What do films like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Big Hero 6, The Karate Kid, Shazam, Wonder Woman, How to Train Your Dragon (and about a thousand more) have in common?  They all follow the stages of the "Hero's Journey" to create original but still familiar stories that audiences love.  In this 5-week class, students will learn the ingredients necessary to create a story, a hero, and the journey they take, and then how to put it all together in a proper screenplay.  Throughout all of the classes, learners will be encouraged to write and post their work in the classroom, so we can all read the work, learn from each other and share our feedback.  Constructive criticism and positive support is encouraged.

Below is a rough breakdown of what we will cover over the course of the class:

Class 1: We will look at the heroes we already know and love, and try to understand what it is that makes them relatable and someone to cheer for on their journey.  We'll look at a condensed version of the elements of the "Hero's Journey" and discuss how it applies to films we've seen.

Class 2: Today we get a bit philosophical about why these kinds of stories remain so popular and how we reflect our own experiences symbolically in the stories we tell.  We'll also begin to look at key elements in screenwriting and how they apply to a Hero's Journey story.   

Class 3: Today we will aim to complete our examination of the stages of the Hero's Journey and students will start to build their own stories and characters using a worksheet that connects their story to everything we've learned so far. 

Class 4: Today we will learn the proper structure of a screenplay using a free online tool (Celtx - the free version!), and start to get our Hero's journey down into a properly formatted screenplay.

Class 5: Today, we will bring everything together by working on scenes from the stories that students are developing.  We will write together in a collaborative workshop environment.