Film schools teach filmmaking. Raindance makes filmmakers. The original pioneer of independent filmmaking in the UK, Raindance courses have inspired a whole generation of filmmakers including Christopher Nolan (writer/director Memento), Julian Fellowes (writer Gosford Park) and Guy Ritchie (writer/director Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels)
Write and Sell the Hot Script
Course Objectives
Learn the basics of the art and craft of screenwriting with techniques and tools valuable to a scriptwriter at any level. This course will also enable you to develop a realistic marketing plan for a finished script.
About This Course
Getting your idea from your head to a sheet of paper means a journey of just eighteen inches. Approach the journey in the right way, and you will arrive safely. Start this journey unprepared and you will end up wandering and confused, your idea locked inside you, those eighteen inches may as well be a million miles.
Discover the insider trade secrets that are designed to keep outsiders from breaking into the industry. Find out shortcuts to success, and how to map out a hugely rewarding career, learning from the success and failure of others. Learn how to maximise your personal resources in order to create an image and mystique about yourself and your work. Discover proven techniques that enable you to master the page and show it who’s boss. Learn how to guide your idea down the page. A hot script is the quickest way into the film industry.
Spike Lee (She’s Gotta Have It), Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), Jane Campion (The Piano), John Hodge & Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave) and Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi) are some of the writer/directors who launched their careers with their first script.
Day One: The Business Of Screenwriting
Do you want to write a movie but don’t know where to start? Elliot Grove leads you through the bewildering array of story structure and genre theories. Learn how to formulate a realistic plan to write the type of screenplay sought by film script buyers.
›› Create interesting, memorable characters
›› Devise characters that grow in your script and outlive the movie
›› Conflict and tension in a story
›› Building great dialogue
›› The essential building blocks of a script
›› Story structure paradigms
›› Setting the social stage to develop dynamic stories
Day Two: The Screenwriting Process
You don’t get paid for writing a screenplay. You only get paid when you sell it. This is the money day, when you learn how to write what sells, and how to sell what you write.
›› Playing the Movie Game and winning as a screenwriter
›› Simple, logical and effective marketing
›› How professionals market scripts
›› Getting producers to read your script
›› How to get good coverage.
›› Query letters
›› The three ways scripts are bought and sold
›› How much money can you earn from the sale of your script
›› The Ten Thousand Monkeys Theory for writers explained
›› Getting an agent
›› Realistic career paths
Tutor: Elliot Grove
Date: 9/10 December 2006
Time: 9.30am – 6.00pm
Venue: Diorama Arts Centre
Duration: 2 Day Weekend
Cost: £225 + VAT
Call Raindance on 0207 287 3833
For information on all the Raindance training courses go to www.raindance.co.uk
Or check out the Raindance My Space page www.myspace.com/raindancefilmfestival