Choose a Script Product
Class Schedule (8 sessions):
Tuesday, March 21ST, 7 - 8:30 PM EST
Tuesday, March 28TH, 7 - 8:30 PM EST
Tuesday, April 4TH, 7 - 8:30 PM EST
Tuesday, April 11TH, 7 - 8:30 PM EST
Tuesday, April 18TH, 7 - 8:30 PM EST
Tuesday, April 25TH, 7 - 8:30 PM EST
Tuesday, May 2ND, 7 - 8:30 PM EST
Tuesday, May 9TH, 7 - 8:30 PM EST
WHAT TO EXPECT
This course is designed to build your writing muscle. By the end of the 8-week certification course, you will have completed a draft of your one-hour drama teleplay or feature screenplay and created a one-sheet synopsis. The first 3 weeks of the course are helping to remove common writing hurdles; “writer's block,” story arc death, and shoe leather scene work. Your online sessions will take place using Zoom Software.
PRE-CLASS PREP
Write the first 25 pages of your screenplay or have a beat sheet prepared for the first act.
Using your personal screenplay, this 8-week workbook-guided uses the Bridge 17 Method™ to story approach, character development, dialogue, and understanding of audience psychology. Who should come? The workshop is designed for writers who want a class focused on improving their scripts.
PART ONE: THE FUNDAMENTALS OF SCREENWRITING (8 Sessions)
Week 1 – Introduction, Method, and Screenwriting Basics
The best way to start scriptwriting is to know which format - TV or Film meets a writer's strengths by understanding the history. Knowing the history of a craft grounds the craftsperson in its true intention. We will discuss the differences when writing intense visuals versus dialogue-heavy mediums, the character's journey versus development, and finding the path using a unique method I call - "The Spectrum."
Assignments:
Week 2 – Approaching Story
The adage in storytelling goes, there are two types of story entrances – someone leaving or new to town. This week's class will review the definition of a story, choosing the proper arc type to convey your story best, and obligatory scenes that are must-haves within specific genres, formats, and styles. As well as tone-setting to help guide the story with proper pacing.
Week 3 – Scene Structure
Start early, leave late. Show, don't tell. You've heard these all before, but how exactly do you do this? This week we'll discuss a method I teach on character intentionality. You are setting your character's motivation from their action to dialogue to what they're not saying. Techniques learned this week will show you how to write characters with meaning – no fluff or fat.
Week 4 – On The Page: Story Pacing, Dialogue, Your Authentic Voice Write with style.
Remember, this course is about finding your "authentic voice" to best market your script. Good writing is good writing, but sometimes, bad writing gets sold because the writer was authentic to their storytelling style. We still need to do it properly. This week we will dig into the writer's objectives and character's intentions.
Week 5 – On The Page: Story Pacing, Dialogue Part 2
Subtext in scriptwriting is defined as a deeper meaning of the text – what we see on screen. The visuals, actions, and dialogue of a character. The build-up of enigma, obnoxiousness, and intrigue. This week, we'll use the tools we learned from previous weeks PLUS some new techniques to understand how to build a three-dimensional character and the world that supports, denies, and confirms them.
Week 6 – Let's talk it through...
One-on-One Consultations.
Week 7 – On The Page: Subtext Part 2
Have you ever watched a film or television that you didn't like just because you wanted to figure out that one clue or red herring? Sure, you have. The writer gives meaning to symbols to create suspense, which suspends the audience into watching more. This week, we'll discuss how to write a carefully crafted scene that holds the audience's attention.
Week 8 – Effects of Storytelling
The audience continues to read or watch your story because they are engaged. Tension-driven scenes create tension-driven character emotions that do tense acts, creating a tense movie with a payoff. The payoff comes mainly from the author; "what do you want to say in this film?" As a screenwriter, your tools are character, connection, and emotion to communicate your thoughts on any given matter. Your job is to share the problem that needs to be solved and the character that needs to change to resolve it. How?
Bridge 17 Scriptwriters' Studio
Idea to Print. Stories to Life
You want to write. We can help with that. Our classes are taught by working screenwriters. Course material, assignments, and script reads are designed to be pragmatic. We focus on the practicality of writing more than theory. From the classics to modern-day award-winning scripts. Our focus is on developing skilled writers.