Screenwriting Master Class: “Prep: Character Development”

Both Tom Benedek and I are fervent believers in the value of prep-writing. The time you spend digging into and developing your story before you type FADE IN is critical to the potential success of your scripted project. In our experience, most of the scripts we read that fall short of the mark of a professional quality screenplay are almost always a result of the writer not going deeply enough into their story — characters, plot, theme, meaning, and so on.

That is why when we founded Screenwriting Master Class, we were committed to providing online workshops that would help writers in the prep-writing process.

When we launched SMC in January, the very first class we offered was Prep: From Concept to Outline, a unique 6-week workshop where writers develop their story step by step, ending up with a thorough understanding of it as represented in a comprehensive outline. In our experience, that is the single best way to ensure a writer not only finishes a script, but also gives them the foundation to nail the story.

Subsequently we have added a second prep-writing workshop: Prep: Character Development. Along with the choice of your concept, the characters in your story — how they are developed, how they come to life, how they work together — are the most important elements in your screenplay. Characters are the face of your story, they breathe life into it and make the universe in which they exist become real in the imagination of the reader.

Here is how we frame the 2-week Prep: Character Development course:

Developing your story’s characters is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of the screenwriting process. But how to know you are getting a grasp of your individual characters and their collective interrelationships as opposed to just surfacing random clues? Prep: Character Development guides you through a proven process so that you will understand your characters and they will function as a group to support your story’s structural and emotional plots.

I received strong positive feedback from the initial offering of this course and now Tom Benedek will be leading another session beginning Monday, August 22. It is a combination lecture-workshop class. For lectures, we analyze The Dark Knight, a fascinating breakdown of the story’s primary and even secondary characters using five primary character archetypes: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster. Plus you get the opportunity to workshop characters from one of your stories, delving into them, finding out more about them, understanding them, and learning more about what their respective influences are in terms of the overall narrative.

For more information, go here.

As always, we appreciate your support of Screenwriting Master Class. If you’re serious about screenwriting, we honestly believe this is the best online resource for you.