Script-to-Screen: Writing Outside the Lines

Script-to-Screen Day 2 - Writing Outside the Lines: A Lesson on Unconventional Storytelling

with Shannan E. Johnson (CEO, The Professional Pen)

Explore how to break the traditional screenplay structure during this 90-minute workshop.

Ever wonder how understanding traditional screenplay structure can open your screenplay up for more freedom? In this workshop, we’ll discuss how to use the rules to break free from them with unconventional storytelling.

Following a 30-minute lecture led by Shannan E. Johnson, CEO of The Professional Pen, on story structures, 2-3 participants will have the opportunity to share 10-15 pages of a script they’re working on with an unconventional story structure for group discussion and feedback. The workshop will end with a brief Q&A for all participants.

If you are interested in submitting your script for consideration to be shared during this workshop, you must RSVP and submit your script by Thursday, 5/12 at 12 PM ET (external – opens in a new window). Selected creators will be notified on Monday, 5/16. Selected scripts will be shared with all participants that same day and should be reviewed in advance of the workshop on Thursday, 5/19.

Shannan E. Johnson is a former development and current programming executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO of the first black-owned script consultancy, The Professional Pen (TPP). TPP’s writer-centered, straight-shot no-chaser feedback helps develop emerging and established writers from idea to pitch through consultations, services, workshops, and courses. The Professional Pen is a writer for your writer.