Bowersox to teach screenwriting

Bowersox to teach screenwriting - Bob Bowersox looking at the camera - Mark Pieth

Course at TSKW starts in January

Ever watched a movie and thought, “I can write a better movie than that!”? Well, why not give it a shot? All you need is a little expert guidance, right?

You can get it from Key West screenwriter and playwright Bob Bowersox, who will once again be offering his class on Screenwriting at the Studios of Key West. The class runs six consecutive Tuesdays, Jan. 17-Feb. 21, 6:30 to 9:30 pm. Some work will also be done interactively via emails so as to maximize what can be accomplished. Sign up is now open.

“What I want each participant to come away with is a much better understanding of the very specific craft of screenwriting,” Bowersox said. “Hollywood has a very delineated way they want to see scripts – both in story and in structure. It’s not enough to have a great idea. You have to know how to transform that idea into a viable movie script.”

As has been the case in his past courses, Bowersox expects that each participant will have fashioned at least a working outline of their script by the end of the course, if not more. One of his past students is currently in the process of pre-production on a script he started in Bowersox’s last class.

Bowersox, who holds a masters in Screenwriting from UCLA, as well as a degree in journalism from the University of Delaware, has recently completed a master class in Screenwriting taught by Aaron Sorkin. He has penned eight screenplays, several of which have placed in or won prestigious competitions such as the Nicholl Fellowships, the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, Final Draft’s Big Break, the American Screenwriting Awards, and Project Greenlight One and Two. He’s had one script optioned by Hollywood. He’s also written four hit plays that have had their world premieres at the Red Barn Theatre in Key West. One of them was recently produced in Ghent, Belgium, and a fifth was just honored by inclusion on New York’s Broadway Black List as one of the Top Ten Unproduced Plays of 2016.

Topics that will be covered in the Screenwriting course will include Theme, Premise, Story, Plot, Sub-plot, Structure, Characters, Setting, Dialogue, and most importantly, Conflict and Drama. “We’ll look into each of them in depth,” Bowersox said, “and use what we’ve covered in the work on your own script ideas.”

Those interested in taking the course should contact the Studios of Key West at 305-296-0458, or stop in at 533 Eaton St., Key West. Class size is limited, so early sign-up is recommended.

     Contributed

 “It’s not enough to have a great idea. You have to know how to transform that idea into a viable movie script.” — Bob Bowersox