Speaker Series: Bill Marsilii, ‘Deja Vu’ Screenwriter

On February 19th, JPCatholic’s adjunct professor Bill Marsilii gave a public lecture in our Impacting Culture Speaker Series. He shared stories and insights from his career, and specific steps Catholic writers can take to tell meaningful stories that appeal to mainstream audiences.

Marsilii is a Hollywood screenwriter who co-wrote Déjà Vu (starring Denzel Washington and Jim Caviezel) which sold for a record $5 million and remains the highest-selling spec script of all time. He has sold screenplays to studios such as Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros, and Lionsgate. He has also been a guest lecturer for a variety of film and screenwriting programs, including those at UCLA TFT, USC, NYU and Pepperdine, and has also served as a mentor for the Act One Screenwriting Program. Last quarter he also taught a course at JPCatholic titled “Spiritual Content in Mainstream Films”.

The lecture, How to Get Christian Themes Greenlit: Practical Insights from a Hollywood Screenwriter, is now available to watch for free at JPCatholic Online.