Monday Morning Editor Picks: Screenwriting Classes & Webinars

Learning to improve your craft and your understanding of the filmmaking industry is essential to your success. Screenwriters University and The Writers Store bring you quality screenwriting classes, both online and in-person, to improve your odds of success.

Check out these highlighted classes and also the full list of February classes below:

Writing Your Drama Pilot in Six Weeks (starting February 6th) is a brand new course at Screenwriters University. I love the idea of having a finite period of time to get the words down on the page. Plus, you receive professional feedback on your script!

Television pilot writing was once a carefully guarded inner sanctum limited almost exclusively to showbiz insiders. With the recent explosion of successful cable dramas and Internet viewing, it’s now possible for writers without a strong track record or network connections to get producers and executives to read and sometimes even buy their pilot scripts. If you sell a pilot, you’ve reached the pinnacle of TV writing success. It’s extremely satisfying to see your brainchild come to life on the screen, and it can lead to an extremely lucrative career in writing, production, or “show-running.”
In this workshop, you will learn the tools professional screenwriters use to finish high-quality scripts under deadlines. By the end of this workshop, you will have completed and received professional feedback on a completed script for your drama pilot.

Proper Formatting Technique: How to Create a Compelling and Professional Screenplay (starts February 13th) is critical for making a great first impression. Nothing turns a reader off faster than improper formatting. It's an instant sign of an amateur.

Let Dave Trottier (Dr. Format himself) show you the necessary techniques and currently accepted standards that will set your script apart from the heap. Not only will he teach you the rules, he will show you when and how to break them. By applying Dave's formatting techniques, you will write more compelling description and sharper dialogue. That's because formatting is not just a box to dump your story into, it is part of the story itself -- it's a writing tool that will enhance your story and help you create a reader-friendly screenplay. The course includes four lessons and several exercises to sharpen your skills. In addition, Dave will provide a complete critique of your three page writing sample.
Required Reading:The Screenwriter's Bible

Writing Your Feature Film in Six Weeks (starts February 20th) is yet another way to have a deadline to get your first draft down. Beat procrastination and get to work!

Is it possible to write the first draft of a feature-length screenplay in 42 days — six weeks? The answer is yes, with a few caveats. The first: I’m assuming that you’re already familiar with screenplay format and structure. While I will remind you as we go off the beats you must hit, having to look up an ‘inciting incident’ or a ‘turning point’ or a ‘midpoint’ (or what is and is not permitted in a slug line) will slow you down considerably. Secondly, please know that for 42 days, it’ll be nose to the grindstone. To pull this off, you will have to write a minimum of five new pages per day. That means every day — no time off for good behavior. Tell your family you’ve joined a monastery. Have someone else feed your guppy.

Writing the Adaptation (starts February 27th): Since Hollywood loves adapting intellectual property, you'd be wise to learn the tricks of writing a great adaptation. In fact, I'd argue every screenwriter should have one in their portfolio, if only for a writing sample. This is a great opportunity to learn how to adapt.

UPCOMING SCREENWRITING EVENTS for February!

Screenwriters University:

Screenwriting Webinars

Classes at The Writers Store in Burbank

Jeanne Veillette Bowerman is the Editor and Online Community Manager of Script Magazine and a webinar instructor for The Writers Store. She is Co-Founder and moderator of the weekly Twitter screenwriters’ chat, #Scriptchat, and wrote the narrative adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name, with its author, Douglas A. Blackmon, former senior national correspondent of The Wall Street Journal. Jeanne also is President of Implicit Productions and consults with writers on how to build and strengthen their online and offline networks as well as face their fears in order to succeed in writing and in personal peace - a screenwriter's therapist. More information can be found on her blog, ramblings of a recovered insecureaholic. Follow @jeannevb on Twitter.