Mark Axelrod is Professor of Comparative Literature and English at Chapman University in Orange, California. He is also a practicing screenwriter whose work has been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Sundance Institute, and the Writers Guild, East. He has both conducted screenwriting workshops and taught screenwriting throughout the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. He is the author of two other books with Heinemann on screenwriting, Character and Conflict (2004) and Aspects of the Screenplay (2001).