Master Classes are in-depth, interactive learning experiences focused on craft and career building and led by renowned industry experts. Topics include fiction and documentary filmmaking, TV writing and production, and navigating and succeeding in the entertainment industry.
A good story takes time to unfold and emerge, which can be exciting and intimidating. And there is always the question if it is good enough. Even before you begin a screenplay, you need a compelling idea and a sense of how to keep your audience engaged by creating conflict and tension within your story. Join David Schwab, a NYC-based screenwriter and an adjunct professor of screenwriting at the Graduate Film School at Columbia University, in a live, three-hour, online Master Class where he helps screenwriters learn the essential process of finding compelling, resonant stories to tell and doing the research necessary to make them feel authentic. He identifies strategies to discover your dramatic problem and themes as well as methods for engaging the audience. Guest filmmakers Tamara Jenkins, Mira Nair, and Destin Daniel Cretton will share how they find their ideas and reflect on the importance of finding stories to which you have a strong, authentic connection.
Topics covered include:
0-4:17 - Introductions
4:17 - David Schwab’s Intro to the Class
9:06 - How Schwab Finds His Stories
19:40 - How the Masters Get Their Ideas
31:28 - Writing From Your Own Experience
38:00 - Conducting Research
45:13 - The Importance of Dramatic Problems
52:27 - Visual Examples of Dramatic Problems
1:05 - A Litmus Test for Determining Your Story
1:09 - Q&A with David Schwab
1:18 - Guest Panelist Tamara Jenkins
1:50 - Guest Panelist Mira Nair
2:20 - Guest Panelist Destin Daniel Cretton
Resources:
Download the list of resources from David Schwab and Sundance Collab
