Update: “Go Into The Story: The Quest”
For those who may be visiting the site for the first time or for the first time in a while, you can go here for background on “Go Into The Story: The Quest”. Bottom line: The opportunity for up to 4 writers to take the 24-week Screenwriting Master Class workshop called The Quest with me as their mentor — for free.
If you are interested in reading this update, hit continue.
Okay, several things to go over here, so let me break them up in nice, neat sections:
The Logline Review Process
During the logline submission period [now closed], I received 1808 individual submissions [revised total] and what I’m estimating to be at least 4000 loglines.
I have reviewed 1000 of them. Because of the sheer volume, I am, as I have indicated previously, going to have to push back the schedule.
I am aiming to get together my initial list of those making the first cut by Monday, June 25. I might get there sooner, but as I have stated previously there is no one other than me reviewing the loglines. I am taking this process seriously, considering each story idea carefully.
First I’m looking for that great hook. If I don’t see that, then I consider the potential of the story’s various narrative elements. And if that hasn’t caught my attention, I ask myself, “Is this a movie?” If a logline doesn’t grab me after those three considerations, I move onto the next one. If it does, I add it to my preliminary list of possibilities. But I want you to know there is a process and I am using it on every logline.
The Selection Process
For those who make the first cut, I will contact you and request the following:
* A writing resume: A complete detailing of your writing history, completed works [screenplays and non-screenplays], screenwriting / writing education and/or experience [if any], filmmaking background [if any].
* Story synopsis: Anything from a 1-page summary to a treatment of the story you submitted as a logline entry.
* A writing sample: Screenplay [preferable], novel excerpt, short story, poetry, something you think shows off your writing ability.
* One paragraph biography.
While none of you have any idea if I’ll be emailing you, I would still suggest this is a good time to review what you have in the way of this type of information. Perhaps a smart idea for you to create these type of assets because you never know when you might need them [e.g., if a manager responds to your inquiry].
My plan is to email everyone who has made that first cut on the same day to give each an equal amount of time to get all their information to me.
Based upon that information, I will contact people who make the next cut to schedule a phone call.
After that I hope to be able to announce 4 writers who will participate in “The Quest.”
Be forewarned: Everyone I contact, I am going to press them about this point: You must be willing to commit yourself to do the entire 24-week workshop and all the work required in it. I know it is a time commitment, as I suggested before probably about 10–15 hours per week. But the whole point of this is to immerse participants in an intense learning and writing process where at the end, hopefully they will have written a kick-ass first draft of commercially viable script.
The Free Screenwriting Master Class Courses
Back when I was thinking I’d get maybe 300 entrants in “The Quest,” I had a great idea: Make everybody a winner by offering a free Core or Craft course with me to anyone who submitted a logline.
Cut to today where I am looking at perhaps 1500–1600 people [some submitted loglines in separate emails].
I am committed to making good on my promise. Here are three options I am considering:
* As I offer the Core courses [I am starting a new cycle of bi-weekly classes starting July 23] and Craft courses [I am starting a new cycle of those starting July 30], I can offer up 5 slots per class on a first-come, first-serve basis. How I am thinking of managing that is setting a specific time to open registration, and whoever emails me first gets in. I will continue to do that with all my Core and Craft classes for however long it takes for those people who wish to do an actual 1-week online course with me.
* Obviously I can’t just do that approach because it would take years to work through 1500+ people. Another option is as I offer each course, I can send you the lectures. While I know that isn’t the equivalent of a week-long course in terms of forum interaction and a teleconference, it is the quickest way to get the content. And ultimately, the content is the most important thing. I thought I would handle that by posting something on the blog when a course comes up on the schedule, and if you are interested in this option, you would simply email me, then I would send you the lectures for that class.
* A third option, which I am currently researching, is to do webinars: A 90–120 minute session in which I offer a condensed version of the class, combination of a Power Point presentation, me talking through the concepts and ideas live, then a half-hour where I would answer your questions submitted to me through your live texts on the webinar site. So let’s say for example, you were interested in the one-week Craft class “Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling.” I would announce the registration period opening on such and such a date, you sign up, you attend the webinar, plus you receive a PDF of the Power Point presentation, and you could — I believe — access the recorded session for some limited period of time afterward to review the content at your leisure. As far as I know, a webinar could accommodate 100 or more people at a time, so that seems like a good alternative.
If any of you have any other suggestions on how to approach this situation, please let me know. Also if you any of you has any special insight into the whole webinar process, please email me with your thoughts and advice. It will mean extra work for me to pull together each of the webinars, but as I say, I want to make good on my commitment, and this appears to be a great way to help achieve that goal.
Exciting Idea: Do Your Own Quest
Finally I think I came up with an idea that is going to make everyone really happy. Let’s assume I’m fortunate enough to find four writers who have great ideas, solid writing potential, can work together as a group, and are completely committed to “The Quest” workshop for its 24 weeks duration. What I thought I could do is track the same schedule here on GITS. That is when they start week 1 [Core I: Plot], we would focus at least one post per day on that same subject. Obviously I’m not going to provide all the information included in “The Quest” proper, but there’s no reason we can’t engage in a conversation during the week about Plot, and make it a learning opportunity.
Then continue the process: A full 8 weeks for the Core subjects [Plot, Concept, Character, Style, Dialogue, Scene, Theme, Time], each week with a focus on the subject, mimicking what the actual “Quest” participants are working on.
Now here comes the really great part: When “The Quest” writers move into Prep, a six week period during which they take their story idea from concept to outline, you can do the same thing yourself. Again I can’t provide all the information I’m doing on “The Quest” proper, but I can help steer you through a similar process which you can use to develop your own story on your own time, hopefully with you breaking your story and ending up with a complete outline.
Then when “The Quest” writers move into Pages, a ten week period where every week, they are churning out 10–15 script pages, you can do the same thing, too. In effect, you would be using the 24-week time frame as a structure within which to deepen your understanding of screenplay theory through discussions here on GITS and develop, then write your story as the first draft of a screenplay.
All for free. All on your own time.
Which means if you don’t get selected for “The Quest,” you can still use the structure of that workshop as a motivational tool for you to crank out your script.
Does that sound like a good idea? I thought it was. I’d be curious to hear your reactions.
Anyhow my head is still spinning from what has transpired with “The Quest” and I’m trying my best to think on the fly and use this opportunity to help as many writers as I can.
Thoughts?
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