Begins Monday, November 3rd, 2025

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Mondays from 7:30 -9:00 PM EST

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us. 

Instructor Michael Farris Smith is an award-winning writer whose novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists with Esquire, NPR, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Oprah Magazine, Book Riot, and numerous other outlets, and have been named Indie Next, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. As a screenwriter, he scripted the feature-film adaptations of his novels Desperation Road and The Fighter, titled for the screen as Rumble Through the Dark. With his band The Smokes, Smith wrote and released the record Lostville, which Grammy nominee Jimbo Mathus produced. Smith lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters.

You've written short stories. You think they would make a great short film. Learn the craft of adapting your story from prose to screen.

Writing is visual. The writer should help the reader see. For that reason, many of us envision our stories on the screen, or we imagine actors playing the roles, or we wonder what it would be like to make a story into a script. This is that opportunity. It is all storytelling, but different mediums use different creative muscles and techniques. This course will introduce you to the craft of adapting your fiction into a script by focusing on something you already know very well: your own short story.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Week 1: Choose your story, break it down, and the basics of adapting for film.

Week 2: Create the script draft.

Week 3: Revise the script draft, and now you've done it.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Students will produce a short script (10-20 pages) based on one of their own short stories.
• Students will learn the basics of screenwriting, the basics of adaptation, the basics of do's and don'ts where adaptation is concerned.
• Students will create drafts and a revision of their short film script.

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: Michael Farris Smith
• Begins Monday, November 3rd, 2025
  
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Mondays from 7:30 -9:00 PM EST
• Tuition is $225 USD.