Session One - Tuesday 27th April
Introduction and Thriller - Collateral
The first session introduces the key concepts of genre, including form, type and style, and looks at different fiction forms that are becoming increasingly popular in 21st Century cinema and TV. We then focus on the Thriller genre and see what elements it demands and how it combines to make successful cross-genre film and TV thrillers of a wide variety of kinds.
Book whole course For more details and to book session 1
Session Two - Tuesday 25th May
RomCom - When Harry Met Sally and There's Something About Mary
RomCom gives us a chance to survey the comedy field and look at the key types of comedy - what they require and how writers need to approach each in a very different way. We discuss how RomCom can be mangled in the wrong hands, and how a writer who understands the genre can create great, satisfying enjoyable cinema.
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Session Three - Tuesday 29th June
Horror and Noir - Poltergeist and Seven
Writing a high intensity serious story can be difficult for a writer who is not clear precisely which genre is being used. Approached in the right way, each genre can yield rich and exciting stories. We will discuss the similarities and differences between Horror and Noir and how the writer must satisfy very different audience expectations.
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Session Four - Tuesday 28th September
Social Drama and Coming Of Age - Juno
With Social Drama we move to a genre that has remained popular for decades, both in commercial and artistic terms, while offering the widest variety, from Personal Drama to Medical Drama to Road Movie and Passage Rite/Coming of Age. If you are writing for Multiplex, Indie cinema or modern TV series or one-off, or indeed have a Romantic (or other Drama) subplot to another kind of story, you need to know about this very character-based genre.
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Session Five - Tuesday 26th October
Gangster and Detective - Michael Clayton
Some of the greatest and most loved movies and TV series have come from this two-headed genre. We will interrogate the many important features that must be included and investigate the hidden pitfalls that await the unwary.
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Session Six - Tuesday 30th November
True Story/Historical and Biopic - Good Night and Good Luck
We finish the series with the exciting challenges of dealing with real life in dramatic form. True and historical stories bring their own advantages, but their special features serve as a useful reflection on the central issues of Genre as a whole and so make a very appropriate subject for summing up the series.
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