February 17-24, 2008
Have you had an idea for a screenplay? Noticed an image or witnessed a situation you thought would make a good film? This week long writing workshop will focus on the short-form screenplay. Learn techniques to find, develop, and shape an idea. Find out if you have a film in the making.
Course Description: Designed as a writing workshop, this course will address the many facets of writing screenplays for short films. Participants will develop a script (2-8 pages long), from idea to end product, through individual and collaborative exercises, rewriting, and discussion of works-in-progress. A variety of exercises will help you explore script format, notions of plot, character, structure and what you can do in a film that cannot be done in prose. Whether you want to make a film (New digital technology makes it easy.) or simply to explore other forms of storytelling, the week is open to all levels, no experience necessary.
One of the goals is to help you with the process of scriptwriting. Therefore, we will play with strategies for using material that genuinely interests you, and learn how to use "meaning" as a creative (and analytical) tool to sharpen and enrich your work. As time permits, we will view a couple of short films, read and discuss short-short stories (a.k.a. 'flash fictions').
A successful short-film is not simply an abbreviated version of a feature film but entails a different kind of storytelling. Edgar Allen Poe's description of a good short story is as relevant to film as it is to literary fiction. A good short story, he said, is not just "an incident or an episode extracted from a longer tale," but a work of narrative-art that "impresses the reader with the belief that it would be spoiled if it were made longer."
New venues for disseminating media on cable, Internet, DVDs, etc., have increased interest in short form fiction, and as a genre it is coming into its own. Since it has fewer established conventions and expectations than the feature film, the territory is relatively open. Experimentation is welcome; participants are encouraged to write scripts that can be produced with available resources.
Nancy Salzer, MFA, a scholar and filmmaker, is affiliated with the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University and teaches scriptwriting at Emerson College in Boston. She has a long list of teaching credentials and experimental-documentaries to her credit. You will view her work and others' as part of this immersion in screenwriting. Cost is $1395.00 and includes all scheduled ground transportation, lodging, two meals a day. It does not include airfare, drinks, unscheduled transportation, single supplement. A non-refundable deposit of $150.00 will reserve your space. Rooms with private bath; some have a water view and are assigned on a first-come basis. Lodging is on the Caribbean Sea. There is also a freshwater pool set in lush, tropical gardens. Food is simple and delicious: fresh fish, chicken, vegetables & fruit.
For furthur information email: Nancy Salzer or Mary Ann Jones