Why is that so important? Because if you can get an A-list actor, director or other above the line talent attached to your script you can get your film made.

Actors, directors and other talented filmmakers wait their whole careers for stories that capture their heart.  Someone like Natalie Portman looks for smaller interesting movies so she can practice her craft and express new and different aspects of her creativity.  In between shooting Thor or No Strings Attached she’s looking for the next “Hesher,” “Black Swan” or another original project that takes on real-life subjects from a new perspective.

That’s where you come in. That’s also how you win big awards.

If you want to write or develop…

Dramas like:

• The King’s Speech

• The Fighter

• Black Swan

• Winter’s Bone

• The Social Network

• 127 Hours

• Rabbit Hole

• Blue Valentine

• Precious

• The Kids Are Alright

• The Wrestler

Dramedy-Comedies like:

• Cedar Rapids

• Win Win

• Little Miss Sunshine

• Juno

• Greenberg

• Tiny Furniture

• Cyrus

• Please Give

This class is for you.

When audiences go to an independent movie they want to see, feel and experience characters who embody deep authenticity, but who are surprising, quirky, yet, remind us of someone we know — maybe even ourselves.

But you can’t sacrifice conflict, action and drama for all unique and quirky characters.  You’ve got to do it all.  Think of movies like “The Fighter” or “The Kids Are Alright.”  Or even “Little Miss Sunshine.” Those movies had moments of hilarity, sadness, longing and total pathos.  That’s a tall order for a writer to deliver.

The challenge is to create a movie that is deeply personal and emotional AND also grabs an audience using tried and true techniques of storytelling.

Our one-day seminar on Saturday, July 30th, from 10 AM to 6 PM, is designed to give you everything you need to write your Independent Drama or Comedy.  You’ll learn:

• How to find the heart of your story.

• How to create a hero that an audience will connect to – even if they don’t like them.

• Character techniques to bring forward conflict and drama.

• How to write a character and story that actors and directors will salivate over.

• How to avoid getting stuck in the second act.

• Techniques for writing an ensemble story.

• The one thing you MUST have in order to write an effective drama.

• How to add drama, tension and suspense even if your story has almost NO ACTION.

• What Academy Award winning movies always do to make them GREAT.

In this day-long seminar, we’ll show you how to write and develop your independent film, focusing on what makes independent films great: strong characters, big emotional drama with low budget action.

Presented in entertaining segments and illustrated by recent award-winning movies, you’ll come to understand the secrets, tricks, devices and storylines that will help you write YOUR movie, without having to waste months – even years – spinning your creative wheels.

When you understand the rules of your particular genre, you are freed up to quickly and ORIGINALLY to write your story with full control to go crazy and creative, in your OWN journey to get there.

In this full day seminar you’ll get:

• A breakdown of how each Independent Dramas and Comedies work
• We use movies like The King’s Speech, Winter’s Bone, Cedar Rapids, American Beauty, The Wrestler, and many other films to illustrate our rules.

You’ll get….

• A handout featuring all the rules you need, with examples.
• The 17 beats of a movie you must hit.
• The specific tools and tricks to keep an audience on the edge of their seat.
• How to create characters that connect with an audience.
• How to avoid the most common mistakes we see in PROFESSIONAL screenplays.
• Worksheets for everything we teach

PLUS…

• A BONUS one hour online class to help you develop your Logline.
• Downloads of current screenplays to help you learn EXACTLY how to create vivid scenes.

More than that, we will inspire you.