Writing a successful screenplay

Date: New dates to be announced

This day saves you time and money trying to figure out how to write a screenplay, adapt a novel, and navigate marketing to Hollywood.

Your instructor is a professional screenwriter, novelist, and teacher who has worked with writers who have won prestigious contests, optioned scripts (including novel adaptations) to producers, and earned staged readings. Some writers are also now making their own films from the scripts worked on in Christine’s courses. 

The instructor sifts through the tons of advice out there for writers today and presents the important nuggets. Books you can buy teach you 12 steps, 7 steps, 22 steps, 15 steps, 3-act structure, 4-act and 7-act structure, and more. Are you confused? This workshop clarifies the issues with structure and characterization that can improve your story and its salability.

You get clarification on core issues with stories. Do you need to figure out what your story’s Central Question is? Plot? Your character’s Fatal Flaw? What is a “Fatal Flaw”? How to strengthen your Plot Points? How to strengthen your dramatic conflict and build better hooks all the way through? This workshop covers all that plus tips on how to market effectively even if marketing’s not your thing.

You’re invited to bring your idea along to work on in class discussion and exercises, if you wish. Sharing is always optional. Your instructor will demonstrate how to structure your idea from beginning to end through its plot points.

You learn about format and what never to violate in script format. Sample script pages are included in the handouts.

Enter a friendly, supportive atmosphere where your questions are welcomed, even long after the workshop day is done at no extra fee. 

Who is this for?

• First-time screenwriters who want to start smart with professional guidance
• Writers frustrated by “passes” who want to rise above that level
• Novelists who want to borrow structure wisdom from scriptwriters or adapt their novels

Recommended movie to see before class: “Little Miss Sunshine.”

Why this movie? It’s the type of film that any of us can write because it’s a slice of life, and it demonstrates for screenwriters and novelists alike how to create “structure” from actions, setting, and characters’ needs. The principles apply to whatever you’re writing:  action, drama, family films, romantic comedies, teen horror, fantasy, and others.

Topics include:

• FADE IN to greatness: The Page One Test
• The “First Five Pages Test”
• “Top Ten List of Don’t-Go-There Mistakes” screenwriters make
• Story concepts—how to test and reshape your ideas
• Characterization reasons for a “pass”
• Story structure reasons for a “pass”
• What matters most in the middle
• Scene sculpting tips (before & after exercises)
• You’re told to be more “cinematic.” What does that mean?
• Tips for making good dialogue great (before & after exercises)
• Formatting dos and don’ts (sample script pages included)
• Marketing reality: What to do and what’s a waste of time
• How to write the necessary “one sheet/one page/cover sheet” (samples included)

Success stories

Elizabeth Lee, Washington, D.C. , makes Nicholl Contest quarterfinals

Elizabeth Lee, a graduate of our online screenwriting course taught by Christine DeSmet, has advanced to the quarterfinal round of the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship Contest, which is sponsored by the same people that bring you the Oscars—The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Liz’s screenplay is one of 326 to survive the first round of 6,304 entries this year. Up to five $30,000 fellowships will be awarded to new screenwriters in the final round. Congratulations, Liz, on this huge milestone, and good luck in the semi-final and final rounds!

 

What they said about this workshop and your instructor

“Christine teaches with an amazing clarity. She helped me understand concepts I’d been struggling with for years.” —Kendall Mills, Waukegan, IL

“Lots of information in a short time.” —Bill Spevacek, Mineral Point, WI

“Pay her more. She’s priceless but you still need to pay for what you get. Wonderfully detailed with truly useful instruction relevant to my script. Great management of crowd to make sure everyone’s questions were answered.” —Mary Beth Schewitz, Lake Bluff, IL

“Chris is an excellent teacher.” —Jim Nolan, Merrill, WI

“I appreciate that it doesn’t start until 9:30. I have to drive some distance.” —Peg Cadigan, Fredonia, WI

“Very well-presented and uplifting.” —Julie Johnson, Spring Green, WI

 

Your instructor

Christine DeSmet is an award-winning screenwriter, novelist, playwright, and short-story writer. She teaches screenwriting online through UW-Madison Continuing Studies and works with many writer-clients worldwide. With Peggy Williams, Christine has co-authored and optioned several scripts, including “Chinaware–Fragile,” which won the Slamdance Film Festival contest and was optioned to New Line Cinema. Their stage play, “Climax!,” about a writer, finaled in the Top Ten in the Wisconsin Wrights New Play Project, and is under production consideration by the Barestage Theatre in Red Bluff, California. Christine is a fellowship graduate of the Warner Bros. Sitcom Writers Workshop and a member of Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum, Romance Writers of America, and Writers Guild of America, East. Her novel and short fiction are published by Mundania Press and Whiskey Creek Press, including her own collections of humorous mystery stories published in book form in 2009; excerpts available at www.JewelsoftheQuill.com. She recently sold a Christmas story for a 2011 anthology. Christine grew up on a farm near Barneveld, Wisconsin, and earned a master’s degree in journalism from UW-Madison.

For details about this workshop, contact coordinator Christine DeSmet, 608-262-3447, or e-mail cdesmet@dcs.wisc.edu.

How to register

By phone: Call 608-262-2451 or toll free 800-725-9692

By mail: Print and mail the UW-Madison Continuing Studies registration form

By fax: Print and fax the UW-Madison Continuing Studies registration form

Online: Secure online registration is available for this program.

Related resources

• Business writing workshops: Offered through the UW-Madison Department of Professional Development and Applied Studies.