The Advanced Screenwriting Series

About

The Advanced Screenwriting Series - You've learned the basics - the three-act structure, an understanding of theme, an ability to start creating dimensional characters. Now you want to go deeper, broader and expand your tools for creating great scripts.

 

 

If you've learned the three-act structure, you may be ready to try variations on the basics & simply create scripts that are more focused, with more momentum. What are other ways that the three-act structure can be used? How does a writer learn to juggle the difficult elements in non-traditional structures? This program discusses the three-act structure in scenes and scene sequences. It discusses how to use structure to give you stronger turning points (surprising reveals, twists, turns, scene transitions) and non-traditional structural forms that have created such great films as Pulp Fiction, Crash, Ordinary People, Before the Rain & Sleepless in Seattle.

 

 

About the Instructor:

In 1981, Dr. Linda Seger created and defined the career of Script Consultant. She based her business on a method for analyzing scripts that she had developed for her doctoral dissertation project. Since then, she has consulted on over 2,000 scripts including over 50 produced feature films and over 35 produced television projects.

 

 

Linda was the consultant for Peter Jackson’s breakthrough film, Brain Dead and for Roland Emmerich’s breakthrough film, Universal Soldier.  She was the script consultant on Pasttime and Picture Bride–both winners of the Audience Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival–as well as for the films The Long Walk Home, The Neverending Story II, Luther, Romero, and television movies and mini-series including The Bridge, the Danish-Swedish mini-series (now playing in the US).

 

 

Other clients include Ray Bradbury who said, “Linda’s technique is a light to see by,” William Kelley, Linda Lavin, and production companies, film studios, producers, directors, and writers from over 33 countries.

 

 

"Making a Good Script Great has informed all my movies beginning with Apollo 13

  –Ron Howard, American film director, producer, and actor

 

 

Preview

Drama has nothing to do with information. Drama is storytelling that assembles the clan. Information is the compiling of facts, which may or may not be useful and also, which may or may not be true. So why would I want to give people information. It's all we do all day-- we get information. Almost all of it's a lie. And even the true stuff we don't act upon, right? Other people's job is to give people information, right? Or in the case of newspapers, misinformation. My job is to tell them a story. Period. It's not my job to be informative. My job is to be interesting. I got a special way of being interesting that pays my rent. It's called writing drama. So I'm just a class clown writing drama. That's what I do for a living. They used to say in the old days in the movie business-- you meet a writer, you say, what do you. He'd say, I write gags and titles. Because that goes back to the silent era. They made up gags and they wrote the titles in silent film. We've all seen a silent film. So the writing of gags is magnificent because if you look at Buster Keaton's films, for example, he's structuring this wonderful progression, which is like a joke, the end of which the gag is surprising and inevitable. So even early talkie days, the hip writers would say, what do you do, they'd say, write gags and titles. Pick up a phrase from the old days. The other thing about titles, which is interesting to me in black and white films is that none of them are necessary. If you take every one out of every black and white film, changes nothing. But the tradition of writing titles exists today in the unfortunate tradition of conveying information. CBS used to drive me fucking crazy. On its shows, they'd say, OK, the scene takes place in the Senate offices. I'd say, OK. They say, got to have an establishing shot of Washington. I'd say, where else would the Senate offices be? Nope, got to have an establishing shot. I'd say, OK, put in an establishing-- put in an establishing shot. I'd look at it on TV. It's an establishing shot and superimposed over the capitol building-- superimposed is what-- Washington d.c. DC. What? Who is this for the benefit of, right? A, it matters that it's in a room with a bunch of fat white guys who look like senators. We'll assume it's the Senate, right? B, where would the Senate be, even if it's not in Washington, DC? Is that going to help anybody understand the scene, right? Right? They're fat corporate types. So I did my first movie, House of Games. And we shot it in Seattle. And the guys who released it-- I think a guy called Orion, a guy called Bill Bernstein. And he says, you have to have an establishing shot. I say, why? He said, well, how will people know it's Seattle? I said, it's not important it's Seattle. It's a city.

 

Preview

If you're not moving the story forward, you're standing still, and you better be careful about how long you're standing still because the audience won't hang out with you as long as you want them to. So, you have to be moving the story forward. Stories involve motion, OK? If you're about to write something, you're thinking about this thing that you're going to write, and the idea is that you're going to start at point A. You're going to go due north and end at point B, which is somewhere north of point A. But in the writing process, somehow, you stop going north, and you start going north by northeast, and that kind of thing, and somehow point B ends up being due east and not due north. You haven't done anything wrong. As long as you have traveled from one place to another place, you're in good shape. Your next script, you can go due north. In that one, you'll probably end up due west, and then you've got a third script where you can go due north. But you have to travel. There has to be motion. So, at the end of a scene, we have to be at least one step further than we were before. [MUSIC PLAYING] You can do a few different things to launch yourself from the end of one scene into another scene. You can have the next scene be an answer to a question that you asked in the previous scene. In other words, you can-- let's just take, for the sake of argument, the Jets and the Sharks, OK? West Side Story, the Jets and the Sharks. If you have a scene with the Jets at their hangout, it's before the rumble-- this scene, by the way, does not exist. I'm now making up scenes for West Side Story. This scene does exist. They sing "Cool Boy." The Jets are in their hideout, their hangout, and they're nervous for the rumble, and they're talking about the rumble. And someone says, gee, I wonder what the Sharks are doing right now? Lights up on the Sharks, and you do that. There was a really well-made HBO movie. It was written by Danny Strong called Recount, about the 2000 Florida recount, and every scene ended with a launch into the next scene. I mean, it was beautifully constructed. Every scene would end with, well, there's no way that the Florida Supreme Court is going to rule this way. Cut to the Florida Supreme Court has ruled this way. That kind of thing. And you know, Danny connected that together like LEGO blocks. It was perfect. Depending how you're structuring the script, the end of a scene can be kind of a mini climax, and it should jettison you into the next scene. [MUSIC PLAYING] Not every scene has to end with a cymbal crash, you know? But a scene does have to end with you very happy to move on, that you want to keep going. As opposed to this feeling that you're spinning your wheels, when is this thing going to gain traction, what am I supposed to be looking for. I'm not going to name the show, but there's a show on tel...

One of the most advanced educations on the screenwriting craft, the business and screenwriting careers. Featuring Screenwriter, Script Consultant and Director Jim Mercurio, one of the country's top screenplay consultants who produced the award-winning feature film Hard Scrambled, starring Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show) and Richard Edson. The climax of your story defines the theme, completes the character arc, creates a peripeteia and is the story's most emotionally charged moment. A great ending absolves a movie of many of its flaws. It can make a bad movie good and a good movie great. This program shows how to create meaning and emotion by unifying a character's goal and need into one succinct action - the killer ending.

About

One of the most advanced educations on the screenwriting craft, the business and screenwriting careers. Featuring Screenwriter, Script Consultant and Director Jim Mercurio, one of the country's top screenplay consultants who produced the award-winning feature film Hard Scrambled, starring Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show) and Richard Edson. The climax of your story defines the theme, completes the character arc, creates a peripeteia and is the story's most emotionally charged moment. A great ending absolves a movie of many of its flaws. It can make a bad movie good and a good movie great. This program shows how to create meaning and emotion by unifying a character's goal and need into one succinct action - the Killer Ending.

 

 

Includes discussions of films Sideways, Million Dollar Baby and Eight Mile.

 

 

 

Subjects Covered Include:

 

• The power of endings

 

• Definitions (Goal and Need, Dilemma, Crisis/Climax/Resolution)

 

• Five different paradigms to find a killer ending (Dilemma, Projection, Antagonist, Character Arc & Theme)

 

• Definition of Killer Endings

 

• Applying it to Beginnings and Middles

 

• The Writer's Dilemma

 

• Case Study - La Confidential

 

 

 

James P. Mercurio - Filmmaker & Teacher: Ranked as one of the country's top screenplay consultants, Jim Mercurio's clients include Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated writers. He produced the feature film Hard Scrambled, starring Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show) and Richard Edson and directed the feature March and Auteur Theory. As a teacher, he has helped thousands of screenwriters and filmmakers and shepherded over 600 short films. He has directed more than 50 hours of Educational Screenwriting programs and contributed to the bonus material for Warner Bros.' Dirty Harry series and the encyclopedia, 100 Years of American Film.

 

About

You can’t have a great plot without having amazing characters. Strong character development will evoke emotions in your audience whether you’re writing a comedy, drama, or any other genre. To create great characters, you need your audience to connect in some way. Even if you love your characters, there is no guarantee your reader will connect with them.

 

 

 

If you want to elevate your scripts and stories – AND your screenwriting or filmmaking career-- to the highest possible level, this class is a must.

 

 

 

Creating characters that people connect with is no easy feat, but it is the key to writing amazing work. Learn several tips and techniques from Karl Iglesias that will take your characters to the next level. Filmmaking is not just about the cameras.Karl Iglesias is a screenwriter and sought-after script doctor and consultant, specializing in the reader's emotional response to the written page. He is the best-selling author of Writing For Emotional Impactand The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters. He teaches at UCLA Extension’s Writers' Program, where he’s won the Outstanding Instructor Award for 2010, the Screenwriting Expo and online at Writers University. He also writes a regular column on the craft for Creative Screenwriting magazine.

About

Most seminars and books attempt to teach the frustrated screenwriter what to do and what not to do; this course will outline how to do it - how to develop habits that will lead to more joy in the writing process and better scripts.

 

 

 

In Mastering the Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters, bestselling author Karl Iglesiaswill guide students to identify and develop the key habits of A-list screenwriters, like Ron Bass, Akiva Goldsman, Gerald DiPego, Eric Roth, Nicholas Kazan, Ed Solomon, Scott Rosenberg, and more. He'll offer an insider's view at how these pros discipline themselves, create original material, conquer the blank page, eliminate writer's block, network, pitch, and persevere in Hollywood.

 

 

 

Modeling what works is the philosophy at the heart of this course. The secret to success in any field is to find what successful people do and think about, and do the same. The difference between successful screenwriters and amateurs is that successful screenwriters do all the things that amateurs want to do but can't do, or don't know how to do.

 

 

 

This course is an effective way to have all these successful screenwriters be your personal mentors. Study their habits, learn from them, and maybe their wisdom will rub off on you and arm you with enough knowledge and self-confidence to accomplish your goals. By taking this course, you'll discover what it really takes to be a successful screenwriter in Hollywood, and either see similarities in your attitudes and ways of thinking, or be inspired to adopt new ones.

 

About

One of the most advanced educations on the screenwriting craft, the business and screenwriting careers. Featuring Screenwriter, Script Consultant and Director Jim Mercurio, one of the country's top screenplay consultants who produced the award-winning feature film Hard Scrambled, starring Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show) and Richard Edson.

 

 

As Hollywood uses the term, "story" is only one element of a great screenplay. Writers who have something to say about the world must learn how film and drama convey theme and ideas. Great writers seem to understand theme intuitively. They are able to achieve thematic clarity without being didactic. This program teaches how to use the tools presented in this program to add emotional and thematic resonance to your work. It shows how the intersection of all dramatic elements combines to create meaning.

 

 

 

Subjects Covered Include:

 

• Samuel Goldwyn and Western Union,

 

• Definition, Dilemma, and Intersection of Possible Meanings

 

• Subplots

 

• Character Orchestration

 

• Dialogue Do's and Don'ts

 

• Permutations

 

• Image Systems/Motifs

 

• Right Brain versus Left Brain

 

• 7-Point Theme Checklist

 

• Bringing it all together

 

 

 

 

James P. Mercurio - Filmmaker & Teacher: Ranked as one of the country's top screenplay consultants, Jim Mercurio's clients include Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated writers. He produced the feature film Hard Scrambled, starring Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show) and Richard Edson and directed the feature March and Auteur Theory. As a teacher, he has helped thousands of screenwriters and filmmakers and shepherded over 600 short films. He has directed more than 50 hours of Educational Screenwriting programs and contributed to the bonus material for Warner Bros.' Dirty Harry series and the encyclopedia, 100 Years of American Film.

 


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