Course Descriptions

 

Where’s the Structure

Taught by John Jacobsen
Aristotle said, “Plot is the most important of the six parts of tragedy. The characters serve to advance the action of the story, not vice versa. The ends we pursue in life, our happiness and our misery, all take the form of action.” Learning to structure a film is the greatest challenge facing most writers, so this course will develop your ability to conceive of a dynamic premise, structure a film and execute a screenplay with confidence. Instruction emphasizes traditional three-act structure and its mythic components, conscious and unconscious objects of desire, subplot development, scene execution principles, and the Journey of the Hero.

 

Such a Character

Taught by Warren Etheredge
No one pays good money to see ugly folks strip. Likewise, movie audiences won't tolerate boring characters. Movie-goers want to be seduced and, possibly, screwed over. It's instinctual, it's nature. Learn how to play to those base human instincts by creating compelling, multidimensional characters.

 

The Personal Connection

Taught by Stewart Stern
Through classroom lectures, timed writing and hands-on group activities, you will forge unexpected emotional connections between your characters and your own life. Screenings of scenes from our instructor's own works explore in detail how and why each film came to be.  

 

The Play’s the Thing

Taught by John Jacobsen
How do you get the story from the page to the stage or screen? In this class you will explore the language of acting and learn to analyze a scene and elicit an honest performance from the text. The class also covers the fundamentals of framing a shot and the essentials of the visual language used in film.  

 

The Storyteller’s Conservatory

Taught by Rick Stevenson
In the tradition of oral storytelling, this class takes place around a meal or a fire. Share personal stories and analyze them for their impact, their narrative drive, their emotional honesty, their ordering of information and their relevance. 
 

On Your Feet 

Taught by Tom Skerritt
One of the main goals of TheFilmSchool is to stress the mutually supporting roles of screenwriting, directing and acting in the craft of telling a story on film. By directing and acting out scenes from scripts in progress, you will develop a working knowledge of how to fit the pieces together.