“The Authoritative Guide to Writing (and Selling!) a Great Screenplay”
Weekend workshops in Belfast, Cardiff and Norwich…
Read on for all the details, check the testimonials in the right hand column to find out what people thought so far of these great script writing courses, and check out our special guests.
Tour Dates
Belfast – Sat/Sun 24-25 March
Cardiff – Sat/Sun 21-22 April
Norwich – Sat/Sun 19-20 May
HOT NEWS Re. Special Guests!
VANESSA HAYNES, Ex. Development Producer at Kudos NI and TERRY CAFOLLA, lead writer on “Law and Order:UK”, for Belfast in March.
Don’t miss out. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to sign up for the screenwriting course near you now!
What Are These Workshops Like?
We think it’s always best to get you up and trying stuff out for yourselves. So in our screenwriting courses we combine a mix of lectures and more dynamic sessions during which you get active with methods and techniques you may never have thought of attempting before. After two days with us you’re going to come away with fully professional strategies for:
- Creating and animating vivid and memorable characters – and how best to make them jump to life in a scene. (Day 1)
- Using subtext in dialogue. We will explain how dialogue really works, and take you through classic scenes from movie and television to illustrate what we mean. (Day 1)
- Making the most of your connections to grow your network and build your career. It’s a simple fact – people like to work with people they know. We’ll teach you about the mindset you’ll need, tricks and techniques to break the ice and make contact, the tools you should have to keep track of who’s who, and the regular procedures you should be following to make sure the doors start opening to you. (Day 2)
- Writing a one page pitch document. These days there are more and more requests for single page pitches for ideas. It seems like no-one reads scripts any more. Luckily we’re pretty good at this – and that’s because it’s a writing form all on its own, very different to writing a script. We can show you how to do it. (Day 2)
- Entwining character and structure in a fully dramatic braid to maximise the potential of your story. (Forget the old argument over which is most important – we believe they are inseparable, and will show you why – and how you can get the best out of that knowledge.) (Day 1)
- Avoiding wasting your time working on projects that stand no chance of being commissioned. Each weekend has its own special guest(s) (see below) who are hand picked to be absolutely current, working industry professionals of a certain stature, who are best placed to give you the latest on the state of the market in the UK – first hand information on what’s in demand this winter, plus what lights up producers in general – and what you can do about it. (Day 2)
- Creating an elevator pitch that hits home. You can sell an idea in a couple of minutes if you know what you are doing – but most writers panic when this chance arrives. We’ll teach you some practical techniques for maximising your chances next time you run into someone powerful in a queue for coffee. (Day 2)
- Outmanoeuvring a commissioning editor before they even start reading. Philip Shelley will tell you exactly what made him hire three separate writers – and what you take away from that for your own projects. (Day 2)
So Who Are We?
I’m Phil Gladwin, founder of Screenwriting Goldmine. I’ve worked in script development in UK TV for well over fifteen years now, and worked as both a writer and an editor.
I’m proud to be running these script writing courses with Philip Shelley, a vastly experienced script executive and trainer, and proprietor of Script-Consultant.co.uk. I’ll hand you over to him for a moment so he can tell you all about us:
“If I’m being immodest I think that we, the two Phils, stand out amongst UK-based screenwriting consultants because of the sheer depth and quality of our combined experience.
Phil Gladwin first worked as a script editor for five years, and then, for the last decade or more as a writer, working on a range of UK TV shows, including The Bill, Trial & Retribution, Casualty & The Sarah-Jane Adventures.
I, Phil Shelley, have a great deal of experience as a script editor for many of the UK’s leading broadcast companies. I was Head of Development at Carlton TV for seven years, and I’ve edited on some pretty well known shows, including Waking The Dead, Inspector Morse, and the Railway Children, as well as producing two high profile shows. (Making Waves and Margery and Gladys).
I’ve also got a lot of experience as a trainer. I’ve lead the BBC Academy script-editing courses for the last decade; and I initiated and led the first Channel 4 screenwriting course for 2011, and am leading the second in 2012.
We’ve both learned so much from the experience of working on so many scripts – and seeing them from initial idea through the writing process, production, post-production and public response. We believe this weight of experience on a huge range of successful, British-made drama and comedy gives us a significant advantage over other screenwriting consultants and trainers.”
Couldn’t have put it better myself, Phil!
Places Are Strictly Limited at 20!
We have a strict limit on the number of delegates, because we want to make sure these are personal, in-depth seminars where you can get your questions answered and find out what you need to know without the sense of getting lost in the crowd.
That does mean that the early bird catches the workshop! If you want to come I strongly recommend you book your place now to make sure you don’t miss out.
Once you register we’ll send you a delegate’s pack with full details of the course, membership of a special private Screenwriters Studio Facebook group that will continue indefinitely, and some great extra bonuses detailed below.
The workshops take place as follows:
Belfast
Dates: Saturday-Sunday, 24-25 March 2012
Venue: TBC
Special Guests: Vanessa Haynes, (Ex. Development Producer, Kudos NI), and Terry Cafolla (Lead writer Law and Order:UK).
Cardiff
Dates: Saturday-Sunday, 21-22 April 2012
Venue: TBC
Special Guests: TBC.
Norwich
Dates: Saturday-Sunday, 19-20 May 2012
Venue: TBC
Special Guests: TBC.
Schedule
Writers after the London Workshop
We’ll also both be available in a nearby pub for an hour or so afterwards for a chat.
Shameless Appeal to Your Bonus Hunting Nature!
We think these screenwriting courses are very powerful, and we know they are going to dramatically improve your writing, and your ability to market yourself and your writing (or get you off to a huge head start if you are new to the whole idea of screenwriting), but we’re also strongly committed to the idea of giving you a lot for your money.
So, we’ve put together this set of bonuses to add just that extra lustre to the workshop.
- BONUS 1: BONUS REPORT: Our Special Short Report ‘Top Tips About How To Present Your Script’. (Written by Phil Shelley)
- BONUS 2: BONUS BOOK: The First Ten Delegates to register for each seminar will get a free screenwriting or filmmaking book.
- BONUS 3: BONUS HANDOUTS: Well over 70 pages of course handouts. These are handouts specially chosen or written to compliment the sessions in the workshop, but we think they’re good enough to provide extra value and study for a long time after the workshop.
- BONUS 4: LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP of the private Screenwriters Studio Facebook Group. Use this to keep in touch with us, and the other delegates, and meet the delegates from the last workshop. Over time we think this is a great way for you to start building your own mastermind group.
So How Much Is It?
We think we’re offering an amazing experience here, and you should go away from the workshop energised, tuned up, and ready to charge ahead with your writing career. But we also want to make this workshop such outrageous value that it’s impossible to pass up.
So we are selling the entire package, the two day workshop, with over 15 solid hours of me and Philip Shelley giving as much as we can about writing, all our best answers to all your top questions, plus the three bonuses here, for only £249!
What’s more, if you book for Belfast before 18th February, you get an EXTREMELY nice Early Bird Booking bonus that takes the price down to just £197!
Reserve your seat with all major credit/debit cards or Paypal:
Refunds and Cancellations
If you need to cancel your ticket you can get a full refund up until 7 days before the first day of the Workshop. After that we cannot offer refunds. Or you may transfer your ticket to another person if you can find someone to replace you.
Is This The Kick Start You Need?
If you’ve been writing for a while you will understand that the time you can spend working things out for yourself can take YEARS – and who of us has that much time to waste?
You really only need to pick up one good solid insight over this weekend to save yourself endless hours of frustration – and maybe you will even pick up the light bulb moment you need to kick your writing into fully professional mode. (It happened to me, many, many years ago – on a three day seminar like this I experienced a moment of pure light and insight that I still look back on as the moment my career really began.)
And if you are just starting out, or you’re just learning about writing for the screen, then this is probably one of the biggest jump starts you could ever ask for. Think about it, two solid days with a writer and editor with over thirty years professional experience between them. You owe it to yourself and your writing to tap into the way we think.
To your writing,
Phil Gladwin
Phil Shelley
P.S. Remember, if you sign up for this course, you must come committed and with an open mind. We’re going to give you two solid days of fully professional training!
