Summer School Screenwriting

This three-week Summer School course aims to support aspiring writers in developing their creative writing skills in the area of screenwriting. In an enjoyable, supportive setting and through a combination of theory, practice and collaborative exercises, an international group of participants learns about all key aspects of this craft, ranging from premise, theme and topic to characters and character orchestration, from plot to scene structure, and from setting to subtext. Formal aspects like screenplay formatting, text forms and industry conventions are touched upon as well as tools and devices that help writers tell stories visually.

All of these aspects, however, are never seen as stand-alone entities, but viewed as means supporting writers in finding and conveying the stories they want to tell. Any theoretical input is immediately applied to writing exercises before the participants eventually enter into the story development of their own original short film script.

WEEK ONE

Topics
• Introduction
• Finding your voice and expressing yourself through stories
• Screenwriting essentials (part I)

Format
Lectures, workshops & exercises

WEEK TWO

Topics
• Screenwriting essentials (part II)
• Story development – short film script

Format
Lectures, workshops, writing & script consulting

WEEK THREE

Topics
• Story development – short film script
• Feedback and conclusion

Format
Writing, script consulting, table readings

Keith Cunningham Head Lecturer
Screenwriter and head writer Keith Cunningham consulted on dozens of projects, led hundreds of seminars, and trained thousands of writers, directors, producers, and commissioning editors. His screenwriting and teaching career profits from his insights as a psychologist and specialist in creativity with years on set as a cameraman and lighting gaffer. The author of “The Soul of Screenwriting: On Writing, Dramatic Truth, and Knowing Yourself” has taught at AFI New York, the Director’s Guild, the Writer’s Guild in L.A., and numerous institutions, companies, and broadcasters all over the world. Keith Cunningham has been a guest lecturer at the ifs for over 15 years, and served as Substitute Professor of Serial Storytelling from 2016-2017. In addition, he headed the Writer’s Room Lab at the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Heidelberg (DAI).

Alkinoi Valsari Assistant Lecturer
Alkioni Valsari is a Greek director, screenwriter and script consultant. She earned her BA in theatre studies with honors at the University of Wales and her MA in theatre directing at Rose Bruford College in London. She was part of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme in London, and has attended filmmaking workshops in Athens at the School of Cinema and screenwriting at ifs internationale filmschule köln. She has directed theatre productions in Greece and the United States and taught theatre directing. In 2013, she wrote and directed her debut short film “A Sound Story”. In 2014 she moved to Germany where she worked in film production, and her short screenplay, “Tapetenwechsel”, won many awards in festivals. In a workshop on script consulting with Dr. Linda Seger in 2018 she discovered her talent for guiding writers which has since become a further field of expertise.

»Three intense and awesome weeks!«
(Patrick Heinelt, director)

»Great Experience! It will influence my future life!«
(Ralph Polinski, director)

»I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn so much – not only about the world of screenwriting but also about myself.«
(Emilia Stein, student)

»I really enjoyed the three weeks! I learned so much about screenwriting,  especially how to use your emotions and memories as a way to tell your stories. Also that screenwriting is about loving all your characters.«
(Peter Neugebauer, ifs MA Serial Storytelling student)

»This course really changed my perspective. I will never forget the things I learned here!«
(Tim Dude, student)

This program is open to aspiring writers from various backgrounds, e.g. high-school students, current undergraduate students, postgraduate students, or media professionals from other fields. As the Summer School Screenwriting will be held in English, applicants need to have English language skills of B2-level or higher.

Registration Documents

• Registration form (fully completed and signed)
• CV (English language)
• Idea-outline for a short film (1 page, English language)
• Copy of student ID (when requesting student discount rate)

Start of Program: August 16, 2021
End of Program: September 3, 2021

The workshop iscurrently planned as in-person event and will observe a strict COVID19-related hygiene concept. Should the development of the situation in the upcoming weeks show that on-site participation will not be possible, ifs will contact all selected applicants immediately.

Despite all efforts, especially in times like these, plans may have to be changed. Applicants therefore have the opportunity to cancel their participation free of charge up to 30 days before the start of the program.

Regular Participants: 1200 euros
Students: 950 euros
ifs Alumni and ifs Students: 850 euros

Financial Support

Participants may be eligible to obtain financial support to cover the program fee through the Grant Voucher of the Continuing Education Grant. This Voucher is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as well as the European Social Fund of the European Union. Please note that the Grant Voucher must be available at the time of invoicing.

For more information see www.bildungspraemie.info

Carolin Große Hellmann
Head of Serial Storytelling / Professional Training Screenwriting
screenwriting(at)filmschule.de