THE PROGRAM

Paul's rewrite course will closely follow the method Paul uses when he rewrites his own scripts and when he supervises student and professional rewrites. His book, Rewrite, which was published by Michael Wiese Productions, 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.

This year, for the first time, we will have two sections running simultaneously. In addition to the rewrite section, limited to eight writers, there will be a “from scratch” section led by UCLA MFA grad Nanou Matteson. Nanou, who has coached hundreds of professional writers in Berkeley, CA, is a veteran of four of Paul's seminars and several UCLA classes. She's a superb teacher who will guide you from idea to outline to beatsheet, to treatment, to script pages up to the end of the first act. She'll really get you on your way to a professional quality script.

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 evening, there will be a short orientation and a longer discussion of the stories to jump start the process. Expect to be writing Sunday evening and reading Monday morning.

Tentative class hours are 4-7pm, with dinner to follow. Class hours may change according to student preferences, but will be discussed as a group. Mornings will be for writing. Afternoons are for more writing or reading others' pages, or trips to local villages, pre-historic caves, or just lazy by the pool or floating on the lake. The nearest village is 6 kilometers away, and we will be going in nearly every day, but we suggest that if you want to do any sightseeing, you rent a car. Paul or Nanou will drive you to the nearest railway station on days off, though. There is internet in the house.

The rewrite course will cover:

• 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
• Dialogue essentials – Giving your characters the right voice at the right time.
• Paring it down
• Where Am I?
• The Right Look
• Finishing

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.

The “from scratch” course will cover:

• Developing a premise
• Creating vivid characters
• Sketching out the basic 7 points
• Writing a beatsheet
• Filling out the story in the treatment
• Writing the first act (time permitting)

Of course we will review your new pages every day.

We try to save paper, so exchange of pages will be electronic.

A word about accommodations and meals: We will be staying in a large French château. Single rooms will be available. Local chefs will prepare lunch and dinner. The region specializes in great wine and hearty food. Breakfast will be self-serve fruit, croissants, yoghurt, coffee, juice, etc. If you have any special food needs or allergies, we will our best to accommodate you. Please contact me or Nanou with any questions.

For other questions, contact the Rewrite Mentor:
Paul.chitlik@gmail.com