A monthly writing workshop running over 12 months, these in-person workshops are for beginners and those interested in screenwriting. Do you have a excellent idea for a film and want to turn it into a script? Have you already started a screenplay and hit a wall? New screenwriters will be able to learn the concepts and techniques of storytelling and look at how to develop and structure a screenplay by using hands-on, interactive learning.

This will provide new screenwriters with the skills and techniques required to kickstart their imagination as an emerging screenwriter. These workshops will help unlock storytelling potential of scripted dialogue and express dramatic ideas on the page. You’ll receive friendly, constructive feedback throughout the course and have the opportunity to discuss and share your script ideas with a group of fellow writers. This can be an incredibly useful part of the creative process, helping you develop the style and scope of your writing.

PLEASE NOTE: fluency in English is required for this course.

SCREENWRITING WORKSHOP SCHEDULE (ROUGH BREAKDOWN)

Each class will run on the first Monday of every month, 7-9.30pm at Refractive Production Hub. The classes will be a 2.5 hours long with a break for refreshments.

MONTH 1 – PROJECT TREATMENT – Monday 2nd September 2024

Learn the craft of writing your project treatment:

• Logline
• Synopsis
• Genres
• Tones & themes

MONTH 2 – CHARACTERS – Monday 7th October 2024

Learn how to develop your characters including:

• Character Arcs and character motivations
• Protagonists
• Antagonists

Writing unlikable protagonists & inhuman antagonists

MONTH 3 – STRUCTURE – Monday 4th November 2024

Learn how to map out the structure of your script with:

• 3 Act Structure
• turning points & midpoints (SOTL & titanic will be used as examples)
• conflicts

MONTH 4 – STEP OUTLINE – Monday 2nd December 2024

Learn how to write out your Step-outlines and work out if your project will be written from an omniscient narrative, restrictive narrative or an unrealisable narrative.

MONTH 5 – SCREENPLAY FORMATTING – Monday 6th January 2025

• Screenplay Formatting
• Using the white space
• Writing unfilmable‘s
• Best script software to use

MONTH 6 – SCENE STRUCTURE – Monday 3rd February 2025

We will go in-depth into writing Scenes including:

• Scene structure
• is the scene needed?
• Writing opening scene
• Character introduction and Status and power in scenes
• Guest Speaker

MONTH 7 – MCGUFFIN’S AND OTHER ITEMS – Monday 3rd March 2025

• Find out the difference between Talismans & McGuffins
• set ups and payoffs Chekov’s gun. (Shaun of the dead & EEAAO will be used as examples)

MONTH 8 – WORLD BUILDING – Monday 7th April 2025

World building and visual storytelling.

• Does the rules of your world make sense
• Are the rules clear from the start
• A prologue
• Can you move the story forward in other ways rather than Dialogue

MONTH 9 – REWRITING  – Monday 5th May 2025

What’s the best way to go about rewriting your script.

• Take a vacation From Your First Draft
• Kill Your Darlings – Can any CHARACTERS or PLOTS be cut out or combined?
• Write from each character POV (treat them as your main character)
• Can you identify the CATALYST, FIRST ACT BREAK, MIDPOINT, SECOND ACT BREAK, and CLIMAX?
• Does the main character have a clear ARC?
• Do the STAKES escalate throughout the script?
• Do the SUBPLOTS connect to the main plot? Is a THEME emerging?

MONTH 10 – ONE ON ONE MEETINGS – Monday 2nd June 2025

Let’s look at your project one on one

• What issues are you having?
• How far along are you with the script?
• How can we make it better?

MONTH 11 – EXPOSITION & WRITING BETTER DIALOGUE – Monday 7th July 2025

• How to write exposition properly.
• How can you tell the story through meaningful dialogue.
• Exposition should be brief
• Exposition through character

MONTH 12 – TAKING YOU SCRIPT INTO THE WORLD – Monday 4th August 2025

• Creating Pitch decks,
• Entering competitions
• Finding agents
• Guest Speaker

 

TUTOR

Classes are taught by award-winning filmmaker Gary J Hewitt who has been working in the industry for over 10years. Gary J Hewitt is a Screenwriter and Director from Glasgow, Scotland. His debut feature film Cleek has its festival run in 2018. It was distributed by Shami Media Group on Amazon Prime and later went to DVD on March 15th 2019. Following the success of Cleek. Gary directed multi award winning film ‘Mia: A Rapture 2.0 Production’. The film won over 10 awards including Best British Film, Best Film and the IAC Diamond Award at BIAFF. Since then, Mia: A Rapture 2.0 Production has been distributed by North American company Meridian Releasing Group and can be purchased on Amazon. Gary’s most recent project The Defender (currently in Production) ranks in the top 30% in coverfly, was one of 6 semi-finalists at FILM MARKET HUB, scored 7.5/10 on SCREENCRAFT and was a quarter finalist .

FINAL WORDS

This will serve as a fantastic platform to jump-start screenwriting careers for people who have had no formal education or experience in the field. The class will provide an intuitive structure to the art of screenwriting and will be a creative home where writers develop their craft. It is designed to offer personalised attention to your ideas, with an emphasis on industry expectations and standards.

Once the fundamentals have been established the students will be able to immediately put these new skills to use by writing their own scripts.