If you want to learn a comprehensive approach to screenwriting…
If you have studied multiple takes on screenwriting and still don’t feel like you’ve got it…
If you’re tired of theories that focus solely on screenplay structure and little else…
If you want to learn both the theory and practice of screenwriting…
Here is a recommendation at Screenwriting Master Class, the unique online writing resource founded two years ago by Tom Benedek and myself.
Let’s talk about The Quest. Last year I launched a 24-week screenwriting program by that name. The idea was this: Provide a comprehensive, coherent, character based approach to screenwriting in a one-on-one private basis to individual writers. The Quest is comprised of the following:
Core [8 weeks]: Participants learn essential screenwriting principles covering Character, Plot, Concept, Theme, Scene, Style, Dialogue, Time. There are 6 written lectures each week which post daily, then a writing exercise due Sunday to put the theory into practice. I wrote all 48 lectures amounting to over 250 pages of in-depth content and believe it to represent a new, cutting edge way to think about screenwriting.
For 8 weeks in Core, participants in The Quest are immersed in screenwriting theory. At the end of that time, they put their understanding of those essential principles to work writing an original screenplay of their own.
Prep [6 weeks]: Starting with an original concept, participants in The Quest develop it through a series of 6 weekly lectures and writing assignments, each building upon the other until they end up with a thorough outline of their story.
I have been teaching Prep at SMC since we launched in January 2011 and the course has proved to be extremely popular. It picks up on the theory laid out in Core and runs with it in a workshop environment. The six weeks lay out like this:
The first two weeks are about exploration, starting with the Protagonist and a series of key questions to help define some of the narrative’s fundamental elements, then a full week’s worth of brainstorming, three different ways to prompt the writer’s creativity and engage the story.
The next two weeks are about wrangling the narrative, the primary Plotline points that provide the spine of the plot, and the movements of the Themeline, the story’s emotional plot.
The final two weeks are about crafting the structure, scene by scene, sequence by sequence, subplot by subplot until the participant has a detailed outline.
Armed with their outline, the writer can approach the page-writing part of the process with confidence, primed to type FADE IN and go.
Pages [10 weeks]: Using their outline as a guide, participants pound out script pages through a series of 10 weekly lectures and writing assignments. Averaging about 10–15 pages per week, by the end of The Quest the writer has a complete first draft of their original screenplay.
Here, too, the process is founded on the principles presented in Core and put into use in Prep, all reflecting a character-based approach to screenwriting.
As noted, The Quest is a workshop and that means:
* Weekly writing exercises and assignments
* Detailed feedback on all exercises, assignments, and script pages
* Regular teleconferences
In some ways, The Quest is a culmination of what I’ve been working on, studying, and teaching for over a decade, and is in my view completely unique. Evidently it struck a chord with people because last year over 1,500 writers submitted loglines for the opportunity to do The Quest for free. You can read about that initiative here. I picked 8 writers and have been working with them for the last 6 months. I will have some news about those results in January 2013.
I have also been working with several writers who enrolled for private versions of The Quest. Through these combined experiences with Quest participants, I can say this: If you do the work, it works.
Next year, I will open enrollment for a handful of individuals in The Quest. If you are interested, email me so I can learn more about your background and goals as a writer.
To learn more about The Quest, go here.
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!