The Screenwriting Program is suspended for the time being. For more information about these changes, please see: News About the Screenwriting Program.
Please see our other programs for other workshop options.
The Screenwriting Program
The Screenwriting Program is a Master Class for filmmakers and screenwriters. The intensive week-long program focuses on work in progress and individual attention by award-winning writer/directors and filmmakers. Daily private sessions with a previously-assigned mentor will help determine the choices that crystallize the story while excising extraneous elements. Daily morning workshops emphasize all aspects of the craft including narrative point of view, character analysis, and scene structure. In 2014, we introduced a special session on the use and meaning of transmedia in digital filmmaking, as the threshold of the future. Our goal is to assist writers and filmmakers to improve their craft and bring them a better understanding of the new ways to incorporate production and the distribution process. Space is limited to 20 participants.
Daily Schedule
Morning workshops stress the language and grammar of film. Topics include: finding the story, character analysis, script development, narrative point of view, plotting, subplots, and dialogue. In-class exercises and group projects are assigned. The afternoons are devoted to individual conferences, which take precedence over all activities. Time permitting, participant scenes can be read by professional actors, taped and critiqued. Special screenings and discussions in the late afternoons and evenings are scheduled.
Individual Conferences
On arrival, each participant is assigned a mentor who will already be familiar with the script. The submitted screenplay is the one to be treated unless changed by a prearranged agreement. Conferences take place during the afternoons. Rewrites and revisions will be assigned.