Screenwriting is unlike any other type of creative writing.  As a screenwriter, you need to choose just the right words and then format them precisely on a page so that the final image up on the movie screen matches the images from your imagination.  It means using only the written word to tell a purely visual story.  

In this ongoing workshop, students will learn about the craft of screenwriting and film-making, examine the work of other screenwriters, and have the opportunity to share their own creative work with other learners in the class. 

At the beginning of each class, we will discuss the latest films we've been watching or the latest writing we've been doing. We'll examine a skill associated with the art of writing and film-making, read well written scenes from famous films, and then watch them to see how they were transferred from the page to the screen.   

Because this is a "workshop" class, I encourage learners to share their work in class. We can all take parts of the characters in your script and try our best to act it out in a form of online table-read! It's a great opportunity for writers to hear their words come to life in performance, to see what's working and what isn't, and gain positive and constructive feedback from your fellow writers in the class. 

The writing that is done will need to follow the proper rules of formatting for screenplays, so this will be done using the free, online screenwriting software, "Celtx." 

No prior experience is necessary.