In Advisor Studio sessions, film and television industry professionals share field experiences and insights into their specific areas of craft, including writing, directing and producing for TV and film.
Are you ready to elevate your action writing? Join Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach as he deconstructs how to ignite both an audience’s brain and adrenaline.
Action and drama are often seen as polar opposites: the former for pure spectacle, the latter for serious substance. But for a successful story, they must be inseparable—each one a tool to advance the plot and deepen a character.
Drawing from his experience on high-octane dramas like The Witcher, Cowboy Bebop, and Lost, Grillo-Marxuach will teach you how to infuse every car chase, fistfight, and tense standoff with a dramatic purpose that pushes your characters toward meaningful change.
In this session, Grillo-Marxuach will dissect scenes from two very different films to illustrate the drama of action writing. He will analyze the famed highway chase sequence of The Matrix Reloaded (2003) written by The Wachowskis alongside the equally explosive marital argument scene of Network (1976) written by Paddy Chayefsky. His presentation will reveal how both sequences engage us for the same reasons: Both operate as three-act plays with a beginning, middle, and end, and both have clear emotional stakes, endlessly escalating complications, and a resolution based not on more and bigger action, but on the convictions of the characters.
This 90-minute session will end with an interactive Q&A with Grillo-Marxuach. Join this Advisor Studio to learn how to make your action sequences sing on the page and on the screen.
If you would benefit from an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please complete this form, contact us at (435) 776-7790, or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to discuss your specific requests. Every effort will be made to accommodate advance requests; however, requests made within 5 days of the event may not be guaranteed.
A recording of this Advisor Studio will be posted to our Video Library the business day following the session. All registered attendees will find the recording in the “Purchases” section of their account once it is posted.
