20% Off Two Online Screenwriting Courses At Chicago Dramatists

Chicago Dramatists has been a cornerstone of Chicago's vibrant theatre and screenwriting
scene for 40 years, and is now offering two new Screenwriting courses this summer! And
for a limited time we'll be offering a 20% discount! These courses are perfect for any
writer interested in writing for the incredible medium of film. Register now, and bring your story to the silver screen.

"Creating Compelling Characters"

with Francine J. Sanders
7 Thursdays: July 09 - August 20
6:00pm - 9:00pm Central Time (Online)

Use code Compelling2020 for 20% off select classes.

This new 7-week workshop-based class is designed to help writers create and develop the strong characters audiences crave. Through exercises, writing activities, and screenings, students will learn strategies and techniques for building multi-dimensional characters that will fuel their stories and come to life on the page. Weekly sessions will focus on characterization, dialogue, world-building and workshopping in a small, collaborative environment. Students will also learn the basics of screenplay format and visual storytelling. At the end of the class, students will have a draft of a short character-driven script and a reservoir of characters and story ideas for future development.

Francine J. Sanders is a Chicago-based screenwriter, journalist and educator. She is an
adjunct professor in Columbia College's Cinema & Television Arts department, and also
teaches film studies and humanities courses for lifelong learners in Oakton Community
College's Emeritus Program. Francine's essays and articles have been published in The
Chicago Reader, TriQuarterly magazine, and Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy. She is the recipient of a Driehaus Foundation writing grant and is a six-time recipient of a writer's residency at the Ragdale Foundation. "Behind the Wall," the podcast she co-created for the non-profit Injustice Watch was named a 2017 finalist for the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism. She is currently developing a series of shorts inspired by her many years as a CTA rider, and a TV project based on her work as an investigator of police brutality complaints for the Chicago Police Department.

Click HERE to register

"Romantic Comedy!" with Mary Ruth Clarke

7 Sundays: July 12 - August 23
1:00pm - 4:00pm Central Time (Online)
20% Discount Code: RomCom2020

For screenwriters, playwrights, or teleplay writers, this is a class about the romance and
comedy of searching for love, falling in love, being in love, staying in love...and maybe even failing in love. Romantic comedy is both ancient and shiny new. In our evolving times, between technology and the freedom to love whomever one chooses and in whatever form that takes, writers have a wonderful opportunity to express what romantic comedy means
now.

Writers will do a deep dive into what makes for a successful romantic comedy, in all its
iterations. What are the particular demands of the genre? The class will examine case studies of successful rom com plays, screenplays, and television shows. And the majority of each session will be spent on student's romantic comedy ideas, outlines, character development, and scripts in progress.

Mary Ruth Clarke co-wrote and starred in the original Meet the Parents and co-adapted it into the blockbuster version, starring Robert De Niro. Her dramedy teleplay Broadway, Ohio is under a short option, and has also advanced to the second round at the Sundance Episodic Lab 2020. Her play Bonhoeffer's Cost just finished a run at The Agape Actors Co-op in Austin, Texas and has been produced at the Beacon Theater in Philadelphia, and the Provision Theater in Chicago. Mary Ruth is a screenplay consultant for clients in both LA and Chicago. She is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, where she teaches screenwriting and TV writing. She also teaches screenwriting at Story Studio, and is a regular guest lecturer at the Chicago Screenwriter's Network monthly meet-up, and recently ran workshops for the Off Campus Writer's Group, and the Chicago Independent Film Project. She is a member of the Writer's Guide of America East and the Dramatists Guild.

Click HERE to register

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