Rewriting workshops with Paul Chitlik (Villa Michelangelo, Cortona, Italy, June 2008). |
Villa Mas Roca in Estanyol, Spain (near Girona). Site of the June 2010 Rewrite Workshop. |
Rewriting workshops with Paul Chitlik (Villa Michelangelo, Cortona, Italy, June 2008). |
Telluride, Colorado. Site of the July 2010 Rewrite Workshop. |
Sunset over Villa Michelangelo (Cortona, Italy). Site of the June 2008 Rewrite Workshop. |
Please note that the Rewrite Mentor's retreats have no affiliation with UCLA, nor do do they carry course credit. These are for the experience only, not the credit. |
EUROPEAN REWRITE RETREAT
Estanyol, Spain (near Girona)
June 13-26, 2010
NEW! A limited number of $1000 fellowships for the Spanish Rewrititing Retreat are now available. Email paul@rewritementor.com for details.
You may have heard from last year's participants what an intense, creative, and fulfilling seminar we had in Cortona and Umbria last year. We had to move in the middle of the term, but ended up, by plan, in an amazing agriturismo (bed and breakfast on a farm). I was worried at first—how could they compete with Tina's food? But as it turned out, it was even better!
Oh, yes, and we worked. This time I had most of my office hours on the first outdoor landing in the villa in Cortona and in my apartment in the agriturismo. Intense. One of the scripts that came out of the experience already has producers attached to it. Others made leaps and bounds not possible without the concentration that isolation gives writers.
So, are we going back there? No. Both places were great, but I've always wanted to do this workshop in Spain, and several of the participants agreed that it would be good to spend some time there instead of returning to Italy. So this year we're going to Estanyol, a pueblo about 8 kilometers from Girona, a medieval cultural center of Spain about 90 kilometers (54 miles) from Barcelona and easily accessible by train (I'll pick you up at the Girona station).
The villa itself is on over 130 hectares of farmland (over 330 acres) within a short walking distance of Estanyol, but still remote enough to guarantee the concentration we're going to need. We're going to have 10 meals a week prepared by a local chef, and we'll provide breakfast fixings.
But it's not the food that makes this experience what it is (okay, it's a big part of it), it's the camaraderie, the insights, the focus. And, of course, the self-effacing yet amazing UCLA professor Paul Chitlik.
This intensive course is an opportunity to get away from the distractions of life in LA (or anywhere else)—the studios clamoring for your scripts, the relatives asking for money, and the significant others saying “You're not working, you're just staring at the screen.” In this amazing villa in one of Spain's most interesting regions (Catalonia) you'll be able to focus in a way you haven't since you first discovered how good it feels when you do that thing to yourself.
You'll have a three hour a day seminar and daily office hours for major script issues. You'll also be writing like a Red Bull junkie, and there are plenty of private places (including your room) in and around the villa to do so. Let me suggest the terrace from which you can see miles of Spanish countryside, or maybe you'd prefer poolside where you can keep your tan up while revising your scenes between laps.
Should you bring your significant other? Cheap vacation for two, granted, but probably not a good idea since most of your spare time you'll be writing, not driving from one medieval Spanish village to another. Have that talk before you sign up, because it's going to be intense.
See PROGRAM for course information.
See REGISTRATION for, well, registration and fees.
See SPAIN for more info about the villa & directions.
...or email paul@rewritementor.com.
STORY TREATMENT RETREATS
Telluride, Colorado
July 11-17, 2010
July 18-24, 2010
This summer's scheduled Story Treatment retreats have been postponed. Check back in the coming months for further announcements.
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