EIGHT-WEEK FILM WRITING WORKSHOP

THE STORY STRUCTURE OF

MOTION PICTURES

8 Saturday Morning Classes
January 9 thru February 27
10:30am - 12:30pm

Presented by Award-winning screenwriter

Stephen Martin Siegel

$200 (Eight Classes)

No Refunds

If you’ve ever had an idea for a movie but didn’t know how to develop it into a screenplay, or if you just love movies and want to know more about them, this course is for you. Designed for beginners, it explores the techniques involved in writing and/or understanding movies. For instance, did you know that virtually all good movies have a carefully defined structure? They follow a three-act model called the “paradigm,” which is the backbone of good storytelling and is present in almost every movie you see. It takes only a few hours to learn the paradigm, but many weeks to master it. Through weekly movie screenings, screenplay readings and discussions, this course will teach students to recognize and understand restorative, three-act motion picture structure through the paradigm. The class will examine motion pictures from a writer’s perspective. Unlike most film studies courses, it will not concentrate upon historical or sociological perspectives; rather, it will focus upon the construction of the film story. The screenings and discussions will deal exclusively with narrative motion pictures rather than abstract or experimental films. The course will also explore the realities of the film industry: how and why certain movies get made; how to find an agent and break in as a screenwriter; dealing with producers; legally protecting your work; union affiliations; and many other facets of movie-making.

About the Instructor: Stephen Martin Siegel is an award-winning screenwriter who resides on Long Island. He taught film & television writing for ten years at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned an M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing. He has worked under contract to Touchstone Pictures, a division of Walt Disney Pictures, and has written screenplays for such diverse names as Sean Connery, Dawn Steel and Dick Clark He has been a member of the Writer’s Guild of America since 1991.