FROM THE
INSTRUCTOR:
I know how confusing it can be to get started writing
screenplays. There are so many books and videos out there.
I’ve made my living as a screenwriter for ten years
and the how-to literature for screenwriting even
intimidates me! How is anyone supposed to keep up with this
stuff? 5 must-have components of a hero? 22 building blocks
that simply must be accounted for? Just how does one
concern themselves with archetypal methodologies when
they’re trying to write a scene?
I have
lost count of how many meetings I’ve had in Hollywood
and this stuff never comes up. Ever. None of this stuff has
anything to do with how professional writers write. At
least not any professional I know.
Here is my own personal belief: most screenwriting books
are garbage. They’re academic at best, and a rip-off
at worst. That’s not to say they’re not some
great ones out there, there absolutely are, but even the
great ones are not going to get you were you want to go
without a lot of help filling in the blanks, and separating
the practical from the "more confusing than its
worth” even within the same book!
My primary job as a screenwriting teacher will always be to
instill an appreciation and understanding of the
relationship between story and structure. Everything else I
teach is essentially a trick or a gimmick.
I worked with and helped a lot of other professional
writers and you would be surprised how helpful these steps
are, even for them. The clarity taught within this class
not only helps you build a solid structure before you start
writing, but it will continue helping you through each
progressive re-write until you are absolutely sure you are
telling the story you want to tell as efficiently and as
effectively as possible. This is not a methodology taught
anywhere else, and it focuses on the elements of
screenwriting that are, in fact, teachable.
If you want to write or develop screenplays as a career, or
even as a hobby, I do not believe you can make a better
investment than my class STORY AND PLOT.
-- Tom Vaughan