Monday, April 30th Chat Session with Greg Neri
2:15-3:10 (3:15-4:10pm EST)
**THIS SESSION CHAT HAS ENDED.**
Three moves
is all it takes
to change the outcome
of the game.
In Marcus’s world, battles are fought everyday–on the street, at home, and in school. Angered by his sister’s death and his father’s departure, and pushed to the brink by a bullying classmate, Marcus fights back with his fists.
One punch away from being kicked out of school and his home, Marcus encounters a mysterious chess master named CM who challenges him to fight his battles on the chess board. Marcus resists, until he hits rock bottom, and begins a journey, with CM’s help, to regain control of his life.
Inspired by recent chess enrichment programs in inner-city schools, Chess Rumble explores the ability of a strategic game to empower young people with the tools they need to anticipate their moves through life’s many challenges.
Chess RumbleComing in Fall of ’07.
About G. Neri
I am a storyteller, filmmaker, artist, and digital media producer. When I was in college, I made an animated film with jazz legend Chick Corea called
A Picasso on the Beach, which became a student Academy Award finalist and aired on HBO and Bravo for seven years. After that, I decided to become a filmmaker for real, and I wrote, produced, and directed my first independent feature film called A Weekend with Barbara und Ingrid. It opened in my favorite theater in Hollywood. Unfortunately, it also opened on the day of the Northridge earthquake of ’94, making its release rather short.
I’ve taught animation and storytelling to inner city teens in Los Angeles with the ground-breaking group Animaction, producing over 300 films dealing with issues like teen violence, gangs, and drugs. I also co-directed the documentary Fa’a Samoa which followed a 15-year-old Samoan gangbanger through the mean streets of Los Angeles.
From 1993-2003, I helped pioneer the internet business, as head of production in two highly successful new media companies whose clients ranged from Disney, Mercedes, and Motorola to Microsoft, Reebok, and General Motors. In this time, I was also one of the founding members of the Truth teen anti-smoking campaign.
In 1999, I started writing and illustrating for kids, but it wasn’t until I started writing for teens that things started to happen. Now, my first two teen books for Lee and Low, Yummy and Chess Rumble, will make their debuts in 2007. I’ve just finished a YA novel called Surf Mules, about two high school surfers who get summer jobs as drug runners. And now I have an agent and a long list of projects to create. I couldn’t ask for more.
I’m currently living in Tampa, Florida with my wife and daughter, where I’m focusing on writing and watching alligators.
Comment
Hi everyone
Hope you’ll give a big warm welcome to Greg Neri.
Your moderator will be your teacher Ms. Allan and she’ll be making sure the chat goes smoothly. To make that happen we have some rules for you to follow. Thank you for your cooperation and enjoy!
Rules:
- If you have a question to ask the guest, please type a ? and you will be put into queue to ask your question. When your name is up, please have your question ready.
-Please refrain from obscenities, personal questions, or any other unprofessional behavior.
-The moderator has the right to delete or remove any questions or answers deemed inappropriate.
-Please do not chat among yourselves. Try to keep on topic and keep questions and answers between the guest and the class member. Remember the chat is only 30 minutes long.
-Anyone that violates the rules will be asked to leave the forum.
Remember to click the refresh button on your browser to regularly update the comments. If you have questions, ask the moderator.
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Hi!
My name is Sasha. I’ll be here hanging out for this afternoon’s chat session with Greg Neri just in case I am needed.
Ms. Allan did a wonderful job of moderating for the chat with Jenny that I think I’ll just blend in with the class and let her handle this one as well. If you need me just give me a shout out.:lol:
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?cody
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? roxie
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Where do you get yours ideas and influences for the things you write? Are they things you just think of or are they real life situations?
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?Brooke
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?Kendra
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I am definitely inspired by real life. Life is so much more interesting and amazing that whatever I totally make up will not be as good. So I start with real life events and then make stuff up.
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How many books have you written? Where do you get your ideas for writing them?
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hey..what inspired you to start writing?
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did you have alot of people that told you that you could not do it
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What inspired you to write your book?
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Writing took along time to find me. I was a filmmaker and an artist then a new media producer. I started writing because these different mediums needed a script to work off of. But I never thought I’d be a real writer till now.
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? eugene
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What has inspired you to write your book?
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Hey how old were you when you wrote your first book?
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?Jasmine
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I have written alot of books…3 are coming out, another hopefully will be sold soon. And a few you will never see. It takes practice!
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While growing up is writing what you have always wanted to do?
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What is your ethnic race?
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I was 26 when I sold my first book (which never came out) then I sold a book for real when I was 34.
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?matt g
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What was the most interesting thing that has happened to you in the past?
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I’m Mexican, Filipino & Creole (French, African, Spanish, Native American) or as we say Crefilican-American or more acurately Nafranishafripinocan.
My daughter is half German…she’s gonna have to figure it out on her own!
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Where did your inspiration for writing teen books come from?
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How long have you been writing? What made you want to write teenage novels?
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I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was growing up. Or the starting wide receiver for the LA Rams. But now I am illustrating and writing.
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?caldon
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How many children do you have? and are they writers also?
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Exactly how long have you been writing for, and how does it make you feel?
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What type of stories do you liek writing?
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Writing for teens happened by accident. I was writing and illustrating for kids but these books kept getting postponed. I had a filmscript that I never made and was suddenly inspired to make it into a graphic novel called YUMMY which will be out next year.
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how did you come up with the Truth antismoking campaign?
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Who inspired you to write?
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I have one daughter who is six and loves to draw and write little picture books (even though she is just learning to read)
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as a black man was it a stuggle to get your career started
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I like writing unusual stories that are inspired by real events or people that made me think “THAT would make a great story.”
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what kind of music do you listen to? And whats your favorite artist
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If that a question, then the answer is Maya Angelou.
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Sorry if I miss some questions here and there… I am really a brown man but I like to think it has never been an issue for me. I have done alot of great things in life so far.
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so what got you into writing for teens ?
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I love music and love all kinds. I like unusally stuff, loud and with a beat.
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How long did it take u to write your books & what inspired u to write them?
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caldon?
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The Truth campaign came out of a lawsuit in Florida against tobacco. The money went towards an anti smoking campaign for teens. We wanted to make it a teen movement that really stood out and made a message loud and clear.
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what qualities make up a good writer
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I just finished a novel that took me 2 and a half years, off and on. Some are quick, a few months.
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how do you fell when you write.
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THATS SO AWESOMEEEE
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Was the book Chess Rumble based on your real life experiences?