Workshops
Receive guidance and direction on your script from an accomplished screenwriter.
Dates:
Jul 8, 2024 - Jul 12, 2024
Sep 16, 2024 - Sep 20, 2024
Levels:
Intermediate,
Advanced,
Workshop Fee: $1350
Workshop Duration: 1-week (Monday-Friday)
Workshop Location: On-campus
Class Size: 10
Filmmaking must begin with a solid screenplay. This retreat is for writers who have a screenplay in progress and are seeking guidance, direction and focus from an accomplished screenwriter. It is equally relevant for those writing a feature-length screenplay or an episodic television script. A project may be at any stage of evolution (concept, outline, first draft, or rewrite).
Class time is divided between lectures on the dynamics of screenwriting and discussion of student scripts. Participants will have part of each day to work on their scripts. The instructor will also be available for one-on-one consultations during the retreat.
The retreat delves deeply into examining concept, story structure, character development, plot and subplots, theme, dialogue, visual storytelling, and the process of revising a screenplay. Students discuss suggestions for rewrites and alternative approaches, exploring solutions to the problems posed by each script. Participants learn to look critically at their writing. Among other things, we will consider the importance of economy in screenwriting, and how to sharpen what’s at stake for your characters.
Throughout the sessions, participants will get a real-world view of how the industry works and the practical realities of getting material read and sold. By the end of the retreat, each script has been reviewed and reconstructed with a “battle plan” on how to take the script to the next level.
Course requirements
Participants must have a screenplay in progress. It can be at any stage of development, anything from an outline to a full draft.
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Instructor: Francine Volpe (Teaching July 8-12, 2024 workshop - Register here)
Francine Volpe is a Brooklyn-based screenwriter and playwright. Her writing credits include TOKYO VICE (HBO), THEM: Covenant (Amazon), THE FIRST (Hulu) and P-VALLEY (Starz). Her original series, TARA LYNCH is in development with Topic Studios. She is also a producer on the HBO series TOKYO VICE. Francine received her B.F.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She was later the recipient of a two-year Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwriting Fellowship at The Juilliard School where she studied with Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang. She has taught screenwriting, playwriting and television writing at NYU and Sarah Lawrence College.
Instructor: Jule Selbo (Teaching Sep 16-20, 2024 workshop - Register here)
Jule Selbo has transplanted from California to Portland, Maine. Her screenwriting credits (spanning over two decades) in film and television include George Lucas’ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, HBO’s Women Behind Bars, George Romero’s Tales from the Darkside and Monsters, Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame Part Deux and Cinderella II, Aaron Spelling’s Melrose Place, Fox’s Space Above and Beyond, the television series Hercules produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, Hard Promises starring Sissy Spacek and more. She has worked as a screenwriter, screenwriter/producer in live action and animation, feature length work and shorts. She recently completed (summer 2019) a production rewrite on a feature film focused on the work of Nikolai Tesla.
