CREATING CHARACTERS FOR THE SCREEN
Ages 16-29
Summer 2024, Online
Where do great fictional characters come from? Are they designed or discovered? In this workshop, student fellows will draw from life and from their imaginations to create unique and memorable characters for the screen. They'll learn to observe and inhabit, exploring different ways of getting to know their inventions, from completing a character profile to writing a biography to “interviewing” their protagonist and speaking in their voice through a monologue. To learn their craft, fellows will read screenplays and review movie clips from various genres, studying how accomplished writers shape compelling personalities in dimensional worlds. Works to be analyzed might include coming-of-age drama Pariah, autobiographical romantic comedy-drama The Big Sick, comedy Booksmart, and biopic Challenger, an unproduced screenplay by Nicole Perlman, first female writer of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each fellow will develop a short treatment, then take a script through a draft and a revision, ending with 5-page screenplay focusing on a significant turning point in their protagonist’s life. They'll share their work through table readings, supporting one another as each hones their own distinct artist's voice, their own way of using film to explore the complexities of the human experience. Finished works will be shared on the program website and through a public exhibition. Limited to 12 student fellows.
Alessandra Bautze is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where she majored in writing and in film and media studies. She also holds an M.F.A. in Screenwriting from The University of Texas at Austin. She believes in the power of language to connect communities.
Elliot Brooks has been a writer all her life. Starting off as only a short fiction writer, she has since expanded into new forms. Elliot dreams to publish one day.
