The Media and Marketing Show (MMS), a premier event for the media and marketing industry, this year will offer budding writers, film-makers and TV producers a taste of Hollywood through a workshop by veteran Hollywood writer Ellen Sandler.

Emmy-nominated co-executive producer of 'Everybody Loves Raymond' and veteran writer of hit TV shows, Sandler, will be conducting a workshop titled ‘Everybody Loves Sitcoms’ on scriptwriting from November 4 to 5, said the organisers Domus Group.

She will offer critical guidance to writers who wants to break in to the entertainment industry and chart a successful career in television, said Maysoon Abdullah Abulhoul, Domus Group CEO.

The workshop will recreate the experience of a professional writers' room and will have the attendees collaborating on writing a Hollywood-style television comedy.

Besides scriptwriting, the workshop will also teach participants the business and production skills required to produce, sell, and market sitcoms to television networks and studios.

Students will learn the ropes on how to skillfully pitch and finance a television show, put together cast and crew, setup the soundstages, get live-audiences involved in the shoot, and create a buzz about the show.

“Dubai has progressed in leaps and bounds in terms of equipment and capital investment in media, but it still has a long way to go in terms of media content – be it innovative shows, ideas or just concepts,” said Sandler.

“My workshop will focus on the techniques used by Hollywood producers of both short-format and long-format comedy shows, and hopefully this will add a new dimension to the work of the region’s producers,” she added.

Widely recognized as one of the most influential women in Hollywood, Sandler has worked as a writer/producer on more than 25 network television comedies, and created several original shows for major television networks including, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and the Disney Channel.

Ellen is a member of the Writer's Guild of America, serves on the board of The American Screenwriting Association, is a judge of The Hartley Merrill International Screenplay Award, and is a mentor at the Duke City Shootout Digital Film Festival.

“We are very pleased to have such a prominent name from Hollywood be part of this year’s event” Maysoon said.

“The scope and size of the show has grown in leaps and bounds over the years, and part of our responsibility as the leading show in the region is to ensure that the next generation of media and marketing professionals from the region are exposed to the best in the world,” she added.

Dubai in particular is in the midst of an unprecedented media and marketing boom, with expenditure on TV commercials at an all time high, and investments pouring in to establish the city as a regional media hub, the timing is perfect for indigenous talent to be nourished.

Kam Junejo, CEO of Hollywood HD Studios and the founder of 'Hollywood in Dubai' said: 'We want to level the playing field between television professionals in Hollywood and their counterparts in other countries.'

'In today’s technological environment, where access to high-tech TV production equipment is as easy as walking into your neighbourhood electronic store, the only way to achieve the same level of success lies in the education and training that producers and directors are able to obtain,”Junejo added.-TradeArabia News Service