Script to Screen: Screenwriting Workshop with Jane Marlow

Workshop with Jane Marlow

On Friday 30th October 2020, we participated in a workshop with screenwriter, director, filmmaker, and journalist, Jane Marlow.

We were put into groups of two or three and had to come up with a story, focusing on character, plot, conflict, resolution. We then had to pitch our story to our peers. 

My partner, Derrin, and I came up with the story of a deaf customer in a diner receiving a meal that contains dairy, which their allergic to, from a waiter about to finish their shift. The deaf person is unable to communicate with the waiter as the waiter does not speak sign language and their friend has left to go to the toilet. As tensions rise, a bystander walking past the diner intervenes and resolves the situation.

Jane Marlow put forward questions to my partner surrounding our idea/story, which allowed us to develop it even further. For example, we gained an understanding of the need to differentiate between the bystander and the deaf character's friend who had gone to the toilet. In order to do this, we decided to emphasise the difference between the friend's and the bystander's behaviour around the deaf character. The two friends appear to have banter between them and appear to have a more joking/friend-like relationship whereas, the bystander appears softer in their manner towards the deaf character and the interaction. The bystander is also looking for a resolution to the situation whilst it is occurring whereas the friend seeks to console their friend after the situation has been resolved. Jane also made us think about the possible twists and different versions of aspects of the story. For example, the story could be made out as comedic through the use of exaggeration from the deaf character and the waiter exaggerating their response. 

Throughout the workshop, Jane provided us with advice with regards to screenwriting and the industry, which I found to be very useful and reassuring. Jane's advice and the activities throughout the workshop have enabled me to develop my thinking surrounding how to go about screenwriting. I now have a greater understanding of how to pitch a screenplay/form a log line (e.g. it has to be 20-30 words, pitch conflict not plot, keep it simple).