Idea to Script: Writing an Indie Feature

Clarify and improve your indie feature idea in order to understand its potential, and gain the tools you need to launch a writing process that will sustain you through a finished draft.

In this one-day, participatory workshop, writers or writer/directors who have an idea for an independent feature film will spend the day clarifying this idea in order to understand its potential. We will examine how structure, genre, and tone can help the writer shape his or her concept, with innovation as the key value in preparation for a competitive landscape ahead.

Small and personal movie ideas are welcome, as well as all levels of writing experience. We will look at clips of independent films, discuss students’ ideas, and engage with in-class exercises. The goal is for participants to improve story ideas as well as gain tools to launch a writing process that can sustain all the way through a finished draft.

What You Will Learn

• How to strengthen an idea and recognize that indie film rewards the unique.
• How to learn from successful recent independent films by watching clips and identifying artistic choices that distinguish the work from the hundreds of other films being made each year.
• How to master brainstorming sessions with fun and efficient exercises in character, plotting and creating narrative threads.
• How to understand and use "planning documents" such as loglines, synopses and outlines productively.
• How to fortify your writing practice so you don't give up.

Course Outline

• 10 – 10:30 AM / Introductions. – Who are you, and why are you here?
• 10:30 – 11:30 AM / Premise. – How do I form a fully realized idea?
• 11:30 AM – 1 PM / Guiding Principles. – The importance of genre, tone and structure as guiding principles.
• 1 – 2 PM / Break.
• 2 – 4 PM / Exercises. – Group exercises and discussions around individual ideas. (Bring your ideas!)
• 4 – 5 PM / Planning documents. – Resources for you to figure out how to continue or how to begin.