THE PROGRAM

The summer rewriting retreats in Estanyol, Spain, will closely follow the method Paul uses when he rewrites his own scripts and when he supervises student rewrites. His book, Rewrite, which was published in March, 2008, will be the basis of the course, but class will focus on the needs of the students. Students will be limited to one script for the session. Students will have the option of having the script read by Paul either before the beginning of the course or within one month of completing the seminar.

Each seminar will be three hours long, five days per week (days off will depend on student and instructor deliberations), though there will be at least an hour a day of formal office hours in which to discuss individual issues. The first Sunday morning, there will be a short orientation and a longer discussion of the scripts, one on one, to jump start the process. Expect to be writing Sunday afternoon and reading Monday morning.

Tentative class hours are 5-8 PM, with dinner to follow. Mornings will be for writing. Afternoons for more writing or reading others' pages, or trips to local villages. No transportation is supplied, though the nearest village is about a third of a mile. It is suggested that if you want to do any sightseeing, you rent a car, though Paul will drive you to Girona from where you can take a train to Barcelona and other destinations. Class hours may change according to student preferences, but will be discussed as a group.

The course will cover (straight out of the Rewrite table of contents):

• Clarifying Story and Structure for Impact
• The Powerful Protagonist
• The Worthy Antagonist
• Ensuring Dynamic Scenes
• Making Descriptions Leap off the page
• Life Support For Your Protagonist
• Paring it down
• Where Am I?
• The Right Look
• Finishing

Of course we will review your new pages every day.

With any luck and a demonic intensity, you should be able to finish a complete rewrite in the time allotted. If not, you will definitely have a blueprint for your new draft and probably be many pages into it.

Printers and paper will be provided. There will be internet access in the house.

For other questions, contact the Rewrite Mentor:
paul@rewritementor.com