Posted September 23, 2012 at 4:32am in academy of film writing afw screenwriting schools classes online max adams writing new cards pretty!
Sick Twisted Bastards
I had this sick twisted bastard of a yoga instructor tonight. I swear this guy used to reign over the Fifth Circle of Hell but he was too rough on people so they cast him out and he ended up at my yoga studio. He didn’t just make us do terrible hard things, he made jokes while he was doing it and laughed because he knew how hard the things he was making us do were.
After I limped home and was licking my wounds thinking how damn hard that session was, and thinking, Yeah, but you’ll go back to that guy’s class, damn him, because no matter how hard it was, it was good —
It occurred to me that is quite possibly how my students think about me. I’m not easy. My classes are hard. Some of them extremely hard. I know it. And I make jokes. They are not mean or derogatory jokes, they are basically saying, Yeah, I feel your pain, but you still have to get that knee over that left ear so let’s go. But they are still jokes.
There is a shirt, “I Survived Max Adams’ Structural Writing.” That shirt totally started out as a joke. Except —
People who finish Structural Writing buy that shirt. It’s not a joke any more. That shirt has turned into some sort of medal of honor.
My students come back. But after tonight, I wonder if it is maybe for a different reason than I used to think. Damn. I’m the sick twisted bastard instructor.
How did THAT happen?
Excuse me now, I have to go soak in a tub of hot water.
*If you do not recognize the image above, it is from Legend, Tim Curry plays a great sick twisted bastard.
*Structural Writing is only open to people who have taken previous AFW classes so don’t get all het up and try to jump in there first — I won’t let you — go look at other classes. Like High Concept Writing and The Art of the Pitch. Those are both coming up in a week and are good precursors.
Posted September 11, 2012 at 3:26am in afw academy of film writing max adams yoga writing screenwriting classes simon vs. paula oops
Pitch Mayhem
So here is how this is going to go down.
[It always goes down like this.]
I have these two online classes opening September 18th.
One is The Art of the Pitch. That’s about learning how to pitch a story so you don’t soil yourself in front of a crowd of spectators.
The other is High Concept Writing. That’s how to work on a story concept so it isn’t the first thing that popped into your head that felt clever at 2 AM on a Friday night with a few beers in you — and you just never got around to maybe bringing it up a notch — before tossing months of your life into the sand pit with it.
Both those classes start September 18th and run through October. Right about the time people start showing up at the Austin Film Festival and pitching ideas in the big pitch rally at Austin Film Festival that sounds like a gauntlet to me but I have never watched it in person because it is just too painful to me to watch people crash and burn like that.
What will invariably happen is right about the time these classes are coming to an end, someone [or several someone’s] will email me in a panic, getting geared up for the pitch event at AFF, and want me to drop everything and leap to help [with no time to do it in] with a pitch –- most likely on a concept that wasn’t thought out all that well before starting the script in the first place.
And I’ll say, Look, I teach a class on this, Why didn’t you take the class? That would have given you five to six weeks to work on the pitch with me before this came up. Or better yet, to work on the story so you had a story worth pitching here? Now you’ve got three days, who do you think I am, Anne Sullivan?
[Even Anne Sullivan got more than three days.]
And they won’t have a good answer.
Don’t be one of those people. Go register for the pitch class.
Posted September 5, 2012 at 2:50am in writing screenwriting film festivals film conferences film pitching the art of the pitch high concept writing afw academy of film writing austin film festival max adams classes online
News from Max
High Concept Writing
Begins September 13, 2011
High Concept Writing | Concept Stripped of the Mundane | Online 6 Week Master Course | Start Date: 09.13.11
UP YOUR GAME: You will learn techniques to identify and break down high concept — as well as build it up; how to kick start the five story elements that contribute to high concept; how genre can be used to increase your story’s concept level; how to recharge mundane story elements using arena, characters, and story stakes; how to use your story’s twists to raise your story’s concept; how to utilize mental real estate while formulating your concept; how to take a mundane concept to an extreme concept — and how to use extreme story elements to up your concept game.
Instructor | Max Adams
Reading Material | supplied in class forum & library. Some outside material is linked to.
Viewing Materials | posted or available via Netflix, iTunes, YouTube or your friendly neighborhood video rental.
Weekly Chats | Thursday nights | 8 PM EST | 5 PM PST.
class seating limit : 12 | a writing sample may be requested prior to acceptance | a course deposit is required for this class
course fee : $375 |
more info : CLASSES
•REGISTER TODAY - SEATING IS LIMITED
The Art of the Pitch
Begins September 13, 2011
The Art of the Pitch | Pitching Stripped of the Nonsense | Online 6 Week Master Course | Start Date: 09.13.11
GET READ AND SELL: You will learn how to encapsulate your story into one compelling sentence; the five essential elements your pitch must contain to sell to producers and studios; the two pitch models; action driven vs. character driven pitching; the six points your elevator pitch must contain to interest a potential buyer — and what an elevator pitch is; how to open your pitch; how to close your pitch; how to use your story’s turning points to make your pitch compelling; when film comparisons work — and when they don’t; how to address the specific concerns of different members of the entertainment industry; and how to condense and expand your pitch to take advantage of new pitching opportunities.
Instructor | Max Adams
Reading Material | supplied in class forum & library. Some outside material is linked to.
Viewing Materials | posted or available via Netflix, iTunes, YouTube or your friendly neighborhood video rental.
Weekly Chats | Thursday nights | 9 PM EST | 6 PM PST.
class seating limit : 12 | a writing sample may be requested prior to acceptance | a course deposit is required for this class
course fee : $375 |
more info : CLASSES
Posted August 21, 2011 at 7:55pm in classes afw academy of film writing high concept writing the art of the pitch
::: non-static writing :::
There are also four seats left in the online master screenwriting class Non-Static Writing. Again, check the link for more info. Class start date is May 17th for this class as well.
Posted May 8, 2011 at 9:36pm in writing screenwriting classes courses workshops non-static writing film movie afw
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::: structural writing :::
There are four seats left in the online master screenwriting class Structural Writing. Check the link for more info. Class start date is May 17.
Posted May 8, 2011 at 9:35pm in screenwriting courses classes workshops master class structure structural writing film movie writing afw
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The Protagonist, The Filter, & The Electronic Device
A filter —
Is anything you place between a character on the screen and action or speech that character is experiencing. A film audience is already distanced from events in a film story because a film audience is experiencing events second hand: The audience is sitting in a chair watching events on a screen. That distance, the separation of self from a character on a screen, is the first filter between an audience and events in a film. The audience is not actually experiencing events. The character on the screen is.
The trick for the person writing a film is making story events happening to a protagonist and characters in a film story so up front personal in your face, the distance between the characters’ experiences on a screen and the audience members watching the screen fades for audience members and an audience member feels the events on screen personally — regardless of the fact an audience member is in a chair watching events happen to characters on a screen.
The fastest way to insure that does not happen is to add secondary filters in the story, putting more distance between an audience member watching the story on the screen and the story on the screen. Those secondary filters are electronic devices —
[click the above orange link to continue reading]
Posted May 3, 2011 at 3:30pm in film movie writing screenwriting filters audience electronics distance max adams non-static writing classes
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6 notes
UPCOMING CLASSES
Upcoming 2011 —
Online Master Classes in Screenwriting
Taught by yours truly Max Adams:March:
Character Writing, 03.15.11 [3 seats left]
High Concept Writing, 03.15.11May:
Non-Static Writing, 05.17.11
Structural Writing, 05.17.11July:
Character Writing, 07.19.11
Visual Writing, 07.19.11September:
High Concept Writing, 09.13.11
The Art of the Pitch, 09.13.11November:
Structural Writing, 11.15.11
Non-Static Writing, 11.15.11•For more info on upcoming classes, visit :::afw courses:::
•For registration info contact Max via :::afw contact:::
•As of January 2011 AFW online courses are accepted accredited University of Utah courses. For info on course credit, contact Paula Lee in the Film & Media Arts Department via paula.lee @ utah.edu
*max is a faculty member of :::gotham writers’ workshop::: and :::the university of utah::: and is the founder of :::the academy of film writing:::
Posted February 19, 2011 at 4:00pm in classes courses online writing screenwriting film movie schedule 2011 max adams
If there is one writer who regularly nailed high concept [and did it over and over again] it was Michael Chrichton. He was one of the first writers to write a story about a scientific and military response to a plague hitting the U.S. [Andromeda Strain]. Not to mention the only guy talking about space probes bringing back plagues. One of the first writers to address how organ harvesting could go really REALLY wrong [Coma]. Was the writer who took the concept of cloning and said, Forget cloning sheep and humans, let’s clone dinosaurs [Jurassic Park]. He took on the Japanese/American business clash [Rising Sun]. Looked at sexual harassment from the perspective of a man being sexually harassed in the workplace instead of from the [much more common] perspective of a woman [Disclosure]. If there is one thing Chrichton was continually capable of doing, it was looking at current trends and issues before anyone else did and not only nailing them before anyone else did, but taking them to their extremes.
‘Extreme’ and ‘first’ define ‘high concept.’ You don’t always have to be first. But to be high concept you do have to go extreme.
Posted February 18, 2011 at 6:51am in film movie writing screenwriting classes courses max adams high concept afw academy of film writing
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4 notes
MARCH CLASSES
I am registering March classes Character Writing
and High Concept Writing. Both start March 15
and those seats are filling right now so if you
are interested, drop me a line now at :::contact:::
and more info on the classes is also available at
:::classes:::
Posted February 17, 2011 at 2:48pm in writing courses online master max adams afw academy of film writing classes screenwriting high concept character
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1 note
2011 SCHEDULE OF ONLINE CLASSES
Upcoming 2011 —
Online Master Classes in Screenwriting
Taught by yours truly Max Adams:March:
Character Writing, 03.15.11
High Concept Writing, 03.15.11May:
Non-Static Writing, 05.17.11
Structural Writing, 05.17.11July:
Character Writing, 07.19.11
Visual Writing, 07.19.11September:
High Concept Writing, 09.13.11
The Art of the Pitch, 09.13.11November:
Structural Writing, 11.15.11
Non-Static Writing, 11.15.11•For more info on upcoming classes, visit :::afw courses:::
•For registration info contact Max via :::afw contact:::
•As of January 2011 AFW online courses are accepted accredited University of Utah courses. For info on course credit, contact Paula Lee in the Film & Media Arts Department via paula.lee @ utah.edu
HIGH CONCEPT WRITING
6 Week Advanced Workshop | Start Date : 03.15.11 | Online 6 week advanced course on high concept writing taught by Max Adams. Every script starts with an idea. Then writers slave over the script. Unfortunately, the one thing writers often neglect to slave over is the idea. The script may be great, but industry pros reading one more “been there read that” logline are likely to move on — whether or not “quirky” is shoehorned into a logline. This course is about brainstorming ideas and notching them up the high concept ladder. Why haunt a house when you can haunt New York City? [Ghostbusters] Why put Die Hard on a plane when you can put Die Hard on the President’s plan? [Airforce One] Why go to a SF convention when you can go to space? [Galaxy Quest]
Reading Material | supplied in class forum & library. Some outside material is linked to.
Viewing Material | posted or available via Netflix, iTunes, or your friendly neighborhood video rental.
Weekly Chats | Thursday nights | 9 PM EST | 6 PM PST.
Seating Limit: 12
*A writing sample may be required prior to a acceptance to this class.
*A course deposit fee is required for class sign up.
:::high concept writing:::
:::contact:::
Posted February 5, 2011 at 3:06pm in writing screenwriting film movie classes max adams high concept academy of film writing afw online master classes workshop
2011 online master classes in screenwriting
Upcoming 2011 —
Online Master Classes in Screenwriting
Taught by yours truly Max Adams:March:
Character Writing, 03.15.11
High Concept Writing, 03.15.11May:
Non-Static Writing, 05.17.11
Structural Writing, 05.17.11July:
Character Writing, 07.19.11
Visual Writing, 07.19.11September:
High Concept Writing, 09.13.11
The Art of the Pitch, 09.13.11November:
Structural Writing, 11.15.11
Non-Static Writing, 11.15.11•For more info on upcoming classes, visit :::afw courses:::
•For registration info contact Max via :::afw contact:::
•As of January 2011 AFW online courses are accepted accredited University of Utah courses. For info on course credit, contact Paula Lee in the Film & Media Arts Department via paula.lee @ utah.edu
Posted February 5, 2011 at 3:01am in film movie writing screenwriting online classes master max adams afw academy of film writing
UPCOMING CLASSES
Online Master Classes in ScreenwritingMarch:
Character Writing, 03.15.11
High Concept Writing, 03.15.11May:
Non-Static Writing, 05.17.11
Structural Writing, 05.17.11July:
Character Writing, 07.19.11
Visual Writing, 07.19.11September:
High Concept Writing, 09.13.11
The Art of the Pitch, 09.13.11November:
Structural Writing, 11.15.11
Non-Static Writing, 11.15.11•I’m filling March seats now, these fill fast
please reserve early if you want a seat
•For more info on upcoming classes, visit :::afw courses:::
•For registration info contact Max via :::afw contact:::
•As of January 2011 AFW online courses are accepted accredited University of Utah courses. For info on course credit, contact Paula Lee in the Film & Media Arts Department via paula.lee @ utah.edu
Posted January 25, 2011 at 7:22am in online classes 2011 upcoming writing screenwriting afw academy of film writing max adams character high concept structure film movie
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2 notes
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