Start Date
17 April, 2024
There will be 10 weekly meetings on Wedesday, 6 - 8pm, starting from 17 April
Overview
Never in the history of film and television has a screenwriter heard the words: ‘It’s prefect as it is. You don’t need to change a thing.’
The skill which separates the professional screenwriter from the amateur is the ability to rewrite successfully. In Advanced Screenwriting and Story Solutions, Royal Television Society Award-winning writer Adam Simpson will explore the many layers of rewriting and provide a distillation of screenwriting practice. Successful stories always work for the same story structure reasons. It’s doesn’t matter if it’s Inception or Avatar or The Hustler or Rocky or The Departed or Guardians of the Galaxy or Little Miss Sunshine or Fight Club or Up or Oppenheimer. The genre doesn’t matter; if a story is a hit, if it gives an audience the kick they come to the cinema or watch TV to get, then that story contains the same progressive story actions as every other successful tale.
A little bit spooky. But true.
Rewriting can be challenging, but when done effectively, it can be highly rewarding. Unlike many writing courses where students are working toward the same goal, in a rewriting class, each student has a different set of unique problems to address. In addition, writers are often precious with words and resist making changes. But when we are able to see the big picture, and embrace notes, our work can soar, and we can grow significantly as screenwriters. Adam will provide a clear chain of specific, understandable story sequences that drive your idea forward with no holes or gaps. This is not some kind of copy-and-paste method for churning out structurally perfect but soulless, anodyne stories. You’ll still work hard, still sweat, toil and mine the depths of your creativity. After all, screenplays are the most complex and intricate expressions of the human mind. But this course should make it possible to take any idea you might have for a film, any conflict-based story idea at all, and create a unified and emotional exhilarating ride for the audience.
Advanced Screenwriting and Story Solutions is ideal writers for who’ve completed the first draft of a screenplay, experienced writers who wish to take their work to the next level and students who’ve attended Adam’s previous course, ‘Scriptwriting for TV and Film with Adam Simpson.
Objectives:
Week 1
Discuss overview of the class and approach to rewriting.
Students should organize their notes into categories such as: theme, character development, story points, scene work, relationships.
Week 2
Critique the student’s screenplays.
Alternating assignments for each group will continue until the students begin rewriting. From that point, the students will be working on the same weekly assignments.
The Annotated Draft
Game Plans
The Set-Up
Structure, Plot and Interim Draft Feedback
Week 3
Review and discuss premise, story, and character fundamentals.
Opposition Characters
Relationships
Dialogue
Assignment: Students begin to re-outline screenplays.
Week 4
Review and give notes on outlines.
Reveals and Reversals
Character growth arcs.
Week 5
Complete review of outlines.
Story links in every successful film
Assignment: Rewrite the first act. Establish and set up the main character’s story as well as the main plot problem
Week 6
Read and critique pages. Give notes going forward. Discuss each students’ set-ups in first half of the screenplays.
Shaping Act 1.
Assignment: Rewrite 30 pages. Reach the mid-point. Discuss the Mid-Point Plot Turn. Explore character development and relationship complications throughout the second act.
Week 7
Read and critique pages. Discuss second act obstacles and complications.
Shaping the first half of Act 2
Assignment: Rewrite 25 pages. What are the obstacles the main character must overcome?
Week 8
Read and critique pages. Discuss the importance of reaching a high-point/low-point at the end of the second act where the main character must be in the highest point of jeopardy both emotionally and physically.
Shaping the second half of Act 2
Assignment: Rewrite 25 pages.
Week 9
Read and critique pages. How does the resolution of the screenplay fulfill the main character’s arc, as well as his or her growth and transformation?
Shaping Act 3 – the Resolution
Assignment: Rewrite 25 pages. Students create a revised game plan for a script polish.
Week 10
Read and critique all screenplays. Discuss the progress the students have made since the first class and give notes to work on in their next pass. Discuss the major areas each student should concentrate on in their next pass. Encourage students to create a revised game plan.
Celebration of successes.
Please note that the ‘last date available to book’ date is only a guide. We reserve the right to close bookings earlier if courses are over- or under-subscribed. In order to avoid disappointment, please be sure enrol as soon as possible. Registrations will not be processed until the following day if received after 3pm.
Course Lecturer: Adam Simpson
Represented by Alexandra Cory and Julia Wyatt at Berlin Associates, Adam is a playwright and Royal Television Society Award-winning screenwriter. His TV drama, One More Unfortunate, was short-listed for the Red Planet Prize. The subsequent stage adaption was performed nationwide. His next play, Saved by the Bell Jar, was shortlisted for the Bruntwood International Prize for Playwriting and is in development with BBC Radio Drama North and the Liverpool Everyman. He has penned episodes for continuing dramas across multiple platforms and has written for Jimmy McGovern’s MOVING ON for BBC1. Adam’s first episode, BEATEN, was Sunday Times Critic’s Choice. He’s written extensively for the Guardian and worked with both the Guardian and Faber on The Secret Teacher Book. Adam is currently writing for Waterloo Road (BBC1) and Hollyoaks (C4, E4) as well as working on original projects and a new, Liverpool-based Netflix drama.
Courses fees: Full fee £150/Concession £75.
Back to: Continuing Education