Captivated by Movies
Through our yearlong Screenwriting Incubator program, we take you from an initial concept to a completed first draft to a polish of the first 15 pages. We focus on helping you achieve artistic excellence while honing your craft skills.
Screenwriting is part of a highly competitive industry, and we steer our writers into developing polished, professional, commercially viable projects for TV, film, and streaming services and platforms.
The entire program comprises six sessions (six weeks each). Writers are taught the importance of industry script notes and learn to receive and provide constructive feedback that supports and expands, rather than inhibits, the writer’s creative process.
We believe it is imperative that screenwriters hear their words read aloud so they can truly appreciate the power of their work.
1) Do you have to have experience as a screenwriter to join the Incubator?
No. However, you should have previous writing experience and a love of movies. Prior to joining the Incubator, we will ask you to either take an introductory screenwriting course with us or book a one-on-one session where you will be directed to materials/movies/scripts to study that will get you up to speed before the Incubator begins.
We have writers of all levels of experience in our Incubator. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never written a screenplay or you’ve written a dozen screenplays—every writer starts from scratch and faces a blank page upon starting a new script. We will treat your story with respect and honor your unique voice and vision.
2) Do I have to complete a screenplay during the Incubator?
Nope. You don’t have to do anything. Most people do focus on one screenplay from start to finish. Others bring in an old completed screenplay and revise it based on the lessons we provide them about craft and structure. Others work on multiple screenplays, moving each one forward a little at a time. Sometimes a writer discovers an idea isn’t working and changes scripts midway through.
The important thing is that our writers are writing consistently week-to-week and don’t give up or get overwhelmed by writer’s block. Having a deadline is a great motivator for getting pages done. And the hive-mind writer’s room atmosphere helps come up with creative solutions to identified weaknesses or problems.
3) Do I have to commit to all six sessions?
The yearlong program is set up over the course of six sessions to provide ongoing insight and support with progressive writing exercises that help you cross the finish line with your screenplay. We can’t provide guarantees that this program is for you, but we believe you will get the most out of it if you join at the beginning and finish with your fellow Incubators.
There is community and camaraderie that develops within these Incubators that will sustain you as a writer when fear and doubt rear their heads. Your fellow students become friends, colleagues, collaborators, writing partners, and ultimate fans!
We do understand that circumstances change and we will take that into consideration if you need to drop the program.
4) What if I can’t afford all six sessions?
Project Write Now is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit committed to providing affordable programming for all. For those experiencing financial hardship, we offer financial assistance through payment plans and our scholarship program. Please email executive director Jennifer Chauhan at jennifer@projectwritenow.org for more information.
5) What happens after the yearlong program is complete?
Hopefully, you will have completed the first draft of your screenplay or teleplay. For some, completing the first draft is “mission accomplished.” Others will sign up for another round of the Incubator program to help with revisions so that they can get the script polished and ready to submit to agents, producers, or competitions. Others will do their revisions on their own but join the Incubator program to map out a new story and start another screenplay.
At the completion of the program, we host a table read of the first 15 pages of each writer’s screenplay. We do this to celebrate all that the writer has accomplished, while also acknowledging the community and collaboration that has helped the writer get here.
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