Let’s Get That Party Started!

Some thoughts from Tom Benedek on an upcoming writing workshop he will be leading:

Ideas are all important. The screenplay, how you write it, is everything. A bad idea, well-written, can be pretty good or even excellent. A great idea, never written, is just an idea. For many of us, getting started is the hardest part. Finishing may be much easier — if there is some momentum. Workshops help because encouragement and extra insight along the way helps build up that momentum.

I am starting a Pages I: The First Draft workshop in early April. Class members can start writing script pages immediately, or hone their idea/story outline/beat sheet with me and fellow writers for a while before writing script pages. There are weekly lectures about the process and a few wonderful scripts to read for inspiration and technique study.

I promise — there will be lots of encouragement, insight about your process and project to help you get the draft written. I will be standing along the sidelines cheering for you as you move forward with your script, offering pointers, trying to help you work on your creative game as you write pages. It is exciting for me to observe, cajole then just stand back and read pages along the way as ideas turn into scripts.

I only attempt to do for class members the same thing that I try to do for myself or wish I was doing at my desk on my own, as I write my scripts. It is nice to be in the tunnel — alone getting the pages done, turning an idea into something real — or as real as a screenplay actually is. It is lonely though. Being in workshop while writing a script adds other minds and hearts to the process. It is also a courageous endeavor — sharing the work as you write, letting others learn from your writing process and you absorb reactions of teacher and other class members. It is fun, too. The teleconferences on Skype are a way to come up for air, listen to other voices, let your writing instrument breath a bit.

So please do consider joining my Pages I class in April. Screenplays will be in bloom!

I’m just wrapping up a session of the Pages I: The First Draft workshop and it has been a big success for every participant, many completing a first draft, others realizing major story breakthroughs. Here is a testimonial from one of the writers from the class Michael Waters:

“A great experience. I didn’t just get a 99 page first draft. I got all the notes, comments and ideas to start my second draft.”

As a writer, Tom Benedek has worked with Robert Zemeckis, Lawerence Kasdan, Lili Fini Zanuck and Richard Zanuck, David Brown, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, Richard Rush, Harold Ramis, Lauren Schuler Donner and Richard Donner, Ray Stark, Brian Grazer, Working Title, Jersey Title, Jersey Film, Chris Blackwell and many others. As a teacher, Tom has worked with students at the University of Michigan, University of Massachusetts, and the prestigious University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. To learn more about his upcoming writing workshop, go here.

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