Upcoming classes
Making your own short or podcast
November 8 10-12:30
In this class we will explore harnessing the power of podcasts and short films to showcase your writing. We will cover adapting existing material for audio and short form mediums, as well as tips and tricks for how to maximize each form. Information will include various pathways towards creating a podcast including recording, mixing, and casting on a budget, as well as a look at successful short film strategies for establishing a proof of concept. We will also cover how, as a writer, to transition into production, including the pathways towards bringing a full team on board to realize your vision.
The class will include time for participants to brainstorm ideas for podcasts and shorts with feedback from the instructor and peers. All participants will come away with a list of resources for creating your own content! Stop waiting for permission: let’s make the thing!
Screenwriting for a microbudget
November 8 1-3:30pm
If you are looking to sell a marketable screenplay or to produce your own microbudget film, this is the class to take! In the current filmmaking climate, investors are mostly interested in producing IP-based blockbusters. However, there is still room for smaller, more artistic films through distribution channels. The key to producing these is having a script that can be made for hundreds of thousands of dollars instead of millions. We will cover writing scripts that can be made on a mid-tier budget as well as a micro budget, what the pros and cons of each can be, and how to write with a specific budget in mind. We will also go over strategies for getting your project off the ground, covering the benefits and downsides to various pathways towards cutting corners, budget-wise.
In this class, you will get insider-information on several successful indie films and how they came together, as well as strategies used by writer/directors currently trying to make things happen.
Participants will also have time to bounce ideas or projects off of each other, explore questions specific to participant projects, and form a plan for either scaling down an existing script or beginning a new one from scratch based on the principles of keeping costs low.
The Super Secret Film Club
During the 2023-24 school year, my students collaborated on a large-scale short film project. Through the work of over 100 students from the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, with the support of administration and every department, funded by the Carver Center Foundation, these short films were brought to life. Students led every step of the process from concept to costumes, crafty, color-grading, composing the scores… It was my idea, but I was just the suit, there to make sure everybody stayed on time and on budget. And they did! (And to ensure that nobody caught on fire. And nobody did!) Click through to watch all four amazing shorts.