S.S. Discovery

S.S. stands for Story and Script – or Space Shuttle for the nerds – as these are the two distinct areas you will learn more about.

Instead of having an omniscient tutor spoon-feed you theoretical knowledge spoon-fed, you’ll discover the principles of good writing for yourself

On board of the S.S. Discovery you will read, summarise, and report on 2 full-length screenplays; one for a feature film and the other for a TV pilot.

As you scrutinise portions of the script daily, you’ll unearth the principles of effective style.

Grappling with the synopsis will help determine which story parts matter the most.

Nobody will tell you about act or sequence stucture; you’ll figure out for yourself what is important – and why. This will build the beginnings of an innate understanding of story architecture.

Knowledge discovered in this way will last longer than lectures or books.

You have to read widely, constantly refining (and redefining) your own work as you do so. It’s hard for me to believe that people who read very little (or not at all in some cases) should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written, but I know it’s true. If I had a nickel for every person who ever told me he/she wanted to become a writer but ‘didn’t have time to read,’ I could buy myself a pretty good steak dinner. Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.

-Stephen King