Welcome to Introduction to Screenwriting! Whether you are developing your first screenplay or if you are running into story issues with a later draft, this course will take you step-by-step through the major story pieces and workflow of developing a screenplay. Numerous worksheets will help you to move your concepts forward. This is a conceptual and script development course, so even if your ideas are “rough” or in the early stages, use this course to help you further define and open up more story possibilities!
My approach to teaching screenwriting moves away from plot templates and short cuts that lead your work away from originality and therefore, makes them less competitive in the marketplace, especially for screenwriters looking to establish themselves. We will start by developing the larger ideas behind your concepts. We start with what is important to you and what makes your perspective on the world, the universe, and humanity, unique. Tell your story and shape it into something that becomes competitive in scriptwriting competitions and as a submission to studios and production companies.
This course also asks you to be brave, because originality comes from your life experiences and requires you to do a deep dive on yourself as a writer and artist. Your creative perspective on everything is the key! I have created numerous worksheets to help you on your story discovery, and in some cases, they go back to the core question of why are you telling this story now? What does the world and humanity need to know from your perspective?
My final point is be ready to adapt your concept to a new format or a different way to tell your story. Feature films are still powerful ways to tell stories, but the media industry and distribution is always shifting. As screenwriters, we are writing with technology in mind, so let’s use that as an advantage to help us define our stories.
Welcome to the journey!
Course structure:
- 1 – Introduction
- 2 – How a Screenplay Works
- 3 – Your Concept and Theme
- 4 – Character Development
- 5 – Character Analysis
- 6 – Visualization
- 7 – Plot Design
- 8 – Story World
- 9 – Developing Your First Draft
- 10 – Extras, freebies, moving forward (Freebies include 3 free ebooks (Short film writing, Plot Structure 101, Theme and Story Focus)
