The Art of Dramatic Writing for Stage, Screen, and Television with Bill Bigelow (via Zoom)

This is a course designed for writers looking to create screenplays, stage plays, and teleplays for television shows. Paramount in this effort, we will focus on an approach which is necessary in all dramatic writing — the importance of conflict. How we define, pinpoint and create interesting, unusual characters. How structure is the backbone of a dramatic piece, and how narrative drive and the understanding of the elements of the construction of a story are critical to any piece of dramatic writing. The individual requirements of each discipline will be addressed, as well as the specific look and formatting of each form of dramatic writing. The instructor will arrange for individual, one-on-one sessions with each student above and beyond classroom instruction. All levels of writers are welcome!

Bill’s recent students have won high accolades. One playwright was a semifinalist at the Ashland New Plays Festival, an offshoot of the prestigious Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Another was a finals winner for a one-hour TV pilot through the well-known Blue Cat competition. A writing team became semi-finalists in the 2024 ScreenCraft Spring Pitch contest. And one was a semifinalist in the hugely renowned Academy Nicholl Fellowship, which is overseen by the people who run the Oscars – the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Another writer has recently been advised of being a quarterfinalist in the 2024 Big Break Screenplay contest.

This class will meet on Friday, August 2 and take place on six consecutive Fridays. The class meeting time is 2-4pm Eastern time. This class will be taught online via Zoom. Zoom login information will be included in the email confirming class registration, as well as the day before the session starts. Please check your spam filter for this email or write to admin@writerscenter.org with any questions.

William Bigelow is an American screenwriter, television writer and playwright. He has written for numerous television shows, among them Murder, She Wrote, The Commish, Silk Stalkings, Pacific Blue, Sliders, and most recently GRIMM on NBC. His play Leap Year, was performed at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Massachusetts, earning him a prestigious Edgerton Award for Best New American Plays of 2013. After residing in Westchester County for over six years, he has recently returned to Los Angeles where he spent the majority of his professional life.