WINTER 2021
Four Sessions | 4-6pm CST Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, March 15th, 16th &17th and Friday, March 19th
From Start to Feature
Story Development Fundamentals
A lot of people have an idea for a film, but without a narrative to take the audience on a journey, a script can't make it to the screen. Over the course of a week, this workshop will guide you through the steps to prepare the story structure of your screenplay.
You'll learn the fundamentals of screenwriting-- building compelling characters and how to apply three act structure to serve your plot, theme, and character arcs.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
In this workshop we’ll explore the foundational elements of the feature film: conflict, structure, character, and theme and emotional resonance. No two stories come into being in exactly the same way; sometimes a writer will have a character in mind, or a scene, or a theme that they want to explore. Regardless of what participants arrive with, this workshop aims to give them the tools to expand that single kernel into a fully realized idea that contains the requisite ingredients to sustain a feature film.
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First, we will discuss conflict as the foundation of all drama. and what kinds of competing objectives and forces are able to serve as the central conflict for participant’s stories.
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Next, we’ll cover three-act story structure; both as it relates to the overall story and to protagonists’ character arcs.
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Finally, we will discuss the importance of theme and emotional resonance, one of the most vital aspects of any story which ensures that regardless of the characters or plot, a story contains a common humanity and universality that allows it to transcend lines of race, gender, socio-economic, age, and life experience. Often, the emotional resonance becomes a key ingredient of the theme, which is what keeps a story clear and focused. Participants will also learn the important distinction of plot versus theme.
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Once these principles are scaffolded, participants will put them to use and create their own loglines. A logline is a 2-4 sentence summary which distills the central conflict of the story down into a concise, evocative format that can be used for pitching and for expanding on when it’s time to further develop the story.
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After all participants have a functional logline, they will then expand them into a treatment. A treatment is a one to two-page synopsis of their movie that gives a more detailed summary explanation of the world, the characters, and the central conflict.
Narrative Film Instructor
Daniel Lafrenz
Daniel Lafrentz was born in Silicon Valley but feels most at home in South Louisiana. A graduate of the UCLA School of Film and Television (BA & MFA Directing) he has worked professionally in sales, story development, and production for over twelve years. Two of his scripts have been produced and his feature film directing debut The Long Shadow won the Jury Prize for Best Louisiana Feature at the 2019 New Orleans Film Festival and was acquired and released by Gravitas Ventures in 2020. When he’s not writing Southern Gothic neo-noirs, he does an amazing impression of Kermit the Frog.