Happy Friday! Greetings from paradise, a.k.a Fire Island.
We held the final class of Rewriting the Screenplay in Six Weeks. I can’t wait to read the screenplays that will be due in six weeks!
Here are a few tips from the class for rewriting a screenplay efficiently:
1. Test your structure against common sense – would this event really happen? Would your character really do that? Is this the way the situation is in real life?
2. Review the 4MQS for villain/obstacle and main character and be sure that your story answers all of the questions.
3. Identify the want versus the need of your main character. For example, in the film, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy wants to find home, but she needs to find her own power (the “home” within).
4. Ask yourself if the ending still works, or is there a new ending that’s more original than the one in your first draft?
These are ways of seeing your story freshly, and if you want even more precision, get a friend or two and read the story aloud. You hear the mistakes very clearly.
I also taught the sixth and final meeting of my free Zoom webinar, How to Create New Stories About Coping With the Pandemic Part 6. It was quite an amazing class! In last week’s, How to Create New Stories About Coping With the Pandemic Part 5, we made up a story using the Mythic Journey MapⓇ about a nurse cooking dinner for her future in-laws, and how the complications of being a First Responder almost destroyed her life and her future. At the end of the exercise, my wonderful student, Debra Hanna, who is a nurse, was surprised at how closely the story I made up echoed a real-life experience she had!
I suggested that she create an outline based on the in-class story, and offered to review it in the final class. Debra came up with a brilliant and original story, and was inspired to start writing a new script! If anyone’s curious, I’d be happy to send you both Part 5 and Part 6, and you can see the magic for yourself.
Kudos to Debra, and I’d like to thank everyone who participated! We had over 30 people who participated in some or all of the webinars, and I’m just so pleased- thank you all for coming, and sitting around a virtual campfire.
I’d like to give another free writing webinar, and am open to suggestions. I can repeat the curriculum of how to create a well-structured story, or a series on how to write comedy. Please send feedback and let me know which you’d prefer.
I’m also excited to share the newest episode of Jokeonastick #26.
I’m going to take a vacation for two weeks, so look for the next newsletter on July 17th!
Here’s to your successful writing,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
