We’re running a weekly series exploring an alternative workshop approach being tested out by Managing Editor Fred Pelzer.
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As we discussed last week, I’m always on the look out for new workshop methods. And after reading Felicia Rose Chavez’s Anti-Racist Writing Workshop, I knew I had to try out the radically different approach she advocates for. Fortunately on server I found four guinea pigs who were willing to allow me to experiment on them.
Today we’ll look at the prep work I did for this alternative format workshopping group. Both what I did to get ready, and what I asked of the workshop members.
Design
I knew I would be working with even less resources than Chavez describes in her program – primarily because this would be all done with volunteers and for free. So I set some limits – the program would be 7-8 weeks and 4-6 writers. We’d meet once a week, for an 1.5 hours. These compromises aimed to bridge the gap between what I had to work with and what would be as little of an imposition as possible to get participants.
I then created a Lesson Plan. Using the tentpoles from Chavez’s semester-long schedule, I condensed it all down into the handful of sessions. The back half of the schedule was decided for me – it would be occupied with the workshops and wrap-up, the cumulative pay-off for rest of the sessions. So the question became how to hit the core ideas of Chavez’s program quickly but without losing the essentials. I landed on the following schedule:
- Week 1 – Self-assessment
- Giving the writers space to take stock of their writing and their process.
- Week 2 – Shared Craft Vocabulary
- Using professional pilots, developing a specific and shared understanding of what we mean when we use different craft elements
- Week 3 – Writing, Editing, Revising
- Discuss some editing and revising techniques and how they intersect with the craft elements we defined.
- Week 4 – Workshop Process
- Walk through the workshop process, using Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process.
- Week 5 – Workshop Writers 1&2
- Workshop first two writers
- Week 6 – Workshop Writers 3&4
- Workshop second two writers
- Week 7 – Review
- Reflect on the process and set goals and next steps for the writers.
The Ask
Like I mention above, I went into this trying to make it as easy to participate in as possible. Because of the shortened length of time for the overall workshop process, I decided to ask that only writers with an already completed draft of a pilot participate. This way we would definitely have something to read when it came time to workshop.
I also knew I’d need some dedicated writers. Whoever participated wouldn’t have any investment beside their own drive to become a better writer. So as not to waste anyone’s time, I went looking for writers a bit further along in their development, had a few scripts under their belt, and were clearly in for the long haul of being a screenwriter. Fortunately, the Screenwriter Network has a whole group of Emerging Writers who fit exactly that bill.
I let them know up front that it would be different than their usual workshop experience. They would need to be flexible and open to new processes. There would be homework. And there would be an expectation from the start that they attend every week – not because my time is important but as a gesture of respect to their fellow writers and as a commitment to their own growth. Fortunately I had four people available and interested.
The Prep
Once I had my writers, I had some homework for them to do as well. Again, because of the abridged length of the program, I had them do some of the work in advance that Chavez suggests as part of your lessons.
We had a few weeks between sign-ups and the first meeting, during which I asked for the following:
- Suggestions and votes for the name of the group
- Since this workshop would be as much if not more theirs than mine, I wanted the members to create the name for their group to help have a sense of shared ownership. They decided on Pilot Program, which made good use of a double entendre.
- Pilot script recommendations
- Like Chavez suggests, I called on the members to recommend their favorite pilots. They would be building their own literary canon to draw on for the rest of the program. Using their suggestions and focusing on recent shows in a variety of categories – drama/comedy/dramedy, network/cable/premium, serialized/episodic/procedural – we came up with the following list. Then pulled the scripts from the Script Hub.
- Pitch Decks
- Finally, I asked them to prep pitch decks for their pilots. The expectation was not that these would be professional grade, ready to present to a development exec. I asked them to keep it short and focused. Of late I’ve really come around to Draft Zero’s argument for sells documents as development tools, and thought pitch deck would be a fun way to challenge the writers to efficiently summarize their project and bring a new viewpoint to the story they aim to tell. They will then present the pitch decks at our first session.
Come back next week and see how week 1 goes!