The onslaught of summer filmmaking workshops is just around the corner and snaring key industry names is how many of the programs intend to attract filmmakers to their crash courses on the biz.

Headlining the 17th annual Summer Institute of Film & Television workshops in Ottawa are The English Patient screenwriter/director Anthony Minghella and author Michael Ondaatje, on whose book the film is based.

In total, over 40 screen professionals have been lined up as instructors and guests of the June 17-22 professional development workshops, organized by the Canadian Screen Training Centre.

D. Nightingale & Associates has four spring/summer workshops lined up for Toronto, including the 7th annual ‘Hollywood Film Institute 2 Day Crash Course’ covering everything from shooting, financing, writing, producing, directing, posting and distributing indie features.

Hollywood Film Institute founder Dov S-S Simens helms this year’s workshop, which runs June 7-8.

With the launch of the Comedy Network on the horizon, organizers anticipate strong interest in the June 7 workshop on ‘The Art & Business of the Hollywood Sitcom.’

Slated for the panel are producer/director Jay Kleckner (Coach) and Mark Ganzel, executive producer of Herman’s Head.

Hollywood’s John Truby, script doctor on numerous screenplays and writing consultant to the majors, leads a workshop on ‘Great Screenwriting’ June 21-22.

‘Guerilla Filmmaking 101: Basic Training,’ a three-city, three-day, boot camp on the making of low-budget features, rounds out the D. Nightingale four-pack. Leading the workshop is producer Colin Brunton (Highway 61).

The workshop runs May 23-25 in Toronto, June 20-22 in Vancouver, and July 4-6 in Halifax.

The Directing, Acting and Writing For Camera Workshop just wrapped its sixteenth year with a screening of its spring ’97 crop of original dramas. With the aim of upgrading the skills of professional filmmakers, the intimate workshops are held each fall and spring. Over three months of evening and weekend instruction and production, four dramas are completed.

The Toronto-based non-profit workshop has produced 108 original short dramas. Past participants include Atom Egoyan, Paul Gross, Steve Lucas and Deepa Mehta.

The workshop’s artistic director, producer and creator, Maruska Stankova, has been invited to give a lecture and screen six of the dawc films at the Czech Republic International Film Festival on May 22. CB

The four latest dawc projects are Miguel Gallego’s The Breaks, John Barker’s It’s My Party And I’ll Die If I Want ToŠ, James M. Hyslop’s Blind Man’s Bluff and Anthony Browne’s Dirty Laundry. All were written by their directors, with the exception of Dirty Laundry, which was penned by Lisa Steele.