Writers in the Mountains (WIM) presents Fade In. Fade Out Screenwriting Workshop with Stephen H. Foreman, a weekend intensive held Saturday and Sunday, October 1 – 2, 2022, from to 11 am to 2 pm. The class will be held at the Pine Hill Community Center, 287 Main Street, Pine Hill, NY. Advance registration is required.
In this class, participants will discuss how the screenplay has unique rules that make it radically different from the other forms of literature. Perhaps a screenplay isn’t really literature after all. It might be beautifully written, even brilliant, still, it’s merely a blueprint for the movie to come. Many writers see the movie and do not recognize a single scene they had written and written over and over and over into infinity. Topics to be covered: the mechanics of a screenplay; word is subordinate to the image; think visually but choose your words cautiously and economically; proper form (there is one: Final Draft); plot; dialogue; camera angles: close-up, over the shoulder two shot, long shot, difference between a fade and a dissolve, how to set up a specific, actual shot that doesn’t look like a shot but really is; unusual but easily recognizable characters; most of all, story, story, story. The backbone, the spine. Story. The beginning and the end.
Stephen H. Foreman has been a freelance writer since 1974. He was a playwright and poet before screenwriting became his primary form of writing. He has had plays produced on both costs and was awarded the Yale Literary Prize for Poetry. It wasn’t until 2004 that he began concentrating on novels and have had three published since 2007 (two by Simon & Schuster, and one by Skyhorse Press); a fourth novel is forthcoming. Toni Morrison was his first editor. His film credentials include “The Jazz Singer” (1980) with Neil Diamond and Sir Lawrence Olivier, “Hostage” (1988) with Carol Burnett and Annette Benning, and a documentary “America The Beautiful” (1993) with President George H.W. Bush. Foreman also wrote and directed “Cougar” (1984). He has worked with Jane Fonda, George Roy Hill, Michael Apted, Hal Ashby, the Eagles, Edward Albee, Robert Lowell, Alice Childress, Dana Delany, John Cazale, Christian Slater, Al Pacino, and many others.
To register, e-mail writersinthemountains@gmail.com. To register online, visit writersinthemountains.org. The class fee is $65. The registration deadline is September 24.
Writers in the Mountains is a 501 ( c ) (3) not-for-profit organization with a mission to provide a nurturing environment for the practice, appreciation, and sharing of creative writing. Learn more at writersinthemountains.org.
