Stage to Screen: An Overview of Screenwriting for Playwrights . . .and Everyone Else
with Michael Michaelian
Saturday, March 27, 2-5pm
State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave.
This 3 hour workshop will provide a practical approach to the basics of screenwriting with an emphasis on structure as well as the application of those basics to adapting your play for the screen. Participants may bring a “logline”, a one line description of their film vision of their play (or other film idea), plus a 5 minute verbal and/or written pitch of their movie with a beginning, middle and end – Acts 1 (set up), 2 (complication), 3 (resolution) – and try it out during the workshop. The final part of the workshop will briefly cover the “Business of the Business”, including agents, meetings, deals and contracts, the Writers Guild of America, and credits.
Examples of loglines:
A cop comes to LA to visit his estranged wife and her office building is taken over by terrorists – “Die Hard”.
A businessman falls in love with a hooker he hires to be his date for a weekend – “Pretty Woman”.
Michael Michaelian has over 36 years of experience as a screenwriter in motion pictures and television. He has written more than 50 episodes of such TV series as “Kung Fu”, “Charlie’s Angels”, “The Quest” (Western Writers of America Award), “Fantasy Island”, “Dukes of Hazzard” (story editor), and “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. TV movies include an adaptation of Paul Gallico’s “Miracle in the Wilderness” starring Kris Kristofferson for TNT and “The Black Fox” starring Christopher Reeve for CBS. His plays have been produced in London and the US. He holds a B.A. in film and an MFA in Theatre from UCLA and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Dramatists Guild.
The cost is $25 for ASW members and $40 for non-members. Email info@scriptworks.org or call 454-9727 to reserve a slot.