This is a series of workshops to take you through the process of creating a screenplay. We'll start with the outline, move to Act One, Act Two and then Act Three. It may sound obvious, but ask yourself – why haven't you finished that screenplay you started? What's missing? Quite often, the answer is Goals and Constructive Criticism.

These workshops give you an environment with:

• Structure
• Deadlines
• Accountability

Each workshop offers:

• Weekly packets with assignments
• On-line chatroom for class discussion
• Ways to develop your critical thinking
• Peer feedback

THE OUTLINE

This course will guide you through the process of developing a 10-page outline. You will receive an overview of three-act structure and apply it to your script. Character, conflict, and setting will also be examined in depth. Reading assignments as well as film viewing assignments will help you analyze the concepts and refine them in your own outline.

ACT ONE

Moving from the outline to full scenes with dialogue and action is the next step. Those first few pages are critical in catching a reader’s eye, but the entire first act must also set up the elements that will sustain the story through Act Two. In this course, you will learn to write great dialogue and how to set up and integrate dramatic elements that are vital to your script.

ACT TWO

This is an eight week course that will break down the long and arduous task of keeping Act Two alive.  If screenplays fall apart, this is generally where that will happen.  Act Two is well over sixty percent of any story, and the challenge of making sure every scene moves the tale forward and develops our understanding of character is monumental.  Because of this challenge, the course is two weeks longer. 

NEW!!! - ON GOING WORKSHOP

Writers create in solitude, but a community of writers can be invaluable when it comes to feedback and response to your work.  This ongoing workshop is framed in three month intervals, meeting on-line once a month to discuss works in progress that have been exchanged between writers.  Helen Kantor facilitates the discussion in a secure chatroom, and helps every writer see her/his work better by learning to articulate responses to the work of others.  Constructive criticism and supportive encouragement are key to the lonely road a writer takes.  This workshop will make that road less lonely and provide each writer with the accountability that often motivates us to be better writers.

THE SHORT FILM

An intense course on writing perhaps the most difficult of all film types – the short story.

ONE-ON-ONE CONSULTATION

The biggest mistake any writer can make is sending the script out before it is ready. If you’re interested in taking your work to the next level with greater attention to the details, you may want to consider working one-on-one.  Consultations generate a line-by-line and page-by-page analysis that includes a general overview of strengths and weaknesses, and addresses issues of structure and character arc for a feature length script.  This process will help you through the revision process as you clarify and fine tune your screenplay.