The WGSA is proud to present to you:
The Secret Patterns of Writing for Different Genres
by Peter Russell
In its quest to advance performance (screen, stage, radio and games) writers in our beautiful country the Writers' Guild of South Africa (WGSA) is saving writers the time and money to get passports and visas, buy airplane tickets to- and pay for accommodation in America. They are doing this by flying in Peter Russell from Hollywood to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban in May 2016.
From Peter Russell's website:
Film and television stories are changing. It’s no longer enough to ‘Save the Cat’. A lot of times now, the cat gets killed. Complex, dark heroes on TV like Walter White, and Don Draper. Slick superheroes in movie fantasy like Tony Stark.
So many genius screenwriters and producers have no idea how to teach what they do. But Peter Russell and his partner, Cecilia Stewart Russell, do (and Peter was UCLA’s Teacher of the Year in 2009 already, so that shows how accomplished his teaching style is). It’s Peter and Cecilia's passion to help writers.
Peter and Cecilia started as story analysts in the 1990's, and have read over 6,000+ screenplays for major film and television giants including Imagine Entertainment, Participant Productions, HBO, CBS, Walden Entertainment and dozens of others.
As Peter and Cecilia read these scripts, they started seeing deep, hidden patterns in the best stories. They wrote these down and started getting jobs FIXING writer’s stories. And they are good at it — really good.
What Peter has in store for South Africans:
DAY 1:
Introduction - the 9 elements of all great movie stories, followed by the beats of story (20 essential moments your script should have) followed by the Secrets of Writing for Television Drama, with an additional module on character-driven shows like “True Detective”, season 1.
DAY 2:
- Covering the secret patterns of multiple genres to clarify the functional differences in story structure between genres, as well as for the sake of comparison:
- Thrillers (including Mystery Thrillers)
- Horror
- Action
- Sci-fi / Fantasy
- Drama
- Why certain genres seem to be more popular than others from a sales perspective.
HOW TO GET YOUR TICKET
To secure your booking: Contact admin@writersguildsa.org to request an invoice and please inform us where you will be attending; JHB or CPT.
TICKET PRICES:
Two day workshops:
JOHANNESBURG: 14 & 15 May 2016
CAPE TOWN: 21 & 22 May 2016
Normal ticket prices:
WGSA members: R4,000 per person
WGSA student members: R3,800 per person
Non-members: R4,600 per person
Early Bird Special (Buy your ticket before 15 February 2016):
WGSA MEMBERS: R3,500 per person
WGSA STUDENT MEMBERS: R3,200 per person
NON WGSA MEMBERS: R4,100 per person
Bulk tickets (minimum of 5 tickets):
WGSA MEMBERS: R3,500 per person
WGSA STUDENT MEMBERS: R3,200 per person
NON WGSA MEMBERS: R4,100 per person
One day workshop:
DURBAN (only): 09 May 2016
Durban, you have not been forgotten or forgone. The WGSA is bringing Peter Russell to you too! But what is taught in two days in Johannesburg and Capetown is going to be presented you in one day. Especially since the group of writers in Durban is still small and intimate. It's your time to get into the action!
To secure your booking: Contact admin@writersguildsa.org to request an invoice and please inform us that you will be attending in DBN.
Normal tickets (Durban only):
WGSA members: R2,000 per person
WGSA student members: R1,900 per person
Non-members: R2,300 per person
Early bird tickets (Durban only) (Buy your ticket before 15 February 2016):
WGSA members: R1,750 per person
WGSA student members: R1,600 per person
Non-members: R2,050 per person
Bulk tickets (Durban only) (minimum of 5 tickets):
WGSA members: R1,750 per person
WGSA student members: R1,600 per person
Non-members: R2,050 per person
For more information on Peter Russell and his published books click here.
