New workshops – Tuesdays and Saturdays

Winter workshops start in four weeks! Be sure to register ASAP for the best selection and to ensure your choice is not filled or cancelled.

Please note that our winter term is the only time of year when we offer Saturday workshops. If you’re interested, you should sign up without delay to make you don’t miss this once a year opportunity.

Here’s are our winter offerings:

SCREENWRITING FUNDAMENTALS
Learn in 5 weeks everything you must know to write a screenplay. Choose:
– TUESDAY group (7-9:30 pm, Jan 8-Feb 5) -OR-
– SATURDAY group (1:30-4 pm, Jan 12-Feb 9)
See syllabus
Tuition: $225

MASTER CLASS
Write a feature-length script or script outline in 10 weeks. Choose:
– TUESDAY group (7-9:30 pm, Jan 8-March 12) -OR-
– SATURDAY group (1:30-4 pm, Jan 12-March 16)
See syllabus
Tuition: $395
(Master Class Alumni: take $50 off)

FLAT RATE SCRIPT CONSULTATION
Your script read, marked-up & analysized, & then reviewed with you in a 90 minute consultation.
$300

PRIVATE SCRIPT CONSULTATION & INSTRUCTION
1½ hour private instruction & story consultation: $75
Package of 5 90-minute consultations: $370
See more on our website.

TO REGISTER
Just hit “Reply” and e-mail back to us which workshop or consultation package you are interested in, and we’ll get you enrolled right away!

News

Program alumna Kat Candler‘s going to Sundance – again! Right on the heels of her last short film, Hellion, which played at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, her newest short, Black Metal, will premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival! It was one of just 65 shorts accepted out of over 8100 submissions. She had already planned to be at the Festival this year because the feature version she’s developing of Hellion had been accepted to the Sundance Creative Producer’s Lab. Way to go, Kat!

Alumnus Terry Raven writes that negotiations are underway for optioning his feature Burnt Orange to be made in Oaxaca, Mexico and Austin in 2014.

The Screenplay Workshop is now on Twitter as ScreenplayDoc. Become a follower! Follow @ScreenplayDoc.

Have you “liked” The Screenplay Workshop’s Facebook page yet? You can by clicking here.

Screenwriting Tip:
Avoid “blocky” description of action

“Blocking” is where, when, and how the actors move and “do business” during the shooting of a scene. It’s something the director figures out with the actors on the set or in rehearsals.

When you describe in your script what your characters are doing, don’t let it get too “blocky.” You want to convey an overall sense of their physical behavior and the essence of any required movement, not march your characters around step-by-step like marionettes.

And you don’t need to write in movement for movement’s sake — that’s the director’s problem, not yours. Take a close look at the script of your favorite movie (I’m sure you know you can find lots of scripts easily on the Internet). I’ll bet you’ll be surprised at how little the characters’ movement is described. In screenwriting, you only need to write movement that is essential to the telling of your story. It’s not your job to worry about what all the characters are doing at every moment.