Discover the secrets to completing your story by "breaking it in prep," taught by a master screenwriter.
Your Instructor: Scott Myers
Where: Online — Available everywhere!
When: This class is not currently enrolling. To be notified when it is offered again, Click Here
Enrollment: 16 Students Maximum
Price: $397
Class Description
The two biggest problems with most screenplays: (1) They don’t work well as a story. (2) The writer gets lost and never completes the script. The best antidote to both of these concerns is to do what most professionals do: break your story in prep. What is breaking your story? It means digging into the primary characters and discovering their respective narrative functions. It means brainstorming a variety of plot possibilities, then wrangling them into a workable story structure. It means developing and interweaving all of your subplots. It means determining the emotional plot of your story.
When you break your story in prep, you figure out the structure and soul of your screenplay before you type FADE IN. During this workshop, you will use a proven approach to prep taking you from concept to outline, enabling you to move into the page-writing part of the process with confidence because you will know your story.
What This Class Covers
Lecture & Writing Assignment 1 - Protagonist Character Treatment:
Acting on the thesis that plot emerges from character, we start the prep-writing process by focusing on the Protagonist, typically the single most important character in a story.
Lecture & Writing Assignment 2 - Master Brainstorming List:
The next step is to devote time to brainstorming, engaging your story and its characters in free-wheeling exercises where you track your creative instincts and ideas.
Lecture & Writing Assignment 3 - Four Primary Plotline Points:
The best way to wrangle your story is to determine these four Plotline points: The Beginning, End of Act One, End of Act Two, the Ending.
Lecture & Writing Assignment 4 - Four Themeline Movements:
To tap into the emotional life of your story, we will explore the concept of the Protagonist metamorphosis arc as comprised by four movements.
Lecture & Writing Assignment 5 - Ten Major Plotline Points:
Building upon the Four Primary Plotline Points and Four Themeline Movements, your next step is work out your story’s Ten Major Plotline Points.
Lecture & Writing Assignment 6 - Narrative Throughline:
The final step is to pull all the key narrative elements together into an outline based upon the screenplay paradigm Narrative Throughline.
Goals Of This Class
- Learn a proven story-prep process you can use on all future writing projects.
- Find the structure and soul of your story.
- Develop your critical analytical skills through workshop experiences.
- End up with a comprehensive outline to use as the basis for writing a full-length original screenplay.
