The Clampitt Paper Company is a family-owned paper distributor that’s been around for over 80 years. With locations all around the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, they’re your source for all things fiber! For my LEADs day activity, I had the opportunity to tour this Texas-famous industry. 

Our tour guide gave us an insiders’ tour of the warehouse, production center, meeting room, offices, and the creativity center. We learned about the slight decline of the paper industry due to the influx of technology as well as all of the niche types of paper from coated, to uncoated, to specialty.

Afterwards, we were instructed on how to create our own, personalized, custom journal. Once we created our notebook, we promptly signed each other’s as a memento to remember the occasion.

Following this hands-on experience, we heard from Eve Weston, an accomplished screenwriter known for writing and choreographing the notorious “Crazy Funky Hat Song” from The Wizards of Waverly Place. She taught us how to incorporate the Eight Sitcom Archetypes into our very own TV show episodes using our new IC friends as character inspiration. Her book, 10 Kick-Ass Careers for Storytellers: Interviews with Pioneers in Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Podcasts, Escape Rooms, Video Games, Comics, Interactive Television and More!, is available for discounted purchase at the IC Shuk!

Next, we welcomed Matthew Meltzer, a Writing for Digital Media professor at the University of Miami, who stressed to us the importance of using ourselves and our experiences as props in order to tell a larger story or to insinuate a larger idea as we often read news stories wondering, “What’s in it for me, the reader?” After his speech, we all left the activity with an upgraded toolbox that we could use to construct much stronger narratives.

Consisting of a tour, journal-making, and two accomplished speakers, this LEADs day activity was the quintessential choice for writers.