SCRIPT SALON: longform screenwriting intensive (Thursday + Friday)

Thursday: 9am-1:30pm | 2pm-6pm
Friday: 9am-12:30pm | 1pm-5pm

Whether you have an idea, a developed story, or even a WIP draft, join our evening sessions to transform your project into a finished, polished piece of writing.

This course blends acedemia-level insights with a relaxed and collaborative atmosphere - at the storytelling hub, Playhouse East.

You will gain a comprehensive initiation into the craft of screenwriting through a combination of practical exercises in writing, reading and analytic viewing. There will be in-class tasks to advance your work.

You will either have completed:

• a short film draft (up to 25 pages)mmaking hub
• an excerpt of a feature film (up to 30 pages)
• a 30-minute TV pilot (up to 30 pages)

You will discover and explore the fundamentals of telling a story for the screen to further expand your own storytelling point of view, and applying techniques to regular written exercises that will enhance your in-class participation. Week by week, we come to appreciate how different script tools can be used to dramatically craft a ‘story well told’.

No previous knowledge of scriptwriting is required, though focus and engagement with the form is encouraged. You will leave with a holistic understanding of film storytelling, and a fully mapped out piece of writing that you can put forward to professional settings.

• About your tutor:

Having taught screenwriting at the postgraduate and undergraduate levels (including at the University of Warwick's lauded Writing Programme) Flavia has designed these robust & collaborative workshops to break down narrative devices like plot, character, dialogue, dramatisation, and filmmaking tools - in an inclusive and supportive setting.
Flavia is a creative producer and a practicing writer and director, having made her feature film Beautiful in the Morning (distributed by Herflix) and currently developing a slate of film & TV scripts which have gained support (most notably from the prestigious Athena Writers Lab). She earned a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts, and was mentored by auteurs Noah Baumbach & Cedric Klapisch, and Academy Award-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (on Alejandro Inarritu's Birdman).
• VISIT SCRIPTSALON.COM FOR MORE INFO •

Info: Screenwriting differs from all other forms of writing because it exists to communicate to a reader a primarily visual experience. Close analysis of screenplay excerpts in order to appreciate the visual language of dramatic construction. Exploring how to go about telling a story visually, through writing exercises in class. Screenplay format and its function.

Info: Writing and describing character in the screenplay form. Long form character exercise. The theory of 'wants and needs' in screen storytelling. Protagonist and antagonist. Exploration of stakes and conflict. Take-home task: write your story's beginning & ending - as well as a character description of your protagonist.

Info: There are many different theories of storytelling. We will investigate the Hero's Journey and sequence structure among others. Why and how do these various theories of story beats persist through many cultures and over time? What do they mean for us as screenwriters and how we may employ them to help us write our screenplays.

Info: Develop a step outline or treatment: short form documents that are often written before the actual script as planning and/or selling tools. By the end of the session, you will have a mapped out the structure of your story. Take-home task: write your script's Act 1.

Info: The focus of this section will be story-TELLING.... how do you tell others about your story in a dynamic way (pitching). This includes having a sense of what your story is about: theme. We will look at how to give constructive feedback to a writer and how to receive it from others. Critiquing work.

Info: The multiple dramatic functions of dialogue in film: to convey information, develop character, and drive drama. Working with dialogue in a visual medium. What makes crackling dialogue; the purpose of exposition and how to avoid banality. Subtext and the gaps between as powerful tools in filmmaking. Take-home task: write your script's Act 2.

Info: Develop a the last sequence of your longform content. This can be act 3 of a TV pilot, the ending of a feature film, or an animated short... Write a draft of this, and share the scenes by the end of this section. You'll have time to refine it by the end of the class.

Info: By our last section you will have written an excerpt of your longform content that sits within the overall outline of your narrative. This is a chance to workshop it together and develop the sequence. While the group writes, 1 on 1 sessions with me will be available for more bespoke feedback.

Event venue & nearby stays

Playhouse East, 258 Kingsland Road, London, United Kingdom

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