A professional led writing group, teaching all aspects of screen-writing.

About this Event

Please note that earlybird tickets of £120 are only available until 17th July 2020. After this date the ticket price will be £150.

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

Darren has transformed his successful British Film Institute training seminars, into a series of online workshops. It is a complete ‘how to’ guide for anybody wanting to:

• Explore their initial concepts and plot

• Develop them within the screen medium

• Explore character development

• Build plot outlines and a solid structure

• Develop a practical working draft script

• Create the sort of polished work producers welcome

• Learn how to pitch work to industry professionals

• End up with a screenplay that ‘sells’

What previous students have said about ‘What’s the Big Idea?'

’I learned more in a couple of hours with Darren than I did in a whole semester on my MA course in Creative Writing. Darren’s no-nonsense practical advice means ‘What’s the Big Idea?’ isn’t for people who dream of being a screenwriter, it’s for people who want to succeed.’ Al Campbell, whose film script is now being considered by two producers.

‘I’d been laying around with my filmscript for months without getting anywhere. A couple of hours spent with Darren focused my mind on what was really needed and instantly moved the script forward.’Eric Storey, Videographer

WHAT SORT OF WRITER DO YOU NEED TO BE TO JOIN THE WORKSHOPS?

You don’t need any writing experience whatsoever to join the course, but absolutely anybody interested in writing for film or TV will benefit. Previous students have ranged from those who have yet to put pen to paper to published authors looking to transform their literary work to the screen.There will be a maximum of 12 students to each Zoom workshop, students will have the opportunity to apply learnings to their own work, and the opportunity to share and review each other’s output.

Darren will host each zoom session with full interaction from participants: questions, answers, writing exercises and sharing work (optional).

• Week 1• Introduction, overview – Making and Idea into a Story: what makes it a film?

• Week 2• Working out the elements of your story and creating a pitch

• Week 3• Structure and formatting 1 – breaking through the jargon

• Week 4• Structure and formatting 2 – the writer’s tool box

• Week 5• Developing believable characters and dialogue

• Week 6• Scene structure and breakdown - creating an outline

• Week 7• Building the script – planning and writing scenes, creating a treatment

• Week 8• The first ten pages – making an impact

• Week 9• Creating the screenplay and making a package for your script

• Week 10• Writes and re-writes, how to edit your script and deal with notes

Please note that earlybird tickets of £120 are only available until 17th July 2020. After this date the ticket price will be £150