It’s no secret that Hollywood has cracked the story structure code, or that they’ve refined some of the most elegant and efficient character-building tools in the storytelling business. What you may not know is that all of these tricks can be (and often are) utilized to conquer fiction writing, too. This workshop presents the Top Ten Master Movie Storytelling Devices via a range of great modern films and shows you how to capitalize on them for your own writing! Taught by a Hollywood pro who routinely poaches from great films to better her fiction writing.

Learn what movies know:

• Movies know how to quickly and efficiently build character, and how to maximize their dramatic potential.
• Movies know about world building—how to do it, how much to do it, and how to make it thematically relevant.
• Movies know what information we need right away—and how to do it artfully and kinetically.
• Movies know that stories work in circles, from the opening image to the closing, and that there are no coincidences.
• Movies know just how to stay “on message,” using themes, structure, and dialogue.

So come learn what movies know; you’ll be surprised at how much applies to all your fiction writing!

Trai Cartwright, MFA, has over 20 years experience as a professional story breaker. While in Los Angeles, Trai was a development executive for HBO, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s online ventures. Four of Trai’s screenplays were optioned, she produced three independent films, and she has consulted on literally thousands of scripts. She brings her in-depth knowledge of story building to all writing formats as a creative writing and screenwriting teacher for UNC, the Colorado Film School, writers groups, conferences, and one-on-one. Trai can be found at www.craftwrite.com.

And a note from Trai for those asking about the format/workload for this class: It’s 6 lessons, M/W/F, but participation is completely driven by the student — log on anytime day or night during those 2 weeks, join the conversation daily, once a week or not at all – the lessons are the students’ to keep, and they don’t even have to do the assignments!