Workshop Details :

A short course aimed at intermediate scriptwriters who want to take their writing to the next level. The course will be shaped around the participants, but we will consider experimental structures; complex characters and world building; how to hook your audience; redrafting; and dramatic action.

By the end of the course, attendees will write a short script of no more than 15 minutes for stage or radio.

Dates

Tuesdays 18:30 - 20:00 on 2, 9,16, 23, 30 September and October 7

Performance

Tuesday 28 October - a longer showcase session with professional actors reading the scripts.

Application Process

Please submit your expression of interest and up to 800 words of an original theatre or radio script by completing this quick form.

Application Deadline:

Sunday 17 August at 23.59.

Tutor

Workshop Details

On this safe and supportive hands-on course, we will examine some of the key elements of writing plays for stage or radio including plotting, character, structure, tension, action, location/setting, audience perspective and of course dialogue.

In four in-person sessions taking place on Saturday 13, 27 September and 11, 25 October from 9:30 - 13:30, course members will have the opportunity to:

• study extracts from the work of published writers

• Carry out experiments in telling stories through dialogue

• Write a short play of their own with one-to-one feedback from the course tutor as their scripts develop

• Hear their scripts read by professional actors

• Submit their scripts to INK Festival for consideration for professional production at INK Festival 2026

Application Process

In no more than 50 words explain why you’d like to do this course to: jambutty@aol.com

Application Deadline

Friday August 29 at 23:59

Course Structure

Session One: Getting started. The first page

How do writers start their plays? What sparks the writing of a play? What do we want to say in our play? What needs to happen on page 1? How do we introduce our characters? How do we provide context and backstory? How do we launch a narrative? What do we want the audience to think, feel, understand in that first minute of stage/air time. In the session we will experiment with ways to:

• Introduce character and narrative

• Establish time and place

• ‘Hook’ our audience

• Make use of the fourth wall

Session Two: Developing stories

In this session we will read and discuss our opening pages and then explore ways to develop these openings into short plays looking at:

• character and relationships.

• Narrative ‘drivers’

• Telling stories through dialogue

• Different forms of dramatic tension

• Staging action

• Using subtext

• Anticipating audience response

Session Three: The end

Here we will explore the ways that writers bring their plays to a conclusion including:

• Resolution

• Explanation

• Emotional impact

• Certainty versus ambiguity

Session Four

In this session we will be joined by four professional actors who will perform rehearsed readings of course members’ scripts. This will be a unique opportunity to hear work performed, to evaluate audience response and to try out possible edits and adjustments in preparing final drafts.

Tutor

Workshop Details:

A beginners’ introduction to the core concepts of scriptwriting - including structure, character, dialogue, and format - across mediums like stage, film, and radio. The aim by the end is for students to have completed their own (5 - 10 minute) script for stage or radio, for two to four characters. (no monologues).

Weekly from Monday 15 September for 7 weeks at 19:30 - 21:00

Application Process:

Apply to: poyntonsubmissions@gmail.com with a brief email about yourself, and two sides of a script. This can be either the first two sides of a script you’ve already written OR a new two side piece OR a story you’ve written.)

Application Deadline:

Friday 29 August at 23:59

Course Structure:

Week 1: What Is Scriptwriting?
A look at how scripts (and therefore the storytelling within them) are different from other written media.

Week 2: Story Structure & Idea Development
How to build stories with a clear structure and emotional impact.

Week 3: Character Building
How to make compelling characters with distinct voices and goals.

Week 4: Dialogue & Subtext

Week 5: Editing, followed by Outline/Draft Workshop
A session seeing where everyone is at, talking through outlines and possible first drafts we will hopefully have shared together.

Week 6: First Draft Workshop
A session giving thoughts and notes on everyone’s first drafts.

Week 7: Table Reads (with actors), Feedback & Next Steps
Hear the writers’ scripts read by actors (always an amazing feeling). Then give feedback on each other's work.

Tutor