EUROSCRIPT.CO.UK
  • HOME
  • HIRE A WRITER
  • FEEDBACK
    • SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
    • FEEDBACK
    • One-hour chat
    • Feedback for Partners
  • EVENTS
  • CALENDAR
    • TELLING TRUE STORIES
    • HOW TO MAKE IT AS A SCREENWRITER
    • WRITING HORROR
    • GETTING YOUR IDEA ONTO THE PAGE
    • HOW TO CLAIM THE UK INDEPENDENT FILM TAX CREDIT
  • RESOURCES
    • VOUCHERS
    • SCREENWRITING FAQS
    • HOW TO WRITE A WINNING TREATMENT
    • ONLINE CLASSROOM
    • SCREENWRITING ARTICLES
    • SCRIPT FORMATS AND FREE DOWNLOADS
    • DEVELOPING YOUR SCREENWRITING CAREER
    • SCREENWRITING LINKS
  • COMPETITION
    • ENTER HERE
    • WINNERS 2025
    • INTERVIEW WITH A WINNER
    • PREVIOUS WINNERS
    • THE EUROSCRIPT TREATMENT BAROMETER REPORT
  • ABOUT
    • OUR BOARD
    • DISCOUNT INFO
    • OUR PARTNERS
    • SUCCESS STORIES
    • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • CONTACT US
  • BLOG
  • THE SCRIPT CLINIC

A FEW REASONS TO LOVE SCREENWRITING WORKSHOPS

25/1/2021

0 Comments

 
By Stéphanie Joalland
Picture
THERE IS POWER IN GROUP BRAINSTORMING

THEY PROVIDE A MUCH NEEDED SUPPORT SYSTEM

As a screenwriter, it’s easy to get stuck in your bubble and that’s not the ideal environment to turn an idea into a screenplay and keep the momentum going or to develop a screenplay once it's written. That’s why I love workshop environments, both as a writer and a tutor. I fell in love with writers workshops when I was a student at UCLA in Los Angeles, and I still find them invaluable. I love focus groups because they allow you to test your ideas at an early stage, and develop them before embarking on the journey of writing the actual script. They can also offer a bouncing board when you start doubting your idea, which inevitably happens no matter how experienced you are as a screenwriter and how many scripts you’ve written. There always comes a time when you start finding your idea silly, glib or too familiar and you have to push yourself to keep going. That’s when it’s great to have fellow writers who have your back and keep your on your toes. They keep you accountable, help you stick to deadlines, and ensure you remain focused on your end goal. 

But there are other perks too to being part of writers workshops:



FIXING ISSUES BECOME EASIER

By suggesting how to fix things on your peers’ stories you become more relaxed about improving your own script because you know that there is always a solution, even if it can feel like a frustrating and meandering process at times. Some stories are harder to crack than others but you come to appreciate that you aren’t alone, that the creative process is a struggle for most people most of the time. Thomas Mann said, “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people”. And boy, was he right but the shared struggle is what makes the breakthroughs all the more amazing to be be privy to because it reminds us that even when we feel stuck in our writing there is always a way forward.


PATTERNS EMERGE ORGANICALLY

I am a big believer in identifying PATTERNS when seeking notes. I like receiving more than one set of notes on a draft of a treatment or script to ensure it’s not just one person’s idea or own subjective opinion but a general problem with the story. I look into what readers keep saying over and over, which often indicates it’s an objective issue. For example, when more than one person tells you that you could combine two characters or they don’t buy an event, which happens a lot. What I love about workshops is that patterns become obvious during the feedback discussions. And, conversely, workshops make it easier to get a sense of what people are actually like, what they get excited about, which is crucial to understand because at times we are tempted to get rid of what actually works because it has lost the initial shine of novelty to us.



YOU FIND YOUR TRIBE

Finally, an upside of writing workshops is that they allow writers to find kindred spirits. And I have occasions where I ended up swapping scripts with another writer I met at a workshop. Most people aren’t surrounded by creative kinds in their day-to-day life and building a tribe is essential to fuel one’s creativity.

There is power in group brainstorming. A book I recommend on the subject is “CREATIVITY, INC: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration”. It was written by Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation who shares his extensive experience working with teams of writers and directors around a table.



If you feel that the workshopping experience is something that would be beneficial to your writing I have two online workshops coming up in the next couple of weeks: ​
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    BLOG

    THE ONLY PLACE TO TALK ABOUT THE CRAFT OF SCRIPTWRITING.

    Archives

    May 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    August 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    April 2023
    October 2022
    February 2022
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013


    CATEGORIES

    All
    Beginning
    Character
    Competitions
    Conspiracy Theory
    Descriptions
    Dialogue
    Editing
    Emotion
    First Draft
    Genre
    Horror
    Mental Game
    Money
    Pitch
    Premise
    Protagonist
    Rocketry
    Scenes
    Science Fiction
    Screenplay Structure
    Screenwriting Technique
    Script Reading
    Second Draft
    Tips
    Treatments
    Werner Von Braun
    Your Next Script

    RSS Feed

Picture
CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR SCREENWRITING COMMUNITY
Privacy Policy © Euroscript Limited 2020
  • HOME
  • HIRE A WRITER
  • FEEDBACK
    • SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
    • FEEDBACK
    • One-hour chat
    • Feedback for Partners
  • EVENTS
  • CALENDAR
    • TELLING TRUE STORIES
    • HOW TO MAKE IT AS A SCREENWRITER
    • WRITING HORROR
    • GETTING YOUR IDEA ONTO THE PAGE
    • HOW TO CLAIM THE UK INDEPENDENT FILM TAX CREDIT
  • RESOURCES
    • VOUCHERS
    • SCREENWRITING FAQS
    • HOW TO WRITE A WINNING TREATMENT
    • ONLINE CLASSROOM
    • SCREENWRITING ARTICLES
    • SCRIPT FORMATS AND FREE DOWNLOADS
    • DEVELOPING YOUR SCREENWRITING CAREER
    • SCREENWRITING LINKS
  • COMPETITION
    • ENTER HERE
    • WINNERS 2025
    • INTERVIEW WITH A WINNER
    • PREVIOUS WINNERS
    • THE EUROSCRIPT TREATMENT BAROMETER REPORT
  • ABOUT
    • OUR BOARD
    • DISCOUNT INFO
    • OUR PARTNERS
    • SUCCESS STORIES
    • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • CONTACT US
  • BLOG
  • THE SCRIPT CLINIC