Register: Register at EventBrite
Saturday, March 1, 2025 · 10:00 am – 12:00 noon EST
Cost: $60
Limited to 20 participants
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St Beaufort, SC 29902
Demythologizing the FBI: What Writers Get Wrong
Led by Dana Ridenour and Eugene A. Rugala
Join retired FBI undercover special agent Dana Ridenour and a retired FBI profiler Eugene A. Rugala in this workshop for writers (and interested readers) as they dispel the myths and clichés perpetrated by television and movies regarding the FBI. Writers will learn how to avoid the common pitfalls of writing FBI characters. The discussion will give writers a peak into the daily life of an FBI agent focusing on the FBI undercover program, and the role of the FBI plays in terrorism and human trafficking investigations.
The presentation will also explore the myths and realities of what the Behavioral Analysis Unit does and doesn’t do, what is and what is not behavioral “profiling,” what types of cases utilize this technique, and what members of the BAU do on a daily basis. Participants will gain a better understanding of how to accurately portray FBI characters and investigations.
Time permitting, some participants may also be able to read brief excerpts from drafts for feedback from the instructors.
This is an in-person writers workshop, held at the Pat Conroy Literary Center (601 Bladen St.). Limited to 20 participants with advance registration required: $60/person.
Learn more and register at EventBrite
Website: Facebook Event Page
About our instructors:
Dana Ridenour is the award-winning author of the Lexie Montgomery FBI Series: Behind the Mask, Beyond the Cabin, and Below the Radar. She is a retired FBI special agent who spent most of her career as an undercover operative. Dana entered on duty with the FBI in November of 1995 and retired in April of 2016 after over twenty years of service. She was assigned to four different FBI Field Divisions and had the opportunity to work a wide variety of cases, to include multi-faceted narcotics investigations, domestic sex trafficking of minors, and violent crime. Over the years, Dana was a proud member of the FBI’s Evidence Response Team where she and her team traveled to New York City in response to the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.
The highlight of her career came in 2003 when she attended and passed the FBI’s prestigious undercover school, thus allowing her to work as an undercover FBI agent. This undercover certification opened the door for her to work a series of long term, deep cover cases focusing on domestic terrorism. Dana had the rare experience of working a long-term undercover investigation with her husband who was also an FBI agent. She now lives, writes, and teaches in the South Carolina lowcountry, where she also volunteers at the Pat Conroy Literary Center.
Eugene A. Rugala is principal of Eugene A. Rugala and Associates LLC, a behavioral science, consultation, training, and research firm based in Beaufort. One of the FBI’s “Profilers” in the unit made famous by the book and movie “The Silence of the Lambs” and the series “Criminal Minds” and “Mindhunter,” Gene specializes in the detailed behavioral analysis of violent crimes, including homicide, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking, and workplace and school violence. He consults with many corporations and universities in developing and implementing procedures and protocols for the prevention of violence in the workplace and in schools to include threat assessment and management services.
He is also a national advisory board member of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence, a group of Fortune 500 companies who raise awareness and suggest strategies for companies to deal with intimate partner violence and its impact. Gene has contributed to the content and participated in the video production of Shots Fired: Guidance for Surviving an Active Shooter Situation, Flashpoint: Recognizing and Preventing Violence in the Workplace, and Silent Storm: Intimate Partner Violence and Stalking and Its Impact on the Workplace. A version of these programs has been developed for university settings as well. Gene is a coauthor of the book Workplace Violence: Issues in Threat Management.
