Television Writing 101 with Amie Charney

Tues, April 5, 12, 19, 26 & May 3 & 10, 6:30-8:30pm. Hybrid—students may attend in-person or via Zoom.
Instructor: Amie Charney
Nonmember: $150; Member: $130; Student/Vet/Mil: $75

Have an amazing idea for a television or streaming pilot, but don’t know how to start? This six-week Fundamentals of Television Writing course is the perfect introduction. You’ll learn how to take your idea from the early stages of concept to an outline to write a pilot. We will also focus on how to structure your plot specifically for the television platform in a simulated writer’s room. You can expect six real-time craft lectures, lively conversation, and feedback from your instructor and fellow students, written assignments and exercises, and a solid jumpstart on your own script. Here are some of the elements we will cover:

• Why is the television/streaming platform different from screenwriting. What are the types of television shows/platforms for today’s market?
• Take your concept for a show to outline
• The beats of the plot, and how to create a strong story structure.
• Creating dimensional characters driven by both external and internal motivations, and how to arc them.
• Techniques for improving your dialogue
• How to create conflict that moves the plot forward
• Techniques to help you work in a visual format, like beat boards, mood boards, storyboards
• Proper Formatting – learn industry standards and techniques
• And now what… create a powerful logline, one-sheet (leave behind), and synopsis that can be used to pitch your story to industry experts.

Read Amie Charney’s Writer’s Desk interview!

Amie Charney is a screenwriter who lives in San Antonio, Texas. She has a BA in Literature from California State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California Riverside Palm Desert. She is also the current Director of Creative Writing for the Northeast School of the Arts. Her work can be found in literary journals such as Southern Missouri Press Journal, Proud to Be, As You Were, Oh! Cat!, High Country Magazine, and others. Amie is the inaugural recipient of the Harlequin Creator Fund for Television Writing and is currently developing a new television show with eOne and Harlequin. She’s the wife of a pilot, mother of two fantastic young adults (both Aggies), and a proud Marine Corps wife! She was recently featured in Script Magazine and the Harlequin Creator Space, as well as San Antonio Magazine.

Connect with Amie:
Twitter: @amiecharney
Facebook: facebook.com/amiecharneywriter
Instagram: @amiecharney
Website: www.amiecharney.com