Advanced Scriptwriting Workshop was led by Erol Mintas and Mikko Viljanen and took place at the Finnish Film Foundation. It focused on the foundational elements of writing a screenplay. The participants came with their ready short scripts; a rough draft or a first draft. The approach of the Scriptwriting Advanced Workshop was to try and understand filmmakers intentions by listening to their ideas verbally and reading their materials carefully; logline, synopsis, treatment, writer intention and the script. During this process, the filmmakers were guided to deepen their ready materials and develop their scripts furthermore.
After analyzing their scripts carefully, the first step for each of them was to write the next draft of each other’s scripts by reading the materials of the other (Synopsis, character analysis, writer statement) and talk about those drafts together. In that way, they could understand how the other writers understand and see their story by reading their materials, and they understood the different aspect of scriptwriting and the dynamics of writing a script based on an idea given by others.
Reading, giving feedback, and writing tasks helped them to deepen their knowledge of scriptwriting with an intense rhythm; at the end of every day, they wrote a new draft of their own short script. In that way, they were able to write a different draft of their script and leave the workshop with a final draft.
During the workshop, some sessions took the form of one on one meetings, sometimes dividing participants to different groups to experience group writing and working as a crew.
While working together and developing their final draft, reading and writing each other’s scripts to be able to understand a script; the purpose, the intention, the themes, story points and the character development; the development and objectives of the characters in the script etc. We wanted the participants to come out of this workshop better prepared to write on their own.
Participants:
Jaanika Arum graduated from Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2014 as an actress. During her studies, she was granted with complimentary acting training at Iceland Academy of Arts and Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance in London. She has played in both film and theatre, including two solo performances. She has collaborated with different international and local artists for video and room installations. In 2017, she was nominated for the Best Estonian Film Actress award.
At the moment she is pursuing an MA in Contemporary Art in Estonian Art Academy.
Noora Geagea is a visual artist originally from Helsinki, Finland. Her background is versatile, ranging from dance practice to camera assisting in feature films. Movement takes life forward. In her work she deals with different manifestations of movement within our bodies and minds. She is also interested in the various forms of change around us. Her work seeks to provide answers to the question what moves us. She works with video, film, and photography. She has received an MA Photography degree from LCF, University of the Arts London in 2009 and have since exhibited her work extensively. Her works has been recently shown at the Serlachius Museums Göstä, Mänttä FInland, Camden Arts Centre (as part of London Summer Intensive residency) in London, Mänttä Art Festival in Finland, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art in Bremen, ARTag gallery in Helsinki, Salon Dahlman gallery space in Berlin, Xidan- culture square in Beijing, Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition by the York Museums Trust, the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana, Albania and Moving Image London as well as several galleries across Finland and abroad over the years.
Shareef Askar
Link to photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/144610541@N03/albums/72157712056201091