It's about taking great ideas and turning them into great stories.

Do you have a story that you've been dying to tell? Are you a student who wants to break into the television and film industry but don't know how? Are you a producer, a script editor or a commissioning editor who requires the tools necessary to be able to source and evaluate great stories? Or do you just want to sharpen your writing skills?

Led by renowned writer Busisiwe Ntintili, the course will run over six consecutive Saturdays and will cover all the major elements of story creation, including the building blocks of story, plot, theme, story structure, creating memorable characters, writing dialogue, editing and formatting your script, and writing sellable treatments.

Throughout the course, students will be taught theory as well as given exercises which further develop their skill base. The course is interactive and a spirit of sharing work and students learning to constructively critique their peers' work will be encouraged. Numbers are limited, to ensure individual attention.

Course module

Module one:
Building blocks of story - What is story?

Module two:
Creating memorable characters part one: Creating full lives for your characters

Module three:
Creating memorable characters part two: Letting your characters speak and creating conflict between your characters

Module four:
Creating plot lines, story arcs, and subplots

Module five:
Writing dialogue and action and formatting your script

Module six:
Editing plus writing sellable treatments

Course trainer

Busisiwe Ntintili, film and television writer and producer, holds a Bachelors of Arts (Honours) degree in English Literature and French from Rutgers University, USA. A produced playwright by the age of 13, Busisiwe has been working the written word since an early age and her talent crosses genre from film and television to advertising, radio, and theatre. She is today one of South Africa's most in demand television and film writers.
Her writing credits include: the SABC2 original mini-series “Noah's Ark”, “The Bet” from the Heartlines series, the SABC3 Canadian/South African medical drama series “Jozi H”, the SABC1 drama series “Mzansi”, the 2006 television advertising campaign for LoveLife, the SABC3 daily drama “Isidingo”, and most recently Head Writing for SABC1 daily soap opera “Generations”. She has also taught scriptwriting to film students at Monash University.

Venue

Date: 05 July 2008 to 09 August 2008
Location: 9H Helen Street, Buccleuch, Johannesburg
Cost: R3,500

Contact: Busisiwe Ntintili
Company name: Sidewalk Productions
Telephone number: +27 82 562 2598
Email address busi@sidewalkp.com