activity ideas for local screenwriters group?

[Randall_Oelerich]

Besides reading each others scripts, anybody have suggestions / ideas for activities to do at a local screenwriters group? I am going to start one up in my town of Duluth MN. I would like to do some more engaging activities other than reading members' screenplays. Looking for ideas. Brainstorm, anything goes -- don't be afraid to suggest anything unusual (except for jumping in Lake Superior in January and writing a scene on that experience-- too brutal, LOL).
~randall

[10s]

Groups can be a good thing but they can also be time waster. I prefer a group dedicated to film making with an emphasis on writing rather than soley on writing.

Most writers are clueless IMO about the making of a film and miss out on many things that make cinema powerful, whereas when people study cinema, and in doing so they learn how to write, then they can explore not only the construction of the screenplay but the interpretation of it during production and editing. Editing really helps one best to understand how cinema works. Writers tend to be limited to the idea of the stage or something close to it. Knowledge of Cinema's unique powers can inform the writer on how they express their work. So IMO, if you study writing I believe one should also study editing and production.

I had a group once and we met every 2 weeks but no one other than myself really put much work into it so I bagged it after I got what I wanted.


Looking back I think the best solution is to find 3 maybe 4 other film- maker/screenwriters and get together over:

1. Read on own time and then get togther over a classic screenplay and ask what makes it good, do this ten times and also throw in a few bad ones to develop contrast. After a while it will become more apparent what makes something good and what the bad stuff is not addressing.
2. You can present an ACT of your own work and get reactions. Solicit comments on what isn't working. Get to the stuff that will improve your writing, save the luv-it stuff for later.
3. Watch a section of film after reading the section of screenplay. Share thoughts on the interpretation of it. This can be a really good experience if no one has read or seen the movie. Read, then watch, then comment.
4. Buy a few of these DVDs, http://thedialogueseries.com/ watch and comment as a group.

Have everyone work from one book as a basis for common ground. I used the Screenwriters Bible by David Trottier because it's current on the basic form of a screenplay. All the proper form issues should be be side conversations and not show up in conversions because these things can be fixed using the book. Time is better spent on seeking the answers to questions such as:

• what makes a good story
• how to tell the story in a compelling manner.

There is a unique quality about bringing a few minds together in a physical space so they can interact with one another and produce valued thoughts. The trick is to always ask yourself if the meeting will do this and how will it do it. If it won't do it then you might as well just have social time and acknowledge it for what it is.

[Charli]

Join www.donedealpro.com and there you will be at least with an online community of screenwriters. Some have one that Nicole Fellowship, some are professionals and the rest are aspiring.

It is a good place to go to brainstorm, asked questions, get answers, and hang out for a screenwriter.

[Jon Starr]

One thing that's always fun is doing an activity when you get together. Say the entire group contributes to a story or character in a meeting, and each time you meet, aside from the regular activities, you all work a bit on the big story. Perhaps one it's fleshed out you each get a sequence or scene to write at home.

Perhaps you can do the classic "theme" or "object" and in one sitting you have to individually flesh out an outline of a story around this. That always helps ideas flow and practice geting past writer blocks.

[Randall_Oelerich]

I like that idea the best. Screw the meetings, I think we will all just meet up for beers and cry over our lame, trite story ideas and razor thin plots. LOL. Okay, all kidding aside you and others have some great ideas. And I know what you mean-- I tried a sw group a year ago locally and it was of marginal usefulness-- lacked any structure. I was a noob at that meeting so I kept my mouth shut, and then just quit attending after a few meetings. So I want a group with more direction, purpose, structured activities that will have a benefit for all, or at least most. Otherwise this newly forming group will fizzle fast. Great ideas here, keep em coming! ~randall

...There is a unique quality about bringing a few minds together in a physical space so they can interact with one another and produce valued thoughts. The trick is to always ask yourself if the meeting will do this and how will it do it. If it won't do it then you might as well just have social time and acknowledge it for what it is.

[Randall_Oelerich]

Cool, i like that idea. I just added wiki functionality to the website i created for the local group. I think having the group members write a collective screenplay, dividing up sequences or subplots, etc. is a great idea. We can share ideas, share printed pages, but also in between meetings use the website wiki for a wiki screenplay to watch the story evolve over time between meetings.
~randall