Session Ten: A Story in a Box: Film as Genre

Exploring genre. Identify the overall genre and sub-genres in your story, and discover how emotions, obligatory scenes and genre conventions are necessary to include in your screenplay.

Learning outcomes:

Participants will learn the importance of genre for audiences and marketers and, through using Shawn Coyne’s ‘Five-leaf clover’ and genre cheat sheets, students will be able to identify the genre and sub-genres of their own stories, and therefore will understand their material better, and how to best go about writing it. They will discover the importance of genre conventions and obligatory scenes and will be directed to where they can discover more about their specific genre.

By the end of the session, students will have identified the genre and sub-genres of their story, the basic needs of their characters in that genre and the conventions and obligatory scenes necessary to include in their stories.

Course outline: This 10-month course is aimed at anyone new to Screenwriting and takes participants back to the humble beginnings of Cinema to explore the very essence of what Film is and what it can do. Experienced writer and Screenwriting lecturer, Lucy Kaufman examines some of the most important concepts in writing for the screen, encouraging aspiring screenwriters to delve into their own human resources in order to create visual stories, scenes, plots and characters that will work well on screen, and will have a powerful emotional impact on a cinema audience.

Introducing basic film language and how to format a screenplay on the page, the two-hour workshops combine analysis of film clips and scripted screenplays with practical written exercises and discussion. The course concludes with looking ahead to the opportunity of writing TV series for tradition television and online streaming platforms.

Lucy Kaufman is an award-winning, professional playwright and writer with years of experience in teaching Playwriting and Screenwriting to people of all backgrounds and ages. Lucy is an adaptable storyteller and script consultant with a passion for nurturing writers and their work.

Please note there is a supporting Google Classroom for this course and the direct link to join can be found in confirmation email under the Additional information section.

If you have any accessibility requirements, please directly get in touch with us at pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk

If you are not sure if this class is for you or would like more information, please contact us to discuss. Ask the organiser or email: pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk

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NB: To make the most of the Screenwriting Classes with Lucy Kaufman, please ensure that you book your place and that you are prepared to attend all the available sessions, there are 10 monthly sessions in total.

Tickets will be released in three-month blocks for the following dates:

• 20 September 2023
• 11 October 2023
• 22 November 2023
• 20 December 2023
• 24 January 2024
• 21 February 2024
• 20 March 2024
• 24 April 2024
• 22 May 2024
• 12 June 2024

• NB: Content includes viewing films for illustration purposes which may feature content that some people may find upsetting, uses language or depicts scenes reflecting attitudes to race and sex that are no longer seen as acceptable

• Booking is essential. Pen to Print and our partners reserve the right to remove participants who are found not to have booked a place for a session

• Pen to Print and our partners reserve the right to unenroll a participant from a course and explore an alternative approach to supporting them on their writing journey, if we feel that a class is unsuitable for that participant

• Pen to Print reserves the right to cancel, delay or postpone the event for any reason, including adverse weather conditions, an emergency situation or unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances out of its reasonable control. In such cases, the event organiser will endeavour to inform participants as quickly as is possible