UK FILM COURSES

The London Screenwriters’ Festival is an annual three-day conference for screenwriters.

One ticket will get you access to ALL events, both online and in-person.

When - Friday 25th April – Sunday 27th April 2025
Where - Regent’s University in Regent’s Park, London
Tickets - £349 (Early bird only)

Get your pass here - https://www.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/tickets/

For three days (and the additional two-day online event), over 1,000 screenwriters, filmmakers, producers, practitioners, actors, and executives congregate to share ideas, build powerful relationships, and get a creative shot in the arm.

Most delegates report massive breakthroughs in their understanding of the business and craft, as well as huge acceleration toward their career goals. However, perhaps the most vital part of the festival is the inspiration and sense of belonging you will experience when you attend. Year on year, delegates report that the community at the festival is one of the main reasons they return.

ONLINE FESTIVAL

2025 festival will run both in-person and online with a couple of extra online only days thrown in!. Since the early days of the pandemic, we have paved the way for online festival offerings that bring people together, delivering world class screenwriting insight, but most of all, igniting the passion to ‘write to get produced’.

ALL sessions will be streamed online, obviously for the online portion of the festival, but also for the in-person sessions in London too.

All sessions will be added to LSFConnect, adding to the expanding library of sessions available to delegates. When you sign up you will get access to all past video sessions, as well as the sessions from the festival for which you have purchased a pass.

THE MAIN EVENTS

During the three days of the festival there are around 100 structured seminars, lessons, and workshops.

You do not need to book a place for any of these sessions, they are all on a first come, first seated basis.

Between sessions, there are rest breaks and a break for lunch. These breaks are a fantastic opportunity to network with delegates and speakers, as well as to grab yourself some food or a coffee, food and beverage outlets are available onsite.

THE SPEAKERS

Every year we have around 100 industry professionals who come and speak. In the past, we have played host to the world’s biggest screenwriters, producers, agents, and directors.
These industry experts have included…

* Ken Loach (Legend!)
* Jim Uhls (Writer – Fight Club)
* Nicole Perlman (Writer – Guardians of the Galaxy)
* Mike Leigh (Director, Writer – Secrets & Lies, Naked, Life Is Sweet)
* Mark Gatiss (Writer, Actor – Sherlock, League of Gentlemen)
* Stephen Frears (Director, Writer – The Grifters, The Queen, High Fidelity, Philomena)
* Charlie Brooker (Writer – Black Mirror, A Touch Of Cloth)
* Matt Charman (Writer – Bridge of Spies)
* Ted Tally (Writer – Silence Of The Lambs, Red Dragon, The Juror)
* Sally Phillips (Actor, Writer – Smack The Pony, Miranda)
* Edgar Wright (Director, Writer – Scott Pilgrim, Shaun of the Dead, Last Night in Soho)
* Lynne Ramsay (Writer, Director, Producer – Ratcatcher, We Need to Talk About Kevin)
* Jeb Stuart (Writer – Die Hard, The Fugitive)
* Paul Abbott (Writer – Shameless, State of Play)
* Lisa Albert (Writer, Producer – Mad Men)
* Stephen Woolley (Producer, Director – The Crying Game, Carol, Interview with the Vampire)
* Bruce Robinson (Writer – Withnail and I)
* Steven Moffat (Writer, Producer – Dr Who, Sherlock)
* Olivia Williams (Actor – The Sixth Sense, An Education)
* David Reynolds (Pixar & Disney Staff Writer – Finding Nemo, Mulan)
* Christopher McQuarrie (Writer – Usual Suspects, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation)
* Carl Gottlieb (Writer – Jaws)
* Jessica Hynes (Writer, Actor – Spaced)
* Ol Parker (Writer – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)
* Joel Schumacher (Director, Writer – The Lost Boys, The Client, Falling Down)
* Lynda La Plante (Writer – Prime Suspect, Above Suspicion)
* William Nicholson (Writer – Gladiator, Les Miserables, Shadowlands)
* Joe Eszterhas (Writer – Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge)
* David Hare (Writer – The Reader, The Hours)
* Dan Mazer (Writer – Borat, Ali G)
* Frank Spotnitz (Writer, Producer – Hunted, The X-Files, Millenium)
* Duncan Kenworthy (Producer – Love Actually, Notting Hill, Four Weddings)
* John August (Writer – Dark Shadows, Big Fish, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory)
* Ash Atalla (Producer – The I.T. Crowd, The Office)
* Stephen Mangan (Actor – Green Wing, Episodes)

Over 600 industry professionals have now presented at the LSF including execs and producers from broadcasters, Hollywood studios, and UK productions (large, small and everything in between).

Alongside the industry professionals, world-class screenwriting tutors and practitioners from the UK and Hollywood also attend, providing what are often the most widely attended sessions of the festival. They have included…

* Pilar Alessandra (Pitching Expert)
* John Yorke (Into The Woods, Story Expert)
* Christopher Vogler (Hero’s Journey Expert)
* Robert McKee (Story Expert)
* Linda Aronson (Non-Linear Expert)
* Scott Myers (Writer, Educator – Go Into The Story, The Black List)
* Karl Iglesias (Hollywood Script Expert)
* Jen Grisanti (Hollywood TV Expert)
* Joey Tuccio (Roadmap Writers & Pitching Expert)
* Kate Leys (Script Expert & Active Script Editor)

ADDITIONAL EVENTS
During the festival, there are also separate events that are included as part of your ticket. You must apply for each of these events ahead of the festival and the process for application differs slightly for each.

* Pitchfest!
The most popular of these additional initiatives is the Pitchfest where you get the chance to pitch your projects to execs, producers, agents, and filmmakers.

* The Advanced Mentoring Script Labs
The objective of the Labs is to assist writers who have a fully developed screenplay in a specific genre, to move their work to the next level.
There will be a variety of slots available, covering a variety of disciplines and topics. Within each Lab, there is space for up to six writers. The labs are different each year.

* The Actors Table Read
The Actors’ Table Read is an opportunity for you to get your screenplay workshopped by professional actors and a director. This has proven to be our most successful initiative to date, with 99.8% positive feedback participants.
In 2025 we aim to have 144 slots available.
If you submit a script to the process and you are selected, you will attend a one-hour session where you, the director and the actors will work on one sequence (between 3 and five pages) of your script.

* Script Chat
After each session, speakers are invited to meet delegates in roundtable sessions that we call ‘Script Chats’.
These informal and intimate chats can often run for an hour or more. It’s our way of giving direct access to specific experts so that if you want to, you can take the conversation to the next level. We have found that even the biggest names are happy to spend time coaching and sharing in Script Chats.
You do not need to book a place at a script chat, just turn up. Sessions that are followed by a script chat will be marked accordingly on the schedule. More here.

* The Script Surgery
Submit a two-page outline and the first ten pages of your script and we will offer expert feedback in a fifty-minute, one-on-one session.
On the day and time of your booking, go to your appointment with a printout of your outline and the first ten pages of your script, and you will be met by your script doctor. At any one time, six script doctors are in session and we aim to offer help on around 100 projects.
We also operate a drop-in desk over the three days of the festival. So if you want to just rock up with your script, get some feedback or ask for career advice, head over to The Script Surgery and book yourself a slot in one of the drop-in sessions.

* The Legal Clinic
Do you have legal issues you need a lawyer to help you with? All delegates at the festival have the option to apply for the legal clinic where you can ask any question you like and the legal team will do their best to answer your concerns.

* Meet The Experts
Get a full half hour with seasoned film producers, distributors and executives.
Have your project grilled by a team of heavyweights. Meet The Experts is not for the faint-hearted and you can be certain of a very tough conversation. Think Dragons Den but for writers’ concepts and projects.

* Script to Screen LIVE
Read the script, watch the film or TV show, and then meet the writers, filmmakers, and producers at the festival. This is a rare opportunity to get access to the script that was taken to set, then follow it through the journey of production, examining changes which can be discussed during the session at the festival.
In the past, we have run these fantastically insightful and entertaining screenings with Jim Uhls and Fight Club, W. Peter Iliff and Point Break, Carl Gottlieb and Jaws, Joel Schumacher and The Lost Boys, Joe Eszterhas and Basic Instinct, Ted Tally and Silence Of The Lambs, and Dave Reynolds and Finding Nemo.

BOOK NOW!
One pass will get you full access to the festival. Last year we sold out nearly one month before the festival, so don’t wait to get yours.

You will need a pass BEFORE you can book any of the additional sessions such as the PitchFest, Labs or Actors Table Read.

You will be sent a special delegate app that will give you an overview of the whole event and offer additional detail where needed.

In the three days running up to the festival (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) we run a series of one-day masterclasses. We have designed these to be as useful as possible for delegates, especially those travelling from great distances. They are competitively priced and discounted for LSF'25 ticket holders).

People come to their first LondonSWF for the sessions and the speakers. People return for the feeling of belonging and the other delegates. The festival is like an annual family gathering, a tribe if you like, of people who get who you are, and you get who they are. We are not alone, we are a movement – a community.

This sense of belonging is repeatedly reported as the single most important aspect of the festival. We have lovely staff who will answer your questions, as will the veteran delegates who offer so much too. Getting the most from the festival is all about getting prepared and then letting yourself go, allowing the experience to take a hold of you.

81% of our delegates give the event 5 stars
99% said they would recommend it.
99% also say that it is value for money.

When - Friday 25th April – Sunday 27th April 2025
Where - Regent’s University in Regent’s Park, London
Tickets - £349 (Early bird only, so hurry!)

Get your pass here - https://www.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/tickets/

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