A screenwriting course led by Bermudian filmmaker Lucinda Spurling is set to begin next month.

The course, organised by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, is intended to help participants develop their writing skills and help create a new generation of Bermudian screenwriters, according to Ms Spurling.

“That has always been my passion and I could use collaborators,” she said.

Ms Spurling, the Ministry’s Writer in Residence, has worked on several films, including Rare Bird and The Lion and the Mouse, and is currently working on a screenplay based on Jonathan Smith’s book Island Flames about the 1977 riots.

While Ms Spurling’s screenplay works have been adaptations of true stories — a technique she will discuss in the workshop — she noted that some writers develop a story as a screenplay then use the screenplay as their map to write a novel, at the end of the process they have both a novel and a screenplay.

“Screenwriting is similar to documentary in that it is all story telling, the same as a play, a novel, a memoir,” she said. “Of course, she admits screenwriting does have its particular mechanics, to do with formatting, do’s and don’ts and a visual method of writing.

“A screenplay tells the story of the film in dialogue and visual action, creating a map for the director to work from to create her vision of the story.

“The story begins with the screenwriter, and evolves through the production process, a creative collaboration of actors, producers, and the director, director of photography, editor and all the other roles in the mix, ending up with a film.”

The workshop will delve into story structure, theme, screenplay format, plot, character, genre, how to write a logline and synopsis, character arcs, conflict, subtext, and transitions, with the last week devoted to revision, workshopping scenes, and how to get your movie made. Students will be expected to draft a few sample scenes during the workshop, but will come away with a master plan and way forward for their story.

Ms Spurling also noted that unlike books, someone cannot self publish a screenplay so the course will spend time on the process of getting an agent and manager and breaking into the industry with Ms Spurling sharing her own database of agents she used to get representation.

The course is set to run from November 6 to November 26, with classes taking place at the Bermuda National Library on Tuesday and Thursday evenings along with Saturday mornings.

It costs $150, and the deadline for entry is the end of the day on Monday.

Those interested in signing up for the course are invited to submit a paragraph describing your idea for a movie and, if you would like, an opening scene to Kim Dismont Robinson at Kdrobinson@gov.bm and copy vcsims@gov.bm.

For more information, visit the Department of Cultural Affairs website at http://communityandculture.bm