[press release from TM Publicity]
The New South Wales Film and Television Office is to partner with the Australian Writers’ Guild in presenting a series of script workshops with international screenwriting specialist, Stephen Cleary.
The FTO and AWG are offering two courses – a two-day seminar on adaptation (November 29 and 30) and a two-day Arista Seminar on preparing treatment and short pitch documents (December 1 and 2).
Stephen Cleary is a former Head of Development at British Screen and founded Arista Development to provide the first serious development skills training for Development Executives, Producers and Writers in Europe. Stephen first designed, organised and presented his celebrated Story Development Workshops for Arista, and has travelled around the world with his workshops, training over 1500 filmmakers to date. Arista has been an EU designated “Centre of Excellence” for the past eight years.
In addition to these two workshops, the FTO is also partnering with AWG and the Australia Council to present a pilot invitation-only two-day intensive Script Assessment Training Workshop on November 27 and 28.
“Stephen Cleary’s workshops are highly effective and internationally renowned. The FTO is delighted to be partnering with the AWG and the Australia Council to provide these outstanding opportunities for professional development for NSW screen writers. The workshops will assist with developing skills and will provide opportunities for people to exchange information and collaborate,” said Tania Chambers, Chief Executive of the FTO.
The Adaption Seminar will examine the process in depth, looking at different forms of adaptation (from the novel to real life stories), and covering technical and creative issues with regard to theme, tone and meaning, narrative perspective and ‘voice’, as well as the challenges of adapting character and plot.
The Arista Special Seminar – Treatments and Short Documents – explains the differences between a logline, strapline, pitchline and a premise; and teaches the tricky art of synopsis writing as well as how to write a treatment that gets you noticed. This seminar is a must for all those working in the film and television industry, or those keen to make a start in the industry.
The workshops will be held at the AFTRS, The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park.