SCRIPT SALON: collaborative screenwriting classes (8-week course)
About this Event
This course provides a comprehensive initiation into the craft of screenwriting through a combination of practical exercises in writing, reading and analytic viewing. The premise of the course is that you can learn the structure of a screenplay, but that the art of it is mastered when grasping how to write visually.
Screenplays are defined as any narrative longform content, including but not limited to: television, mixed media, animation, gaming.
You will discover and explore the fundamentals of telling a story for the screen by analysing carefully selected film scenes to further expand your own storytelling point of view, and applying techniques to regular written exercises that will enhance your in-class participation.
Week by week, we come to understand and appreciate the critical and functional elements of writing for the moving image and how different script tools can be used to dramatically craft a ‘story well told’.
No previous knowledge of scriptwriting is required, though focus and engagement with the form is essential. You will leave with a holistic understanding of film writing, and a fully mapped out piece of writing that you can put forward to professional settings.
• About your tutor:
Having taught screenwriting at the postgraduate and undergraduate levels (including at the University of Warwick's lauded Writing Programme) Flavia has designed these robust & collaborative workshops to break down narrative devices like plot, character, dialogue, dramatisation, and filmmaking tools - in an inclusive and supportive setting.
Flavia is a creative producer and a practicing writer and director, having made her feature film Beautiful in the Morning (distributed by Herflix) and currently developing a slate of film & TV scripts which have gained support (most notably from the prestigious Athena Writers Lab). She earned a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts, and was mentored by auteurs Noah Baumbach & Cedric Klapisch, and Academy Award-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (on Alejandro Inarritu's Birdman).
• Session structure:
Every week, we delve into a different topic such as plot structure & the hero's journey, character development, point of view, mystery & suspense, comedy writing, etc. During each session we pay particular attention to screenplay format best practices, and dedicate time for in-session writing & feedback.
You can be a novice looking for bite-size ways into writing for film, a seasoned pro looking to revise script fundamentals, or a working writer needing a creative environment to pen a new draft.
If you come into a session with a particular writing challenge you wish to address, then we will cover it through the lens of this week's theme.
• VISIT SCRIPTSALON.COM FOR MORE INFO •
Agenda
WEEK 1: Visual Storytelling
Info: Screenwriting differs from all other forms of writing because it exists to communicate to a reader a primarily visual experience. Close analysis of screenplay excerpts in order to appreciate the visual language of dramatic construction. Exploring how to go about telling a story visually, through writing exercises in class. Screenplay format and its function.
WEEK 2: Character Development
Info: Writing and describing character in the screenplay form. Long form character exercise. The theory of 'wants and needs' in screen storytelling. Protagonist and antagonist. Exploration of stakes and conflict.
WEEK 3: Step Outlines (Self-paced)
Info: In this self-paced class, you are welcome to come to Wild Is Earth or take the 2 hours at home to develop a step outline or treatmens: short form documents that are often written before the actual script as planning and/or selling tools. By the end of the session, send me the mapped out structure of your story based on the reference documents provided.
WEEK 4: Narrative Tools
Info: There are many different theories of storytelling. We will investigate the Hero's Journey and sequence structure among others. Why and how do these various theories of story beats persist through many cultures and over time? What do they mean for us as screenwriters and how we may employ them to help us write our screenplays.
WEEK 5`: Pitches
Info: The focus of this session will be story-TELLING.... how do you tell others about your story in a dynamic way (pitching). This includes having a sense of what your story is about: theme. We will look at how to give constructive feedback to a writer and how to receive it from others. Critiquing work.
WEEK 6: The Scene & Dialogue
Info: The multiple dramatic functions of dialogue in film: to convey information, develop character, and drive drama. Working with dialogue in a visual medium. What makes crackling dialogue; the purpose of exposition and how to avoid banality. Subtext and the gaps between as powerful tools in filmmaking.
WEEK 7: Feature Film Excerpt (self-paced)
Info: In this self-paced class, you are welcome to come to Wild Is Earth or take the 2 hours at home to develop a sequence of your longform content. This can be act 1 of a TV pilot, the ending of a feature film, a standalone animated short... Write a draft of this, and send it to me by the end of the 2 hours so that I can provide feedback. You'll have time to refine it for the last class.
WEEK 8: Film Workshop
Info: By our last class you will have written an excerpt of your longform content that sits within the overall outline of your narrative. This is a chance to workshop it together and develop the sequence. While the group writes, 1 on 1 sessions with me will be available for more bespoke feedback.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 325.73
