You can choose from 3 packaged classes.  Customization is available.  Click or scroll to see class curriculum.
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2-Day: Structure  

Who: Screenwriters, directors, novelists, game designers, ad execs, copywriters, marketers, corporate communicators, 
speech writers.
2-Day: Cinematic Storytelling   

Who: Screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, graphic artists, comic book writers, game designers, ad executives copywriters.
1-Day: The Story Weapon

Who: Everybody.
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                                                            2-Day Story Structure Class

Day 1: Learn the Baseline: The Classic Narrative Three-Act Structure

Morning

  • Movies versus Novel
  • Narrative vs Episodic
  • Character Trajectory, Dramatic Objective and Causality
  • Pity

Afternoon

  • Acts, Sequences and Scene
  • The Story Trajectory, Dramatic Objective and Causality
  • The Plot Template: Acts, Sequences and Scenes, Plot Twists and Resolution
  •  Subplots and Sidekicks
  • The value of a great Antagonist
  • Theme

Day 2: Manipulating the Baseline: Exploring Alternate Structures

Morning

  • Survey of alternate structures
  • What do they contribute to their stories
  • In-depth analysis of the first of three alternate structures

Afternoon

  • In-depth analysis of three alternate structures continued
  • What are the key similarities and differences between classic narratives and alternative structure.
  • What can’t you change?
  • Alternative Structures: Why now – why so many? 
  • Modern audience’s expectations and responses.

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                                             2-Day Cinematic Storytelling Class

This class is an information-packed 2-day boot camp.  It will demonstrate how film language works by defining and demonstrating 17 of its most potent elements. If you’re a screenwriter, director, cinematographer, marketing wizard or creative ad exec, this class will help you exploit the inherent properties of the medium. You’ll learn how to hook audiences, engage their emotions, message ideas and turn viewers from passive observers into invested co-authors and…do it wordlessly.  We’ll look at samples from film, advertising and viral videos to make our case.

Day 1: What is Cinematic Storytelling and why does it work on audiences?

Morning

  •  What makes a movie, a movie?
  •  Audience Behavior: Telling versus Showing
  •  Turn Passive Viewing into Co-authorship
  •  First three movie elements: defined and demo-ed

Afternoon

  • Next five movie elements defined and demo-ed
  • Long term recall – packaging memories 
  • Extending the experience beyond the movie
  • Embedding the movie experience into the viewer’s life

Day 2: How to embed Cinematic Storytelling and up audience engagement?

Morning

  • Upping audience engagement by: 

Framing, Organic Embedding, Bread-crumbing, Visual Twists and Re-purposing

  •  Next five movie elements defined and demo-ed

Afternoon

  • Last 4 movie elements
  • Wrap up on the Power of Cinematic Storytelling


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                                                            1-Day: The Story Weapon: Bullet-Proof Storytelling

This class is designed for anyone who has to sell an idea: Are you in start-up mode trying to get venture funding? Do you need to create a marketing campaign for a new product?  Are you re-positioning and need to re-brand? Are you looking to create an origin story to humanize your company and product?  Do you want to energize your PowerPoint deck to create a visually compelling story and a paradigm-shifting pitch.  

Whenever there is a ‘sold’, there was a ‘sell’ and an ‘ask’.  To travel from ‘ask’ to ‘sell’ to ‘sold’, the three act structure of business,  you need proof and persuasion. 

Clearly, staple proofs like convincing data and testimonials are essential. That's Part A. However, it’s how you frame and dramatize your proofs that will take your project to the next level. That’s where structural paradigms, dramatized persuasion and visual storytelling enter. That's Part B.

Here’s how this breaks down for the class. 

Morning

Part A: The Proof: 
  • The 7 most effective Proofs that can be applied to any medium. 

Part B:  Framing your story with Structure: Learn the Classic Paradigm and staples of Dramatic Storytelling

  •  Character Trajectory, Dramatic Objective, Stumbling Blocks and Causality
  •  Applying Aristotle's concept of ' Pity'
  •  The Plot Template: Acts, Sequences and Scenes, Plot Twists and Resolution
  •  Subplots and Sidekicks
  •  The Value of a Great Antagonist
  •  Theme

Afternoon

Part B: Dramatizing your Story with Cinematic Storytelling: What is it and why does it work on audiences? 

  • Upping audience engagement by: 
          Organic Embedding, Bread-crumbing, Visual Twists and Re-purposing
  •  Five movie elements defined and demo-ed
  •  Audience Behavior: What Telling versus Showing gives you
  •  How to turn a Passive Reluctant Viewer into an Invested Co-author  
  •  Embedding the movie experience into a viewer’s life
                                             


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