UK FILM COURSES

An essential guide to the practical process of script development: hone your analysis skills and refine your creative working process. This one day course is especially designed for script readers, developers and producers who want to explore the best practice of giving feedback and running development meetings with writers.
We all know that it’s true: writing is rewriting. But maintaining the inspiration and enthusiasm for repeated redrafts is an acquired skill and where a good script developer really proves their worth. Drawing on over twenty years experience of working with writers, we will outline effective strategies to establish positive creative relationships, deliver clear-headed story analysis, and confidently keep the project on track.

Participants on this course will work on a live screenwriting project and create a strategy for working towards the next draft with the writer. Together we will analyse the current script, assess its potential as a film, and consider how to translate that analysis into gold standard feedback.

1. Development Relationships

This session considers how to establish the most positive dynamic between developer and writer with the aim of empowering the writer to produce the best work they possibly can. This session looks at how to approach the first development meeting; gaining the writer's trust; understanding the story the writer wants to tell and why; protecting the writer’s unique voice and establishing creative boundaries.

2. Analysing the Material

The initial stages of development are all about finding the best potential film in the material. We'll lay out an approach for determining whether the key elements of the story are in place and whether the current draft is exploiting the strongest aspects of the idea. Any role in script development requires a solid understanding of screenwriting theory, but the job goes far beyond simply critiquing what’s currently on the page. We will consider how to discern the writer’s intentions within a script, and how to support the writer’s aims whilst also ensuring they deliver a story an audience will engage with.

3. Constructive Feedback

Too much feedback (however intelligent and informed) can be counter-productive, this session considers how to write development notes that don't overwhelm the writer but that provide a useful resource for addressing the next stage of development. We consider how to adapt your style to suit the way each writer works and explore how to offer ongoing support between drafts. In this practical session we'll consider how to respond to subsequent drafts (especially those that seem to get worse) and work with practical planning documents such as Beat Sheets.

The fee for this course is £115 and is limited to 14 participants.

As all shooters know, short films are an essential building block in your film-making career. This is increasingly true for screenwriters as well as writer/directors.

A tantalising dive into another world. An intimate revelation of human truth. A seductive tale with a twist. The best short films leave an imprint far beyond their final frame and are often more powerfully resonant because of their brevity.

Having worked extensively developing shorts in recent years, we found that many writers approach the design of their short films by adapting feature film principles rather than working fro… more

The most frequently asked question in the development process is ‘what’s at stake?’.

This one-day workshop offers a concentrated examination of how to maximise the stakes across every element of your screenplay.

The impetus to write is unique and precious to each writer and our personal connection with the material is often what keeps us going through the long dark months of drafting and redrafting. But from the earliest idea stage through to the final polish, it’s essential to keep evaluating how to invite the audience to share that passion for your story. Even if your story is not literally a… more

In this free one hour session we will re-think the principles of the three act structure specifically for the short film, and address some of the common pitfalls writers encounter when drafting their bite-size movies.

We’ll consider:

How to create immediate engagement with your central character.

How to establish the details of your story world without awkward exposition.

How to use a contained time frame to raise the stakes.

How to manage point of view within each scene to keep us emotionally connected with the protagonist.

How to generate an engaging turning point in the story.

How to ensure your … more