If you are an intermediate screenwriter…
If you have written 2 or 3 screenplays…
If you have studied the craft for a few years…
If you have submitted scripts to screenplay competitions or to Hollywood representatives…
Some recommendations for intermediate level screenwriters at Screenwriting Master Class, the unique online writing resource founded two years ago by Tom Benedek and myself.
One recurring dynamic I have found in talking with the thousands of aspiring writers I have interfaced with over the years is a frustration born out of confusion. They have read multiple book on screenwriting, attended seminars, and taken classes, and often what they have learned are conflicting theories about the craft. What they end up is a mishmash of ideas and no real actionable approach to writing a screenplay.
What Tom and I have done at SMC is create an entire roster of classes and workshops that reflect a unified approach to the craft, what I call character based screenwriting.
If you are at an intermediate level of theory and practice, but still feel like you don’t have a coherent take or approach to the craft, that’s another reason to consider Screenwriting Master Class.
Here are some recommendations for intermediate screenwriters, starting with three writing workshops:
Prep: From Concept To Outline: This unique online 6-week workshop guides you through the story development process from concept to outline. It not only enables you to end up with a blueprint to write a solid first draft, it also provides you an approach to prep-writing you can use on all future writing projects. If you want to maximize your chances to succeed as a professional screenwriter, you need to know how to prep a story. This workshop gives you those chops. The next session begins January 21, 2013 and will be led by Tom. Enrollment limit: 6 writers. Go here for more information.
Pages I: The First Draft: In this 10-week online workshop, you use a series of writing assignments to pound out pages and push you from FADE IN to FADE OUT. Weekly due dates inspire you to make actual, realistic progress. Feedback from other class participants and the workshop instructor. Written comments and live teleconferences. Most scripts die because the writer never gets through a first draft. Pages I offers a structured, supportive environment in which to get your ‘muscle’ draft done. The next session begins January 14, 2013 led by me. Enrollment limit: 6 writers. Go here for more information.
Pages II: Rewriting Your Script: In this 10-week online workshop, you will identify problems in your existing draft, work out solutions, and rewrite your script toward its final draft. As with all SMC workshops, you get the benefit of a schedule to structure your rewriting efforts, written and verbal feedback from other writers in the class and the instructor, teleconferences which are recorded so you can refer back to them for notes. In Hollywood, writing is rewriting. Pages II provides a proven approach you can use as the foundation for all future rewrites. For more information on this workshop, go here.
There are also eight 1-week Core classes including Plot, Character, Style, and Theme, as well as numerous 1-week Craft classes such as Character Introductions, Create a Worthy Nemesis, and Handling Exposition to augment your understanding of the craft.
If you’re really interested in putting it all together, there is The Quest, a private one-on-one 24-week screenwriting program with me as your mentor in which you do Core [8 weeks], Prep [6 weeks], and Pages I [10 weeks], learning a comprehensive approach to character based screenwriting, then putting that knowledge to use by writing an original screenplay.
For a list of courses and workshops through February 2013, go here.
I will be featuring Screenwriting Master Class classes each day this week. Schedule:
Monday: If you are a beginning screenwriter…
Tuesday: If you are an intermediate screenwriter…
Wednesday: If you are an advanced screenwriter…
Thursday: If you are looking for writing workshops…
Friday: If you want to learn a comprehensive approach to screenwriting…
I truly believe in what we do at SMC, not only because of the ideas we teach, but also because Tom and I are hands-on mentors, providing extensive interaction and feedback to each participating writer, everything from teleconferences to online forum feedback, written notes to individual consults.
We also love what we do.
Tom and I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!
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