With details of upcoming courses:
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The holiday movie
genre is one of the most popular in the film industry with
sky-rocketing budgets and huge production values. More important, after
their initial theatrical run, holiday movies go on to be replayed every
year and become contemporary classics, providing a perpetual source of
revenue for their creators.
But writing a new
holiday classic can be much harder than it would appear.
Today,
holiday-themed movies bring in billions of dollars a year in revenue.
From Christmas to Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day, they fill a very
necessary need for holiday content with built-in marketing campaigns
and long, lucrative residual streams on TV and cable. Networks play
those movies endlessly with such classics as It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story often
running on 24-hour loops. Outlets such as the Hallmark and Lifetime
Channels have a voracious need for Holiday-themed content and will
often take a chance on a new writer who has a fresh take on an old
classic.
Whether animated or
live-action, mixed-genre or throwback original, this
webinar demystifies the process of creating an exciting and
engaging holiday-themed original spec screenplay. Techniques for
creating the heart of your story while avoiding familiar tropes and
cliches of the holiday movie genre will be explored, with real-life
examples contemporary classics such as Bad Santa, Die Hard, Christmas
Vacation, Elf, The Santa Clause movies, Home Alone, Scrooged, and more.
Jon has written
several award-winning screenplays and assisted dozens of screenwriters
in perfecting their scripts for sale on the market. He has also been a
professional reader for studio executives, and written coverage for
hundreds of original spec screenplays. He knows the most important
element in any script is having a unique and compelling voice from the
start, and he will help you find and showcase your writing talent from
page one, scene one.
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- How
to structure and format your script to highlight your writing
- How
to approach a holiday-themed concept with a fresh and original
hook
- How
to not get caught using tried tropes and obvious holiday clichés
in your script
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- Writers
who want to break through with a new holiday classic spec script
- Writers
who want to add a compelling writing sample to their stable of
work
- Writers
who have a great idea for a holiday movie and need help in
executing it
- Writers
who need advice on developing franchise-worthy characters and
stories
- Writers
looking to adapt a holiday classic into a contemporary story with
a unique twist
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Instructor: Jon James Miller
Jon James Miller is
an award-winning screenwriter, novelist and short story writer. His
debut novel, Looking For Garbo a noir thriller was published by
Amphorae Publishing Group and is a 2019 INDIES Book Award Finalist and
2019 MiPA Book Awards Finalist. Jon is represented by Jill Marr at
Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
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Active Interest Media
5710 Flatiron Parkway Suite A Boulder, Colorado, 80301 United States
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Whether you're
completely new to writing screenplays or you're an experienced
screenwriter looking to add a new skill, Script University has a course
for you, all from the comfort of your home! Click
here to view
the full course schedule >>
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Courses
Starting This Week:
Creating
the Viral Web Series
Instructor:
Rebecca Norris
In recent years, the Internet has
created space for an entirely new storytelling format: the web series.
Cheap to make and easily accessible for viewers, a web series can be
the perfect way for you to get started as a filmmaker and be noticed
for your talent. By the end of the course, you’ll have your pilot in
hand — and a plan for where you want to take your series in subsequent
episodes.
Beginning Feature Film Writing: Outline and Act
One
Instructor:
Donald H Hewitt
When you plan a long-distance trip to a place you’ve never been before,
do you just hop in the car and start driving and hope for the best?
Writing a screenplay is also a long trip into unknown territory.
Whether you are a writer looking to understand the fundamentals of
writing for film or a television writer looking to expand your
skillset, this course is for you.
Four Weeks to Your Sitcom Pilot
Instructor:
George Yanok
Think of your favorite television
situation comedies. What do you remember? Jokes? Chances are what
remains in our memory most fondly aren’t one-line gags and witticisms
so much as the characters populating that sitcom. In the real world of
TV production, creative group sessions can be both daunting and
invaluable to the finished product. This class will attempt to
replicate that experience and you will leave with a complete draft of a
30 minute sitcom script.
Story Development and Outlining
Instructor:
George Yanok
Do you have a great core idea for your story, but find yourself
struggling to add depth, structure, and arc to your concept? Developing
your premise is no easy task, but once you have the essential elements
pieced together, your story can truly come together. In this course,
you'll learn how to take your screenplay from the early stages of
building an idea to a fully developed story.
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Upcoming
Webinar:
Tis' The
Season: How to Write the Holiday-Themed Script
Instructor:
Jon James Miller
Thursday, December 17, 1:00 PM PST
The holiday movie genre is one of the most popular in the film
industry with sky-rocketing budgets and huge production values. Whether
animated or live-action, mixed-genre or throwback original, this
webinar demystifies the process of creating an exciting and engaging
holiday-themed original spec screenplay.
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EXPERT INSTRUCTORS | CONVENIENT ACCESS
INVALUABLE FEEDBACK
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