Week 3 Workshop: Screenplay workshop

Writing one scene of your own short in proper form, with a director's intent note attached to it

8 March 2027

Production walkthrough: See how The Last One carried out this stage in a real production.

Before the workshop#

Bring your own Week 2 premise — the want, the obstacle, and what happens if the want fails. Download and read the scene-planning worksheet so you arrive knowing the sequence it walks you through. You’ll fill it in during the workshop itself, not before it.

In the workshop#

Total workshop time: 120 minutes, across preparation, five writing activities, a peer-review activity, and a completion check.

Activity 1 — Recap and task briefing (10 min)#

Instructions. A quick recap of the lecture’s writing-process sequence — premise → decisive scene → scene change → five observable beats → screenplay form → director’s note — and its antecedent-circumstance move: a note names what just happened a moment before, not an adjective describing how the line should land. Today you run that sequence on your own premise using the worksheet, then test your finished note on a partner using only the isolated line or action it belongs to. Nothing on the worksheet is graded by itself; you’ll be assessed on the three spec bullets by the end of the session.

Expected output. A clear sense of the six-step sequence and what the session will check at the end.

Activity 2 — Story anchor (10 min)#

Instructions. Fill in worksheet section A from your own premise: who wants what, the concrete obstacle in this scene, and what happens immediately if they fail.

Expected output. Worksheet section A complete, naming your want, obstacle, and immediate consequence.

Activity 3 — Scene change (10 min)#

Instructions. Fill in worksheet section B before writing a single line of screenplay form: the scene’s beginning state, its end state, and the visible change between them. If you can’t name a beginning and an end that differ, pick a different moment from your premise.

Expected output. Worksheet section B complete, with a beginning and end state that visibly differ.

Activity 4 — Five observable beats (15 min)#

Instructions. Fill in worksheet section C: five sentences, each something an audience can see or hear — not a shot, a camera move, or a cut. Those decisions belong to week 4’s shot breakdown, not to the scene you’re writing today.

Expected output. Five observable beats, in order, covering the distance from your scene’s beginning state to its end state.

Activity 5 — Screenplay conversion (25 min)#

Instructions. Convert your five beats directly into standard screenplay form: slugline, action, dialogue — no feeling stated directly in either column, and dialogue only where a beat actually needs a line spoken out loud.

Expected output. One scene in standard screenplay form, no longer than two pages — the artefact the first spec bullet checks.

Activity 6 — Director’s note (10 min)#

Instructions. Choose the one line or action from your finished scene where the visible change actually happens, and write an intent note for it using the antecedent-circumstance move: what concrete event has just happened, and what fact is the character responding to right now? Check your own note against the lecture’s distinction before moving on: does it name something that just happened, or does it secretly reduce to an adjective (“nervously,” “furious,” “sad”) in different words?

Expected output. At least one written director’s intent note, naming a concrete antecedent circumstance — the artefact the second spec bullet checks.

Activity 7 — Dailies review (30 min)#

Instructions. Trade roles once, presenting your own note and reviewing your partner’s. Hand your partner only the isolated line or action and its intent note, copied out or shown on its own — not the rest of the scene, and not your intended interpretation.

• As the reviewer, first read the bare line or action on its own and form an initial impression of how it might be played. Then read the note attached to it. Describe one or more concrete performance choices the circumstance could motivate, and say plainly how the note changed your reading from what you had before you saw it.
• As the director, listen without correcting. Only once your partner has described their reading do you reveal the surrounding scene and the dramatic function you intended for the moment, and compare: does their reading line up with what you intended? If it doesn’t, is that because the note was actually an adjective in disguise, or because it named a genuine antecedent circumstance that still left room for more than one reading?

Swap roles partway through and repeat, so both partners have reviewed and been reviewed.

Expected output. A partner’s independent description of one or more performance choices motivated by your isolated line/action and its note, plus their account of how the note changed their reading — the artefact the third spec bullet checks.

Activity 8 — Completion check (10 min)#

Instructions. Walk the three spec bullets as a checklist, using worksheet section F as your guide: a scene in proper form, no longer than two pages; at least one intent note naming a concrete antecedent circumstance; and your partner’s independent reading of the isolated line or action plus its note, compared against your intended dramatic function.

Expected output. All three spec bullets satisfied and submitted together — the worksheet itself stays with you as working notes, not a submission.

Afterwards#

The scene and its intent note travel forward together: next week you break this exact scene into shots.