Our Story for Screen students are halfway through the course, so we invited writer, story producer and tutor Ciaran Hayden to answer their questions on troublesome midsections, characters’ desires and how long to make a series.
Chelsea Morgan Hoffman, tutor on John Yorke’s Story for Screen online course, takes questions on 5-act structure, how to perfect a professional outline and how your themes might change dramatically throughout the writing process.
In our exclusive forums students share their work, receive feedback, and can ask the tutors questions. A Storytelling for Screen (Drama) participant was having trouble perfecting the treatment for her script, and, as always, tutor Chelsea Morgan Hoffmann responded with some truly elucidating advice. Read on for a sneak peek of what students on the courses can expect.
You’ve written your story, now how can you test whether or not it’s as good as it can be? In Into the Woods and on his online courses John Yorke recommends asking 10 questions to check you’ve got your story straight: an approach as relevant to business, science, marketing and tech stories as it is to dramatic narratives.
The production of story – be it film, theatre or television – is a team effort, and as such it’s not just the writer who needs to understand how stories are told. Former Storytelling for Screen student Thomas Hescott explains how the lessons he learnt from Into the Woods helped him perfect his art, and secure a directorial role on EastEnders.