Introduction

Through a series of intense seminars and workshops you will master the key elements of professional screenwriting, covering everything from sourcing ideas to refining dialogue.

Writing assignments, delivered through fortnightly seminars, will build to a compelling creative portfolio, alongside a complete script of either a short film or an excerpt from a longer piece.

What We'll Do

With five live interactive seminars, five asynchronous peer-group workshops, clear assignments and final feedback from the tutor, you will:

• Learn how to source and develop powerful ideas.
• Free your imagination by establishing a secure foundation in structure.
• Develop writing economy with precise visual storytelling.
• Create authentic, engaging characters.
• Write sharp, effective dialogue.

Who The Course is For

This is a course for:

• Those who are already making films but want to make them better.
• Directors who want to develop their writing capabilities.
• Writers in any medium who want to sharpen their art.
• Students preparing for a Masters in Scriptwriting.
• Alumni who wish to polish their skills.

Tutor

Robin Mukherjee is an award winning screenwriter with many years experience in teaching scriptwriting at all levels. He is Course Director of the MA Scriptwriting Programme at Bath Spa University and the author of The Art of Screenplays, published by Creative Essentials.

His first feature film, ‘Dance of the Wind’, won the Audience Prize at the London Film Festival. His most recent feature, ‘Lore’, has won numerous awards world-wide and was Australia’s official entry to the Oscars.

Syllabus

Seminar 1: Ideas. What is a good idea? How do I find ideas? How do I develop them?

Seminar 2: Story Structure. Three views of story structure.

Seminar 3: Characterisation. Writing compelling characters.

Seminar 4: Visual Storytelling. The use of motif to power your stories.

Seminar 5: Dialogue. Writing authentic, convincing, engaging dialogue.

Process and Tools

All seminars and peer-group workshops will be delivered remotely using the online tools Zoom and Slack. Preparatory training in these tools will be provided ahead of the start date for those that need it. There will be an optional hour-long session at 7pm on Tuesday 12th January for this purpose. All seminars will be recorded and immediately made available to participants (for those that have to miss any seminars or wish to review them afterwards).

The maximum number of students on the course will be sixteen.

Cancellation

You can cancel at any time up to three days before the course start date and receive a 90% refund. If you cancel three or less days before the course, no refund will be made. (The minimum number of students we need for the course to run is eight. If we have fewer students than that, the course will be cancelled and we'll refund your fee in full.)