Screenwriting for Lawyers

Screenwriting for Lawyers

Screenwriting For Lawyers

Friday, October 15, 2004
Sea Crest Resort, Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Screenwriting for Lawyers will teach attending attorneys how to write a screenplay. Like all SEAK training, Screenwriting For Lawyers is lively and interactive. Attendees will have the opportunity to get all their questions answered. There will be exercises and networking opportunities. Attendees will have an opportunity to get their screenplay ideas and pitch reviewed and evaluated. NOTE: Course attendees will get the most out of the course if they bring samples of their writing.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Following this course, attendees will be able to understand and utilize:

The techniques and disciplines of classical Hollywood screenwriting and storytelling
The basics of storytelling
Conflict
Establishing a sympathetic character
Three-act structure
Inciting incident
Active pursuit
Manipulation of audience response
Overcoming obstacles
Creating a unified format
The essence of good dialogue
Structure, structure, structure
Scene-o-gram

FACULTY

Richard Krevolin is an author, playwright, screenwriter, and professor. A graduate of Yale University, Richard went on to earn a masters degree in screenwriting at UCLA's School of Cinema-Television, and a master's degree in playwriting and fiction from USC. For the past 15 years, he has been a Professor of Screenwriting at USC Cinema/TV School and the author of the books, Screenwriting From The Soul (St. Martins Press), Pilot Your Life (Prentice-Hall), and How To Adapt Anything Into A Screenplay (Wiley & Sons). His short fiction has been collected in the Cup of Comfort series and the anthology, Not Lost In Translation. Richard has several screenplays under option and in development. He was one of the writers of the documentary, Fiddler on the Roof: 30 Years of Tradition. He was a finalist for the $500,000 Kingman Screenwriting Award, the Chesterfield Contest, the Klasky-Csupo Writing for Children Contest, and the Nicholl Fellowship Screenwriting Award. He won the USC One-Act Play Festival for his comedy, Love is Like Velcro. His play, Trotskys Garden, was a finalist for the Eugene ONeill National Playwrights' Conference. His one-man show, Yahrzeit, a finalist in the HBO New Writers Project, was a huge hit at the Santa Monica Playhouse, running for five sold-out months. Under a new name, Boychik, it opened Off-Broadway at Theater Four in New York City in 1997 and is now touring the country. He received a Valley Theatre League nomination for best director and best play for his one-man musical RebbeSoul-O. His play, King Levine opened in February 1999 at the Odyssey Theater under the direction of Joseph Bologna and after receiving rave reviews, transferred to The Tiffany. It was also nominated for an Ovation Award as Best Adaptation. In 2001, Richard had two one-person plays open in L.A., The Lemony Fresh Scent of Diva Monsoon Man (starring Ruth DeSosa) at the Rose Alley and Seltzer Man (starring David Proval of The Sopranos) at the Tiffany. His plays have been performed with Ed Asner, Allen Arbus, Jean Smart, Mackenzie Phillips and Richard Kline. Richard has been motivating and inspiring students through his teaching at USC since 1988.

Schedule
Friday, October 15, 2004
7:30-8:30	Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30-9:30	Classic Aristotlean Storytelling or An Engaging Character Overcomes Tremendous Obstacles to Reach a Desirable Goal!
9:30-11:00	Screenwriting 101: Everything They Teach You at USC Film School in 120 Minutes or less! The Golden Rules of Screenwriting: The basics of storytelling, conflict, establishing a sympathetic character who wants something badly three-act structure (beginning, middle, end), inciting incident, active pursuit, legitimate manipulation of audience response, overcoming obstacles, THE SILVER RULE - show don't tell, tension, exposition, genres, books vs. films, characterization character arc, raising stakes, planting (foreshadowing) and pay-off, and involvement.
11:00-12:00	Final Draft: Creating a unified format There is a standard format used by all of the Hollywood studios for screenplays. This format is called the master scene format and it is the clearest, cleanest way to tell a visual story It prioritizes only two things - what the characters do and what they say! Feelings, thoughts, and backstory are the verboten. Show us the story and we must glean everything from what the characters say and do, with the emphasis on the visual over the verbal.
12:00-1:00	Lunch With Faculty (Provided)
1:00-2:00	What Agents Are Looking For in a New Writer/Client Questions and Answers
2:00 - 3:00	You Don't Say or The Essence of Good Dialogue! The basics of good dialogue. This will be illustrated with excerpts from famous Hollywood films.
3:00-5:00	Friday Afternoon at the Movies or Structure, Structure, Structure! The key to writing is structure. So, we all will watch excerpts from a classically structured Hollywood film and analyze the heck out of it, including identifying the Act 1, 2, and 3 turning points, unifying filmic devices, climax, etc. Then we will look at the scene-o-gram and how it applies. Further, we will look at causal relationships in stories and the intricate dynamic of sequences, scenes, and beats - taking us to the essence of non-dialogical storytelling.