Indulging in the thrill of creating short-form terror, screenwriters will explore the craft of short form visual storytelling with a horror/thriller focus in this exclusive workshop taught by seasoned movie studio executive, pro screenwriter, and passionate horror-meister Steven Douglas Craig (Insidious Franchise, The Unholy, Slender Man, Possession of Hannah Grace). ​

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COURSE DESCRIPTION:

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This course will focus on specifics of horror/thriller genres (and sub-genres) in short form while helping writers develop next-level features and longer form stories for the screen. Writers will hone basic writing concepts by analyzing successful, award-winning short films (& screenplays) while writing their own. Focus on structure, character development, theme, the role of conflict, strategies for writing effective dialogue and the importance of setting will be given. Most importantly, writers will learn to utilize these elements in their own work to terrorize!

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Believing in the effectiveness of reading, watching, and writing, this course will use a combination of lectures, short form analysis, reading/analyzing scripts, writing exercises and workshopping of participants with the goal of developing your voice as a writer for the screen.​

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NOTE: Please come to 1st class with TWO short form concepts to pitch. Pitches should give clear, concise, two or three-sentence answer to Who's your protagonist? Where's story set? What's antagonistic force? What is central crisis?