User:Renegawlt/T.L. Wagener

T.L. Wagener (Terri) is a playwright, screenwriter, and "script doctor" for Hollywood. She is also a popular writing coach and the creator of the "You Know You Want To" writing workshops for the Screen Actors Guild Conservatory.

Wagener began her career in the 1980's as a playwright in New York, with productions at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Yale Rep, South Coast Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, off-Broadway and at regional theaters in the U.S. and Canada. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Grant in 1981.

Wagener's first job in Hollywood was a 1989 rewrite of "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe," an adaptation of the book by Fannie Flagg. Wagener's draft of "Fried Green Tomatoes" convinced Jessica Tandy to do the film. The final script won the coveted Scripters Award and was nominated for both an Academy Award and the Writers Guild of American Screenwriting Award. Wagener declined credit for "Fried Green Tomatoes," and consistently remains out of the spotlight. "Rewrites are easy." she says. "It's the writers who face the blank page who are heroes."

Wagener began her writing career as "Terri Wagener," adopting the genderless "T.L." mid-career. She grew up in Texas.

As a coach, she facilitates a series of popular and productive "You Know You Want To" writing classes, which grew out of her Intensive three-hour "You Know You Want To" workshops for the Screen Actors Guild Conservatory at the American Film Institute. Wagener has also taught writing workshops all over the United States, including at New Dramatists in New York City and Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, as well as conducting several workshops in Australia.

Wagener teaches, writes plays and polishes screenplays in Los Angeles, California.