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Syd Field How to:Write in 7-Week Screenwriting Workshop


This individual, hands-on screenwriting workshop features interactive discussions, illustrations from Academy Award winning films, and personal one-on-one evaluations of the screenwriting assignments. The purpose of this course is to "expand, enlarge and broaden your knowledge, comprehension, and technique of the screenplay and the art and craft of screenwriting."
In the first class, each participant brings a three sentence idea story line which focuses on action and character. The first four weeks of the course are spentpreparing this idea, and the last three sessions are spent completing Act I of the screenplay. Applicants must have written at least one screenplay.
  • Week 1 – Structure or Character, Writing the four page treatment
    Assignment:     writing the four page treatment
  • Week 2 - Creating the characters and the Circle of Being.
    Assignment:     writing character biographies including the Circle of Being
  • Week 3 - Organizing the material: Structuring the First Act on cards and writing  the Back Story.
    Assignment:     Preparing Act I on cards and writing up the back story.
  • Week 4 - Designing the Inciting Incident - Setting up Story and Character.
    Assignment:     Writing the First Ten Pages
  • Week 5 - Writing Effective Dialogue - Following focus on the main character: Writing the Second 10 Pages
    Assignment:     Writing the Second Ten Pages
  • Week 6 - The Key Incident and Plot Point I – Completing Act I
    Assignment:     Writing Plot Point I
  • Week 7 -  Preparing Act II
Q&A
Setting Up Character and Story 
What's the best way to set up your story? Through action or through character
Does your character drive the action, or does the action drive the character? 
Writing Great Scenes
The scene is the cell of dramatic action. Its function is simple: either to move the story forward or reveal information about the character. What's the best place to enter the scene? What is the character's dramatic need within the scene? What is the reveal? During this session you'll focus on the many different ways scenes can be written so they effectively move the story forward and achieve maximum dramatic value. Film clips from: Sideways, Magnolia, Shawshank Redemption, The Bucket List explore the different aspects of writing great scenes.
Writing Effective Dialogue 
What's the purpose of dialogue? To explain, or reveal certain elements of character or story? Is your dialogue is too "right on the nose," or "to direct,?" Do your characters all sound the same? Are minor characters more interesting than your main character? During this session, you'll examine the function of dialogue and illustrate different types of dialogue with movie clips from award winning films like: Juno, Mr & Mrs. Smith, Little Miss Sunshine, The Bucket List, American Beauty, The Shawshank Redemption and others. Writing Effective Dialogue gives you the tools to sharpen your story and illuminate your characters more simply and effectively.
Writing the Action Sequence 
Action sequences don't just happen; they need to be designed and written with maximum dramatic value. They require a strong sense of style and creativity as well as being able to use time, the surrounding elements and whatever's necessary to make the sequence work. In this session, you'll break down and watch some of the greatest action sequences of the last few decades and explore those stylistic elements that make great action sequences. Film clips from Pirates of the Caribbean, Terminator 2, The Matrix, Bullitt, The French Connection, The Bourne Ultimatum will be broken down in each sequence to illustrate the art and craft of writing a great action sequence

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