ScreenMasters Private Lab with Michael Schulman : Mini-golf, anyone? by Lit Kilpatrick

Lit Kilpatrick

Mini-golf, anyone?

Hello to everyone in the group! I was off on a mini family vacation over the long weekend and am just getting to this lounge now - but I look forward to connecting through this class. Ever spend time watching a newly-minted 5 year old play miniature golf for the first time, as she putts the ball in circles, stepping all over the club and her own feet? Well, I'm here to tell you that it will make you not only question the relevance of the 3-act structure, but the point of anything. It was a burrito of an experience, for sure. At one point she picked up the ball out of frustration and hurled it, and it flew into the tunnel of a castle that gave her a hole-in-one. But that wasn't the climax; that was just somewhere in the middle. In the end she just had to go pee-pee-potty. 

The perspectives shared by Michael and Amanda on day 1 were amazing and eye-opening, and I'm already looking forward to our next session. 

Ricki Linksman

Hi Lit, Did you know I have helped many a child her age through high school learn to read 2 to 5 years on average above their ages and raise SAT and ACT test scores through teaching reading through miniature golf as well as basketball and other sports abd hobbies? You are actually laying the groundwork for her brilliant future. Dont give up on her golf yet! See my last book The Power of Mental Golf! Thanks for reaching out. You have amazing loglines. Also, thanks for your description of The Coverage Report. You are doing great work. Glad we are in the lab class together.

Lit Kilpatrick

Ricki Linksman - I love the idea of teaching through mini-golf and basketball!! Where was that when I was a kid? Can you be our federal Secretary of Education, please?? At age 4 our daughter was testing at a 2nd grade reading and math level, so we're purposely engaging her in overtly non-academic activities, because we're worried that she'll be a bored troublemaker when she starts kindergarten at the local public school in the fall. And thank you re loglines and Coverage Report. That reminds me - I need to update my loglines, ha. Starting and running the Coverage Report has taught me so much about the common pitfalls of early to middle stage screenplays - a great way to see more objectively the kinds of mistakes / issues that we cannot get away with as writers. Hosting it has helped me become a much more sound judge of my own writing. Though I weirdly love being in 'rooms' with people in real life but always get a few jitters being in zoom rooms, since it's harder to keep track of the little Brady Bunch heads and read everyone. Happy to connect - and I'm going to look up your book!! My totally unreasonable dream for you is that you open a chain of mini-golf courses around the country where kids learn - the more mini-golf the better!

Ricki Linksman

Your insight is amazing! That was one of my dreams--to expand my accelerated learning institute into a franchise that can help every child/teen anywhere in the country and around the world reach their highest potential in the shortest possible time. I have cloned my brain into an AI-type online software program I wrote and developed so teachers and parents everywhere around the world can duplicate the process. And yes, part of it was a learning to read through golf, basketball and sports set of centers--I only lacked the funding to do it, but it is still a dream of mine: "I'd like to teach the world to read... in perfect harmony...." The process is specifically covered in my main Amazon books and eBooks and now an audiobook: How to Learn Anything Quickly. If you want books specifically for parents on reading and learning, you are welcome to go to www.readinginstruction.com to see my many books and online programs. Why I turned to screenwriting? Another media to reach people to go from challenge to triumph in an entertaining way. And yes, because my success with entire failing school districts that I empowered the teachers to go from failing schools to superior ones in less than one school year did inspire me to replicate that model everywhere, so I actually did apply for Federal Secretary of Education on their portal last year at least to share the how-to's with schools and districts interested in implementing, but never heard back! By the way, I used my own technique when learning golf for the first time and within a year came in 2nd in my local city championship in my flight. I would have been first but I did the golf etiquette thing that I read one of the champions did: someone unscrupulously hid my ball which went further than theirs, so I had to put down another one to continue the competition. Then that person told me that you get a 1 stroke penalty for putting down another ball, so even though I won, I felt I had to report it to the judges, and they were so upset because they knew me and were rooting for me they took the entire next hour consulting rule books as they couldn't figure out whether it would cost me the stroke and the 1st place win. But ultimately they did find a rule in the book that said yes, I had to be penalized 1 stroke. So that one stroke cost me from going to 1st place to 2nd. But I wear that prize proudly as I stayed true to the ethics of the game. Let me know if I can help anyway with any aspect of your family's education! I also am a certified gifted education teacher and taught and developed gifted programs--and yes, they need to be challenged and kept from being bored in school. Happy to help with tips!

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