WritersOnlineClasses.com

Romantic Screenplays 101
1-29 February 2008
$30
Registration ends 31 January 2008

INSTRUCTOR: Sally J. Walker

CLASS DESCRIPTION: Novelist-Editor-Screenwriter Sally J. Walker will walk you through an 8-Session course on the fundamentals you need to understand BEFORE you actually tackle a romantic screenplay.  This is not a course on formatting, screenwriting technicalities, fundamental concepts of screenwriting itself or how to adapt your novel to a screenplay.  This is a course about "how to think" a romantic RELATIONSHIP story in a cinematic structure.  From essentials through character casting to plot outline, this experienced screenwriter and screenwriting teacher of 20 years can explain the mental tools you need to create your own screenplay.

LESSON PLANS

Feb 1...........Fundamental Concepts of a Romantic Screenplay
Feb 4...........3 Approaches to Romantic Screenplays
Feb 8..........The Unique yet Universal Hero & Heroine and Cast
Feb 11.........Hollywood's Need for "Sex & Violence"
Feb 15.........Sexual Tension vs Plot Complications
Feb 18.........Considerations: Time-Place and Theme
Feb 22.........THE Romance as Main Plot or Subplot
Feb 25.........Plotting YOUR Romantic Structure

Lessons will be posted to a closed list. Students may post questions to the list or off-list directly to the instructor. Sally will respond within 24 hours to posted questions.  Scenes of 5 pages or less will be evaluated for specific points relevant to the posted lesson, but entire acts or sequences of a screenplay are beyond the scope, time allotted and fees charged for this course.

INSTRUCTOR BIO:  When Sally Walker started her full-time writing career over twenty years ago, she quickly won acclaim for her stage plays & screenplays, internationally published poetry, non-fiction, and fiction.  Amazon.com lists her novels, as well as two adult literacy anthologies, TELL ME OF LOVE and THE REAL WEST, containing her work. Currently she is Editorial Director for The Fiction Works, a small publishing company now in partnership with the renowned special effects studio WonderWorks to develop TFW material for the film industry. After six years of writing craft articles for SCREENTALK magazine, she has been hired as a staff writer for the international magazine MOVIESCOPE out of London.

Recommended for her analytical skills by members of the UCLA Film Department, she serves as a screenplay judge for one film festival and a national competition. Signed with both a literary agent and a screenplay agent, she maintains a rigid writing schedule and has written 23 screenplays to date. Her writing affiliations include a 21-year-old study-critique group called the Nebraska Writers Workshop, Romance Writers of America, Western Writers of America, the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. She is the '07-09 President of the prestigious Nebraska Writers Guild. Sally presents writing seminars on a regular basis for her local community college and has taught at RT's annual convention and on-line for KOD.