Saturdays at 9am PST/12pm EST — Aug 31, Sept 7, Sept 14, Sept 21, Oct 5, Oct 12 

6 sessions

14 students max

CLASSES WILL BE CONDUCTED OVER ZOOM FOR SIX SESSIONS. They will last 2-3.5 hours (with breaks!).

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The THEME of this class is LOVE STORIES OF ALL KINDS. We will be studying meet cutes and the conventions of the romantic comedy, but your script doesn't have to fit perfectly within the confines of the genre. The theme os there as a guideline for both the students and the instructors (Alanna Bennett & Hope Rehak), so that all can hone in on a specific structure & conventions — and even go so far as to break them.

In this class, you will generate several scenes and an outline for an original feature screenplay. The class will cover the genre conventions of the romantic comedy — we will discuss as a class what works and what doesn't work in our favorite (and least favorite!) romcoms, and how we can take these lessons and apply them to your own work, whether you’re writing a traditional rom-com or not. This is also a workshop to hone your ideas, learn the ins and outs of scene structure, and give you all the raw materials you need to jump into drafting a great movie. You will receive substantial notes from your peers in the class and guidance forward from your instructors.

No prior experience in screenwriting is required, but we recommend that this class come after you've already taken one of our Level One classes NANCY & NORA & ME & YOU, RICHARD CURTIS & ME & YOU, THE ART OF SHONDALAND, or even WRITING ROMANTIC TV, as it will build on a lot of the genre structure and theory lessons taught in that course. However, if you're someone already very well-versed in genre conventions (for example, if you've already written novels, but would like to learn how to translate that to writing for the screen), it's not always 100% necessary to have taken the other course. 

WEEK ONE (June 25): Introductions & getting your idea ready to be a movie. (Homework: Developing your concept using our guide.)

WEEK TWO (JULY 2): Learn the art of the "meet-cute"/introductory scenes; Workshop your developed idea. (Homework: Write your own meet-cute scene!)

WEEK THREE: Workshop our meet-cutes/introductory scenes & learn how to shape your movie right. (Homework: write a midpoint set piece sequence of scenes) NOTE: There will be two weeks between this class and week four, so you will have an extra week to write!)

WEEK FOUR: Workshop your set pieces & learn how to hit all the right beats. (Homework: Write your beat sheet.)

WEEK FIVE: Learn how to make your scenes sing with proper scene structure & prepare to flesh out your scenes to create an outline. (Homework: write that outline!) 

WEEK SIX: Workshop our outlines & prepare to get drafting on your masterpiece!