Thrilled to Meet You: Writing Opening Scenes that Seduce a Script Reader with Xandra Maria Castleton

Saturdays, September 12th - October 10th | 

In this five week workshop writers will practice ways to develop and introduce irresistible characters, seed storylines, set a tone, flirt with genre, establish a compelling fictional world, explore themes, hone a distinctive voice - and hook audiences.

We’ll dissect the conventional and rule-breaking choices made by writers of feature film and pilot scripts such as American Fiction, Parasite, FleaBag and Big Little Lies, aided by interviews with screenwriters and excerpts from “Save the Cat Writes for TV” and “The Screenwriter’s Bible.” Weekly writing and reading assignments, mini-lectures, and group table reads will be supported by encouraging and precise individual feedback. Open discussion and feedback forums will be available 24/7 on the Wet Ink platform.

Students will complete the course with a revised draft of the opening 10-15 pages of a screenplay along with a toolbox of exercises, materials and resources - and, inevitably, a group of invested readers - to support their continued journey toward a great script. There will be an optional public reading in San Francisco.

This course is open to both new and experienced screenwriters. The alchemy of a mixed group has proven to spin gold. Questions? Email me at xandra @ greatscreenplays.com.

Xandra Maria Castleton, M.F.A. in Cinema, is a screenwriter, script consultant and producer with credits on multiple award-winning films and TV projects, starting with a regional Emmy for her profile of John Waters during her stint as producer of a series on independent film. Her films have premiered at festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, AFI, and Rotterdam, with her feature Full Grown Men (Judah Friedlander, Alan Cumming, Amy Sedaris & Debbie Harry) winning a Sundance Channel Audience Award prior to a nationwide theatrical release. Xandra was the co-creator/writer and EP of Stand Up Planet, with Hasan Minhaj, Michele Buteau, Nate Bargatze, Norman Lear and Carl Reiner.

Xandra taught screenwriting at Stanford’s Continuing Education Program and at California College of the Arts for ten years, and in Angola through the State Department’s CulturalProgram. She now teaches exclusively at The Writers Grotto and works with clients through www.greatscreenplays.com