Be curious, not judgmental, so goes one tenet of the gospel of Ted Lasso, the chipper Apple TV+ show character. 

For attendees of the first Show Me Screenwriting Workshop, they learned they should focus on screenplays being honest more than “original” and that flawed characters make for strong characters.

The free workshop, held March 1 at the Presser Arts Center, gave attendees a chance to hear from film industry professionals on the many aspects of writing a screenplay, from grasping basic outlines of characters to the essentials of plotting to formatting a script to understanding the realities of the movie business. Attendees learned tips on not just how to write a screenplay but how to get it in the right hands for people to evaluate it.

Three people - writer/director Evan Brace, creative executive Emilio Mazariegos and author and screenwriter Julian R. Vaca - conducted the workshop that was broken into components and allowed time for workshop leaders to answer participants’ questions. Brace and Vaca are based in Nashville while Mazariegos is based in Los Angeles. Brace is the son of Lois Brace, executive and artistic director of the PAC. The workshop, held from the morning to the afternoon, attracted around a dozen or so people, who came from Mexico and the outlying area.

“I think when I went to film school, there was such a lack of understanding of how the industry works, about how it’s framed, how to be direct with it,” Mazariegos said before the workshop, adding he’s become a passionate advocate for screenwriters through his job. 

He hopes that by providing his knowledge, he can equip people to navigate and effectively put out their work in the film industry without having to learn by error. One of the productions he’s been in involved is “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” for Paramount+. 

Vaca, who has written “The Memory Index” and “The Recall Paradox,” both of which are young adult science fiction novels, said before the workshop that writing is that creative endeavor that involves the individual and the blank page. His hope was that the workshop could inspire people, even those who don’t see themselves as writers. Besides his novels, among his work has included being a staff writer for “Reconnecting Roots” on PBS.

For screenwriters, they should know that the script is less about the mechanics and more about what makes a story interesting, Vaca said. 

Evan Brace, who grew up in Mexico and told attendees the workshop “was very special for me and has a lot of meaning,” has been involved in a number of projects, including “The 442,” based on a Japanese American battalion during World War II in the European Theatre. He hopes attendees know they can have a voice for the screen.

“I hope people can learn even if they don’t see their stories on screen today, audiences kind of hunger for their stories,” Evan Brace said before the workshop. 

“And it’s just a matter of getting their voices heard,”  he said.

Attendees mentioned a number of motives that drew them to the workshop.

Lexi Hux of Fulton said she hoped to learn how to get started on her short film, and has written short stories but never for a film and she hoped to break into that area. She has an interest in the horror genre.

Scott Weber of Mexico said he had no experience in screenwriting and no interest in it, but he saw the promo for the workshop and he felt drawn to attend.

“I’ve always heard of screenwriting, I’ve heard people screenwrite and you see it on the credits on movies, and I thought, you know what, what the heck,” he said. “It’s at Presser and the price is right - it’s free. … So I said, I gotta go, just for fun and curiosity.”

He said he had no aspirations to be a screenwriter, “but that may change after today.”

Shonda Galloway of Centralia said she attended the workshop because she wanted to become a better writer, as she loves writing, but does not want to write a screenplay.

“I just enjoy learning something new,” she said. “I felt like I got a lot of affirmations and I felt like I got a lot of good guidance on how to become a better writer. I took several notes; several quotes really spoke to my heart. I love quotes anyway. So that’s kind of one of my takeaways.”