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The Write Now Challenge

Webinar hosted by: The Write Now Challenge

Allen James Roughton is the Stage 32 Script Services Coordinator, a screenwriter, reader and development researcher who has consulted on over 100 projects, scripts, books, comics and films and conducted research on life stories, exposés, professions and locations for development at major production companies. Nick Assunto is part of the Stage 32 script services team and a repped screenwriter himself. He was previously a reader for the Austin Film Festival, a writer for the 2017 CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase, co-host of the Sunday show B.Y.O.T. at UCB, and dabbled in acting, having been featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, an eHarmony commercial directed by Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst (for real), and is infamously known as Tony, the annoying party member from the 'Four Friends' Elder Scrolls spots. Full Bio »

Webinar Summary

Can you tell your whole story in just six sentences? This month, we're challenging you to use Pixar's dead-simple approach to outlining to breakdown your story or help you come up with something completely new!

What You'll Learn

Can you tell your whole story in just six sentences? In August, we challenged you to write a complete story in only six sentences using the Pixar Outline:
 
"Once upon a time there was _____. Every day, _____. One day, _____. Because of that, _____. Because of that, _____. Until finally _____."
 
Some of you broke down your own completed story, while others used the outline to create something completely new!
 
We break down some of the best submissions received from our writers and discuss best practices on how to break through the sticking points associated with the challenge.

About Your Instructor

Allen James Roughton is the Stage 32 Script Services Coordinator, a screenwriter, reader and development researcher who has consulted on over 100 projects, scripts, books, comics and films and conducted research on life stories, exposés, professions and locations for development at major production companies.

Nick Assunto is part of the Stage 32 script services team and a repped screenwriter himself. He was previously a reader for the Austin Film Festival, a writer for the 2017 CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase, co-host of the Sunday show B.Y.O.T. at UCB, and dabbled in acting, having been featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, an eHarmony commercial directed by Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst (for real), and is infamously known as Tony, the annoying party member from the 'Four Friends' Elder Scrolls spots.

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Reviews Average Rating: 5 out of 5

  • This is the most helpful writing exercise for after you've finished your screenplay! Would probably be a good exercise for before you sit to write as well. Forces you to just focus on your A story. Get clean about what the main beats are in your story. Very necessary exercise to do before you pitch.

Other education that may be of interest to you:

The Write Now Challenge: Isn't it Ironic?

It's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife...well, actually it's more like the Write Now Challenge Webcast: Isn't it Ironic coming at you this afternoon at 4pm (Pacific)! In this challenge, members were asked to write a short scene (no more than 5 pages) using one of the examples of irony from the Breakdown Webcast: Dramatic Irony. As a reminder the examples for irony are below:  Dramatic Irony: A literary and theatrical device in which the reader or audience knows more about a situation, complication, or conflict than the characters they are following. Classical Irony: This term describes irony as it was used in ancient Greek comedy—to highlight situations in which one thing appears to be the case when, in fact, the opposite is true. Cosmic Irony: Cosmic irony highlights incongruities between the absolute, theoretical world and the mundane, grounded reality of everyday life. Socratic Irony: Socrates would feign ignorance of a subject and ask seemingly innocent—but actually leading—questions to draw out information he already knew. Socratic irony differs from verbal irony because it involves intentional deception. Verbal irony, on the other hand, does not connote insincerity or deception. Situational Irony: occurs when there is a difference between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. With situational irony, our discovery that our expectations haven’t been met are the same as the characters in the story. Verbal Irony: is when a character says something that is different from what he or she really means, or how he or she really feels. This is the only type of irony where a character creates the irony. 

The write now Challenge: Identifying Your Script's Theme

For this challenge, members were asked to use The Breakdown Webcast: Writing Theme as a guide to look at one (or more) of their feature or television scripts and identify the themes. During the webcast, participants read their responses and discussed the ways in which they arrived at their themes. We also discussed ways in which they can do more to illuminate their themes.  

The Write Now Challenge- The Hunt For Horror!: Find A Horror, Thriller, Mystery Story To Develop

Using the Breakdown Webcast: Writing Horror you are challenged to scour the internet, libraries, news articles, folklore, mythology, or your own personal experiences to find a core of an idea to develop into a Horror, Thriller, Mystery, or Suspense.

The Write Now Challenge: Your Pitch to Adapt Existing Intellectual Property

Based on the Breakdown Webcast by Writers' Room member Stephen Potts, write a pitch for a producer explaining the piece of IP you want to adapt and why.

Breaking Through Screenwriting Challenges, Obstacles and Setbacks

If you're ready to break through some of your most challenging writing issues, this is the webcast for you.

The Write Now Challenge: Antagonists Anonymous

In this challenge, members were asked to pick their favorite antagonist or villain from film, television or literature and in - ONLY ONE PAGE - write a monologue from his or her point of view. The participants could frame this as an interrogation, a negotiation, a confession, or a conspiratorial conversation. Most importantly, writers has to make sure the scene had conflict, and the character's point of view in his or her voice.   During the webcast we heard from some of our favorite protagonists, including Loki from the Marvel Universe, Terence Fletcher of Whiplash, Commodus from Gladiator, Jack Bynes of Meet the Parents, and Lex Luther of Superman among many others.     

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