Learn the art of screenwriting with The Writing Studio

The Writing Studio’s inspiring and motivational The Write Journey workshop will take place in Cape Town from Saturday, 31 August to Sunday, 1 September, and from Saturday, 7 to Sunday, 8 September in Johannesburg, from 10:00 until 18:00 on both days.

The Write Journey looks at mastering the art of plotting your story, defining and developing your premise, concept, theme and characters and taking ownership of the writing process.

The motivational and inspirational workshop explores the art of visual narrative and the fundamentals of successful storytelling.

The workshop is ideal for anyone with an idea for a story and who wants to write a screenplay or take an important step into the world of filmmaking in South Africa.

The duality of the interactive workshop and networking nurtures creativity: it allows the writer to write instinctively and take an introspective journey into story; it also stimulates writers to write stories connected to their unique cultures, communities, history and experience that reflect the universal human condition. The weekend is ideal for novelists, journalists and writers who would like to master the art of adapting stories into a visual medium.

Following the workshop, the writers will be guided through the process of developing their screenplays through The Write Agency, and get their drafts shaped for the international film, television and publishing markets.

The trainer is local writer, playwright, movie journalist and Education, Training and Development Practitioner Daniel Dercksen. As a freelance journalist for more than 30 years, and published playwright, Dercksen is a qualified ETD Practitioner (Education, Training and Development).

Graduates of previous workshops include award-winning playwrights Neil Coppen (winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Theatre, 2011, as well as the Naledi Award for Best South African Play, Abnormal Loads, 2013); filmmakers John Barker (Bunny Chow and How To Steal a Million) and Henk Pretorius (Bakgat, Fanie Fourie Se Lobola); novelists Lauren Beukes (Zoo City), Gary Hirson (The Magic That is Ours and Calm in Storm) and Consuelo Roland (Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Award and received an Honorary mention for the Olive Schreiner Prize for her novel The Good Cemetery Guide).

"If I had attended it some five or ten years ago, so many things would have changed in my career, as well as life in general," says Elelwani Ramaite-Mafadza, a lecturer at the University of Venda, as well as a researcher in the Indigenous Music and Oral History Project (IMOHP) and involved in the CUPP project which is a project involved in rural development.

"The Write Journey workshop gave me a better idea on how to make a financially viable blockbuster. Daniel Dercksen has a practical approach when teaching the art of writing for film and this makes it easy to learn and follow through when I write my own stories. For me it was three years of film school jam packed into two days of insightful lessons," says production designer and art director, Warren Gray (Safe House and Long Walk to Freedom)

"The illuminating workshop gave me insight into the birth of a script; especially the development of a front page, log line and tag line. I am still the producer at heart but with the couple of movies that I am nudging forward with development I know what I am looking for in the scripts," says Producer, Alan Lawson, Birdfilm (South Africa)

Created by respected film and theatre journalist of 30 years, Daniel Dercksen, The Writing Studio is a leading independent training initiative in Africa and has been doing workshops in screenwriting and creative writing the past 19 years throughout South Africa, including masterclasses at the Sithengi Film and TV Market, at the 2012 Kunjanimation Animation Festival, community workshops the Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre in Kwa Mashu as part of their annual Kwa Mashu Film Festival, and a 'Directing Actors' workshop with acclaimed actor Eriq Ebouaney.

The Write Journey weekend workshop for screenwriters takes place at The Writing Studio in Green Point in Cape Town from Saturday, 31 August to Sunday, 1 September, and at Annie Malan Promotions at Willowview, Burnside Isle in Craighall Park from Saturday, 7 to Sunday, 8 September.

For the full agenda and registration, email [email protected]. Alternatively, visit www.writingstudio.co.za.