From Page to Screen with Lauren Mackenzie
Info
Date: March 19, 2025
Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Duration: 6 weeks
Level: Intermediate |
Cost: €190 (171 Member)
This course will take place in person on Wednesdays (6 sessions in total).
Course Summary:
This a practical course for writers interested in adapting material for the screen, be it their own work or something found – Shakespeare, fairy tales, long form journalism etc. We will discuss the elements of a screen story, the fundamentals of screenwriting and workshop ways to approach adaptation.
Course Outline:
What is a screen story?
Why adapt? The three Ms – money, market, and mourning the losses
The audience, the shared experience, the established fan club.
The tools of screenwriting —
Structure, Character, Theme, Scene and Dialogue, Time
The formats – film and television, length, distribution/intended audience
Where to start? What to keep? What to skip?
The faithful adaptation versus the selection box approach
Rights
Writing the Pitch
The nuts and bolts of hooks, genre, and synopsis, intended market
Engaging the reader, conveying tone, intention, and what is unique about your project.
Participants are expected to turn up with a proposal. This could be a serious project or material to be used as an exercise.
At least half of the two hour sessions will be set aside for feedback on participants’ projects.
There will be materials to be read and viewed between sessions for discussion.
Course Outcomes:
A practical understanding of writing for the screen — the distinct craft skills required, awareness of production considerations and the demands of the market.
Participants will develop a proposal/pitch document for their own adaptation project with professional and peer feedback.
The tutor and the Irish Writers Centre are not in a position to facilitate submissions to production companies, that will be up to the participant.
Lauren Mackenzie has extensive experience in film and television as screenwriter, story editor and creative producer for RTE, TV3, TG4 and BBC etc. She is currently adapting a podcast drama and a crime fiction series for television, and a memoir to feature film.
Her fiction and poetry have been published in The Irish Times, Banshee, and The Stinging Fly among others. Her novel, The Couples, a winner of 2021’s Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair was published in 2023 with John Murray Press and optioned for television.
Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email info@irishwriterscentre.ie.
