News
Please join CWG founder Hal Carlton-Ford for the panel “Finding Your Tribe: Benefits of Joining a Writing Community,” at 12pm on Saturday, November 14th on the Third Floor of the Cincinnati Main Library as part of the 19th annual Books by the Banks Festival!
Books by the Banks is a free, family-friendly celebration of reading and storytelling featuring more than 100 national, regional, and local authors.
Saturday, November 14
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Downtown Main Library
Tomorrow morning at 9:30am, please join me as I host the panel, “Screenwriting in a Bottle: Writing Film for One Location” in Memorial Hall as part of the Cindependent Film Festival!
I will speak with accomplished screenwriters Ricki Romano and Joe Zappa as they explore the art of writing compelling stories that unfold in a single location, where character, dialogue, and tension drive the narrative.
Get tickets to Camilo Idrobo’s Hollow Hopscotch and Mosaic.
The audience will be invited to participate in the filmmaking process by having a conversation with the director and providing feedback on the films prior to their completion and release in festivals.
Camilo Idrobo’s Hollow Hopscotch wrapped production yesterday!
I was honored to serve as producer, acting coach, and to share a story by credit with Camilo.
We hope to see you at the premiere in May!
Emily Cherkin, one of America’s brightest lights on protecting childhood from Big Tech, asked me to write a guest essay on her Substack on democracy and art. It was an honor:
From Cincinnati Magazine:
“Your Great American Novel isn’t going to write itself so start putting pen to paper with the Cincinnati Writers Group. Meeting twice a week in Clifton, CWG uses the “pomodoro technique,” which involves 20-minute writing sprints with five-minute breaks in between. The free meetup is for those who prefer a more communal writing experience as opposed to the tortured solitary one the art form is typically known for. Sign up for the newsletter to get all of the details about the group’s comings and goings.”
I was a pleasure and honor to join a panel hosted by Cindependent Film’s founder, Allyson West, with Royalty Hightower (The Fits’ Star) and Margaret McGurk (WIF Cincinnati). Royalty shouldered every scene in The Fits with her performance when she was 10 years old. Anna Rose Holmer’s film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2015.
The Fits, in all its mystery, held the same magic for this audience that it did at its premiere. We had a lively discussion about its meaning and impact after the screening. Especial thanks to Jonny Shenk for getting everyone together.
Left to right: Jonny Shenk, Hal Carlton-Ford, Royalty Hightower, Allyson West, and Margaret McGurk.
A new film directed by myself and written, produced by and starring Chris Chirdon has wrapped.
“Dads.” is a serious comedy about two new dads — and actors — coping with their new ‘gig’ as stay at home dads for their toddlers. How can they be role models for their children when their dads were absentee and the only men they’re “representing” on TV are small roles such as ‘Redneck 3’ and ‘KKK Member 5’?
Tonight is the first meeting of the Cincinnati Writers Group!
CWG will hold weekly meetings at the Upside Brew. This is a space for writers to write, making the sometimes solitary practice of writing communal and joyful. Come all you poets, playwrights, screenwriters, novelists, essayists! Writers of any kind are welcome!
After a long gestation, the animated webseries Better at Work with Liz is completed! Linked here.
I was honored to write and direct this.
Copyright © Hal Carlton-Ford 2026
