Adaptation Fascination: Turn Your Fiction & Nonfiction Into a Screenplay 3-Week Zoom Intensive, Starts Saturday, August 10th, 2024
Class Starts Saturday, August 10th, 2024
The class will meet weekly via Zoom (Saturdays, 2PM - 4PM Eastern).
Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.
Instructor Lauren Veloski is a screenwriter, full-time creative coach, and the founder of THAT'S BANANAS. Her first feature script, the indie comedy “SORRY, THANKS,” was praised by Lena Dunham for writing “as seamless as any studio rom-com—if studio rom-coms had astute, nuanced dialogue.” An “unromantic comedy” about casual douchebaggery, “SORRY, THANKS” world-premiered at SXSW, and played 15 fests internationally before selling to IFC/Sundance. After 15 years as the “story brain in the room” on countless television and film projects, Lauren launched THAT'S BANANAS in 2022 to do what she most loves: work one-on-one with writers at all levels, helping them come fully into their badassery and power on the screenplay page.
Do you have a novel, memoir piece, short story, or essay you’ve long dreamed about getting adapted for the screen? Learn to adapt it yourself! Screenwriting (a capital-A “Art,” despite its Hollywoody reputation) requires a finely-tuned, fluent, and propulsive sense of visual unfolding—but with practice, it’s actually uniquely accessible among the writing modes. You can do this!
In ADAPTATION FASCINATION, writers from all corners of the creative & genre map come together to consider a pre-existing story of theirs for film/TV adaptation, and learn how to transform their source material per the requirements of (and new choices available through!) this cinematic medium. With hands-on guidance from Lauren, you’ll start seeing your story anew through the periscope of cinematic possibility.
Lauren frequently works with published authors interested in adapting their own work, teaching them the profound differences between writing for the fiction/memoir/non-fiction realms, and writing for the screen—all with a dedicated focus on helping them find their own UNIQUE voice within the tradition.
This process can be exhilarating. The differences between scriptwriting and our other writing modes are at once thrilling in the narrowing of diction and descriptors, and expansive in their epic narrative tug. Once we understand the core of what makes a screenplay great, we start to see what we can take with us in our screenplay adaptation (and what we must let go of!). Suddenly, we’re in possession of an entirely new creative lane as writers—and a fresh life for our story, better than we might have ever imagined possible.
SCRIPTS READ IN THE COURSE:
- "Sense & Sensibility"
- "Women Talking"
- "Adaptation"
- "Wild."
ONE-ON-ONE SUPPORT:
Each student will meet one-one-one with Lauren at least once during the course, to crystalize their script idea, and get hands-on guidance. Additionally, Lauren is available for “Office Hours” on Zoom across all 3 weeks, to help students through any struggles, troubleshoot, and buoy confidence!
COURSE WORK & GOALS:
In class (and at home) you’ll practice writing script versions of excerpts from your source work, always with close guidance and feedback from Lauren. You’ll also read some of the best script adaptations out there, as we tune our ears and writerly talents to the unique requirements and rhythms of visual storytelling.
Walk away from the course with your original story transformed into the seed of a future film or TV series script, some scene writing started, and a solid 1-sheet treatment of your concept!
THE WORK + GROWTH:
- Together we’ll read some of the best (and most innovative!) script adaptations out there, as we tune our ears and writerly talents to the unique requirements of visual storytelling.
- Students will gain a solid understanding of the firm distinctions/limitations in fiction vs. screenwriting, and in non-fiction/essay/memoir vs. screenwriting—brought to life by video and reading examples.
- Students learn to distill their original source work down to its most essential kernel—and FROM that new understanding, they learn how to expand the idea through the all-new possibilities available only to film/TV storytelling.
- In class (and at home) you’ll practice writing script versions of excerpts from your own source work, always with close guidance and support from Lauren.
TAKEAWAYS:
- Walk away from the course with your original story transformed into the seed of a future film or TV series script, as well as...
- A solid understanding of screenwriting fundamentals, software, and the narrative reconfigurations essential to bold screen adaptations.
- A foothold in scene writing, having conquered 2-3 of your own scenes and now ready to continue writing!
- A solid “1-sheet” pitch treatment of your film/TV concept!
COURSE OUTLINE:
Homework:
—Read 2 scripts: “Sense & Sensibility” and “Wild” (as well as Jane Austen and Cheryl Strayed excerpts)
—List-making: Deciding on personal “non-negotiables” in the student’s source story (what are they not willing to part with?).
—Brainstorm lists: What might cinematic language make newly POSSIBLE in the student’s source story, as well as what will NOT be possible to keep in their adaptation (/what might diminish it).
WEEK 2: Week #2 is focused on distilling the essence of everyone’s story down to its kernel, by exploring the tough decisions the screenwriters we’re reading made in their adaptations—and what was gained/lost by each of these choices. Through supportive hands-on work on each student’s source story (novel, essay, short story), electrified by group work and the ready examples of everyone’s shares, students start deciding what they will change in order to write the best possible screenplay.
Homework:
—Read 2 scripts: “Women Talking” and “Adaptation” (as well as excerpt from Miriam Toews’s book and Susan Orleans “New Yorker” article)
—Now that students have read 4 scripts, they’ll choose 1 scene of their own work to try to adapt
WEEK 3: Getting into the mud with our scenes shares and our decision making! Students will share their first-ever attempt at screenwriting in an encouraging, enthusiastic environment with direct feedback and suggestions from Lauren. We’ll also look at the series of decisions each writer must make for tone, style, audience aim, visual elements—and how to capture this “vision” in a propulsive 1-sheet pitch treatment.
Homework:
—Students choose a 2nd scene from their own work to adapt
—Students write a polished “1-sheet” pitch treatment, which encapsulates their vision for the new CINEMATIC version of their story—an eventual TV series or film script.
TESTIMONIALS:
"Lauren is pure gold! Full of industry intel combined with a super-passionate heart for the craft and for women’s voices." —Lisa Lister, author of "Self Source-ery"
"I cannot say enough positive things about Lauren as a teacher and the course overall. I left feeling like I had gained a ton of knowledge and had some building blocks to keep going on my own. I loved the class material, what others wrote in class, and the whole vibe. I am so sad it's over!" —Anna Toonk, Host of "How to Be Human" podcast
"Lauren is the best screenwriting teacher I’ve ever had. No, seriously. She is able to keenly identify what kind of writer brain you have and provide tangible solutions to your creative blocks that go way beyond canned advice and common knowledge. Remember your favorite teacher from school who made you feel seen and met you where you were at and knew exactly what you needed to hear? That’s her." —Aliza Small, writer & comedienne"
I felt so intimidated by screenwriting. Lauren made it all feel so much more approachable and gave me the confidence to feel like I could actually do this!" —Jennifer Pollock, writer
ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:
This class meets weekly via Zoom. Come prepared for a super fun class with live interaction on Zoom each week and plenty of writing, reading, and talking!
PAYMENT OPTIONS:
- Instructor: Lauren Veloski
- Class Starts Saturday, August 10th, 2024
- The class will meet weekly via Zoom (Saturdays, 2PM - 4PM Eastern).
- Tuition is $225.