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Learn the fundamentals or refresh your knowledge of them while writing a short film (10-12 pages).

At the end of the course you should have completed the first draft of a short film, and you’ll be given a pack that contains much of the theory we discussed.

We don’t record sessions for reasons of privacy and wanting to be open and honest.

Any questions, contact us at workingwritersmail@gmail.com.

Every session contains theory, discussion, and writing exercises. There will be homework set each session, normally watching short films and writing tasks, with writing tasks set on the Thursday so you have more time on them.

Session One: The Dreaded Blank Page:

• Why a short film?

• Ideas and loglines

• Pitches

Session Two: Character Is Fate:

• Wants and needs

• Creating a character

• Dialogue

• Secondary characters

Session Three: Story World, Research, and Theme: The friends you never thought you needed

• Connecting world building to drama

• How to approach research and creativity

• Theme

Session Four: Structure Keeps Your Sh*t Together:

• When and how to use structure

• The structure of a scene

• The structure of a screenplay

• Structural theories and how to make life easier

Session Five: Shoot Your Sho(r)t: Practical funding and career tips

• Case studies of how shorts get made

• Funding advice and what you should do

• Being creatively responsible

Session Six: Feedback:

• How to give and receive feedback

• Notes and what they look like

• Script editing best practices

Session Seven and Eight: Table Reads:

• Your work read aloud by the group so you can hear it

• Feedback on the draft

• Mark and Nat will provide written feedback for you to redraft