@aol.com