Screenwriting: From Outline to First Act

Topics include:

• An introduction to Sundance Collab courses
• Navigating this course
• Understanding industry standard screenplay formatting

Topics include:

• A review of three act structure 
• A breakdown of Act One
• Identifying narrative function and narrative drive in terms of story
• Clarifying your theme
• Understanding your tone
• Knowing your stakes
• Crafting the opening sequence
• Making a plan to write your first act

There is no class this week in order to focus on writing

Topics include:

• Breaking down an inciting incident
• Determining how your character must change
• Learning the shape of story

Topics include:

• Breaking down your character’s journey
• Understanding character as narrative function
• Mapping your characters' emotional landscape

Topics include:

• Establishing the rules of your fictional universe
• Giving your characters context

Topics include:

• Distilling your central dramatic question
• Understanding the different types of antagonists
• The dark side of your protagonist

Topics include:

• How to build conflict
• Getting to your Act One break
• The driving force of second acts

Topics include:

• Revisiting your outline
• Setting yourself up for success in the rest of your screenplay

• The course concludes with a one-on-one mentoring session with your advisor

Participants will be in small groups of about nine to ten creators to share and discuss work in live "workshops." Recorded lectures and assignments with submission deadlines will help you take the next step with your work.  

• Each week you will be able to watch recorded lectures from the Lead Instructor.
• Each week you will meet live online with your advisor and small group. In these live workshops led by your course advisor, you will both give feedback to your peers on their work and receive feedback from your peers on your work.
• You will receive individualized feedback from your course advisor on elements of your work.
• You will have the opportunity to have a 45-minute one-on-one session with your advisor at the end of the course. 

All members of the Sundance Collab community are welcome to apply for Sundance Collab courses. Please review the course description and any eligibility requirements to ensure the course is a good fit. If you have any questions about a course, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.

Note that each course has an application deadline, so please check the date and time to ensure you don’t miss the cut-off. If the application window is open, you will see an “Apply Now” button on the course page. 

We send our application acceptance notifications on a rolling basis, starting after the application deadline. You will be notified of your acceptance status no later than five days before the first day of the course. 

When reviewing applications, the Sundance Collab team evaluates the needs and expectations of each applicant, the status of their project (if applicable), their experience level and their pre-requisite work. We are looking to convene a diverse group of participants and projects who will work well together and support each other throughout the online course. Finally, we evaluate whether the applicant has a strong interest and readiness to complete the course work and meaningfully contribute to the group process. For our workshops, it is ideal, though not required, that the participants attend live (online) as workshops will involve giving and receiving feedback from advisors and peers.

You are welcome to apply for the course with your creative partner as long as you are working on the same project throughout the course. You must each submit separate applications and indicate in your individual applications that you are applying with your partner. Note that if accepted, you would submit a single assignment when applicable for feedback and have a single 1-1 session together at the end. If you are both accepted, you will each receive 25% off the regular course fee.

Part of Sundance Collab's unique educational approach is to create a teaching team for every course. Each class is led by an Instructor and is accompanied by additional course advisors. This allows us to keep an intimate ratio of participants to advisors and to provide a diversity of voices and approaches to the course content.

We often offer a limited number of need-based, full or partial scholarships. Check the course description to see if that course currently has scholarships available. Scholarships are prioritized for one per person per year (from the date of issue). Scholarship applications are available up to one week before the registration deadline. To apply for a scholarship, complete the registration form by clicking the REGISTER button above and selecting the scholarship option, if available.

Applicants will be notified about their scholarship decision prior to the first day of the course. Due to the volume of applicants, we are not always able to provide a scholarship, but we may still offer a spot in the course. In this case, depending on the course, payment plans may be available and can be selected at checkout.

Yes, you are welcome to take a workshop course even if you can’t make the live sessions. It is recommended for workshops that you attend live, when possible. It is expected that even if you are unable to attend live, that you provide feedback to your peers in writing. Recordings of each class session are available online by the following day. The final one-on-one meeting with your advisor is scheduled according to your (and their) availability. There is also a private class discussion board where you can communicate with fellow participants outside of class hours.

All sessions are recorded and usually made available within 24 hours. The videos will also contain the chat and transcript from the class session, viewable in the video playbar. 

Participants will have access to the recordings, including the workshop sections, for one year following the last class session. 

All participants will receive a Certificate of Completion. The certificate will include the name associated with your Collab account.

You can find any courses that you are enrolled in or have already completed in the profile section of your Collab account under “Courses.”

You can join a course via a computer or mobile device. All of our live workshops are conducted via Zoom. 

Download and set up the Zoom software (https://zoom.us/download) and make sure you have the latest update. Here are some great resources from Zoom’s Knowledge Base to take a deeper dive into using Zoom:

• Watch Zoom's Video Tutorials or review training materials on the Getting Started page.
• Join a Live Training from Zoom.

If you have any further questions, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.

Sundance Collab provides accommodations and support services to participants with disabilities. Please contact us at (435) 776-7790 or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to ask any questions or to discuss your specific needs after you have been accepted into the course.