Biography of Gabrielle Renoir-Large

Like Mark Spencer, Gabrielle Renoir-Large became fascinated with Elvis Presley at a very early age. "Both my mother, who is also named Gabrielle Renoir, and my aunt were huge fans of Elvis and they played his music often. I grew up with it." Also like Mark, Gabrielle wrote her first short story when she was very young, but she then turned her attention to reading until she was in her teens when she entered, and won, an international poetry contest, writing in the sonnet form, one of the most difficult forms of poetry to master.

Gabrielle attended Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia as well as the Sorbonne in Paris, France, where she studied drama and French.

Gabrielle studied screenwriting in Hollywood with Donna Lee and Syd Field, the author of the best selling book, Screenplay, the preeminent guide to screenwriting. Working under Mr. Field's direction, Gabrielle served as a reader and script consultant for both 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures and was subsequently involved in "page one rewrites" for more than two hundred screenplays, including some major motion pictures. "There is no one, absolutely no one, who understands the screenplay better than Syd Field. If you ever have the chance to attend one of his workshops or one of his university classes, don't let that opportunity slip by. Not if you're interested in writing screenplays. And definitely buy his books. They are indispensable for anyone wanting to work in Hollywood."

While living in Europe, Gabrielle was involved in the writing and translation of many opera librettos, writing primarily in French and translating from Italian to German. Opera is one of Gabrielle's passions and this was a "dream job" for her. "I didn't even consider it a 'real' job," she says, "though I was paid and paid well. I just loved the work—and opera in general so much—I would have done the work for free just to be involved in something I love." During that same time period, she also translated several books from German to English, mostly non-fiction.

Later, as a student of Mark Spencer's, Gabrielle worked on honing her skills in the areas of novel writing and short story writing, producing some things she liked and others she didn't like so very much. "It was invaluable experience. I learned so much, and Mark is a wonderful teacher."

Today, with many more writing classes and a lot more actual writing behind her, Gabrielle still concentrates on screenplays, in particular, romantic comedies like Graceland. "I love the romantic comedy. I absolutely adore it. I think it gets short shrift in the film industry and I'd like to do something to help change that. I think we need more really great romantic comedies like Bringing Up Baby, Annie Hall, As Good as It Gets and Moonstruck. We need to concentrate more on character than on simply getting laughs, though every great comedy needs at least two or three laugh-out-loud set pieces. If it doesn't have those, the writers are doing something wrong. I really think Graceland has all the requisite elements of a truly great and memorable comedy. This isn't due solely to me and it isn't due solely to Mark. Our collaboration was synergistic on every level. We both brought a lot to Graceland and the book and screenplay wouldn't be as good as they are if only one of us had worked on it. Though Mark took the lead on the novel and I took the lead on the screenplay, we each brought our own unique vision to both and the work is all the better for it."

Gabrielle lives with her husband, Sebastien Large and their family of cats and dogs. Between them, the two have traveled and lived all over the world, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand, and they hope to travel again soon.