The workshop is a two-day, high-intensity event where I get into a room with up to 12 writers and we actually figure out the pitch, logline, and structure of everyone’s screenplay!
I know! Amazing!
We start by letting each person pitch whatever they’re working on, up to three ideas. We as a group pick the one we like most. Then we work like hell and pound that idea into a logline that just sings! Because, as you know, the logline IS the movie.
We then begin to talk structure. By the end of Day One of the workshop, everyone has a great logline and the five essential plot points of their script: Opening Image, Break into Two, Midpoint, Break into Three, and Final Image!
But we’re not done yet.
Day Two we take it up a step, filling in the rest of the Beat Sheet, all 15 points, including Fun and Games, All Is Lost, Bad Guys Close In, and the all important Theme Stated — which tells you what you’re writing about! Kinda important!
By the end of Day Two, we have not only figured out your story, but you have helped everyone else in the class figure out theirs. It is so intense and so much fun and such a bonding experience that many groups go on to keep meeting and keep working on their scripts to completion and beyond.