Spellbinding Emotional Impact: Enthralling Your Reader
‘We just didn’t respond to the material’ is the message you get back from the reader or producers. As you have a relationship, you dig deeper. And they are kind enough to share off the record…
‘Well’ they say… ‘My heart just didn’t pound’, ‘my soul just didn’t ache’, ‘my mind wasn’t racing’, ‘I wasn’t chuckling out loud in glee’, ‘my body wasn’t tense with fear’… ‘It’s just not a page turner…’
But why is not a page turner? All the elements are there. I’ve ticked all the boxes. I’ve followed all the rules?
There’s lots of reasons of course, but the number one reason we come up against when reading scripts, and we have read tens of thousands now, is this…
‘The writer did not make us feel deeply enough.’
Yes characters, concepts, story universe, plot twists… all are essential.
How many movies have you seen, one’s that that ticked all the boxes and SHOULD have been amazing, just kinda, fell flat?
And why?
Because we didn’t FEEL enough when experiencing it.
Simply put, too many of us spend too much time in analysis paralysis, left-braining our scripts to death.
All too often on the journey of writing we forget that all important thing, that THING that most likely is the reason we first fell in love with the idea in the first place.
Because of how it made us feel in that first instant.
It’s the excitement we felt when we had that flash inspiration… in the shower, on the train, on the loo… It made us instantly excited and we could FEEL it deeply.
Translating that feeling into a 100 page script is the skill of course, and everything we are taught or learn on the journey, tends to focus more on craft, structure and rules, than making us feel more deeply.
Readers are people. And to get people to respond to our writing, we MUST make them fall in love, feel that rush, tremble with fear… Emotion is the core of success.
MAKE ME FEEL DAMN IT!
What we will cover on the one day workshop
- Identify the primary emotion of your project, then emphasise and elevate it
- Interrogate the competing forces that add ‘heat’ to that emotion, again elevating and emphasising
- Inquire into the shadow side of our readers personality and their relationship with these powerful dramatic feelings
- Zero in on the key moments in your story that express these emotions most effectively then ‘spellbind’ them
- Master the DNA of how the specific emotions of your story are woven into the fabric of the narrative and how that is made REAL throughs words on the page
- Embracing the risk of writing with authenticity, courage and audacity
- Elevate the emotional high points available within the genre, your story and your unique perspective
Expect to deep dive into the core of your idea and characters, do some writing and leave with a clear map of how to elevate your screenplay by making your readers and audience FEEL MORE DEEPLY, especially in key moments that will stay with them.
Join Bob Schultz as we get out of our heads and transform our stories so they deeply connect and mainline into the readers’ souls. Amp up the blood-red beating heart of your screenplay by digging deep into the examples that make our hearts swell and burst!
Recent Feedback For Bob's Last Course
‘Both entertaining as well as informative!’
Jean-Claude Bragard // Filmmaker
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The workshop was very well structured with lots of good examples.’
Georgi Kostov // Screenwriter , Director , Producer
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘It had great illustrative clips, alongside good context and also insight int how to apply it to our writing.’
Louise Say // Producer, Writer
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘The Generous use of clips makes the analysis very clear and memorable. It will be hugely useful to me for my business in several ways. It refreshes my editorial approach to novelist-clients; and it helps me pitch novel-to-film adaptations. Bob’s enthusiasm is infectious and we all felt very motivated after this…’
Christine Green // Literary Agent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mary Ann Hushlak // Writer and Dancer
‘I found all the workshops I have done with you very insightful and top-notch helpful, but this one was in a league of its own. Talk about astute and able to communicate so that it’s clear, clear, clear. I was able to use the material on a short story I am working on immediately. I don’t readily use the word revelation, but this time, yes, yes, indeed, yes, it was a ‘lightbulb’ moment.’
Abbie Heath // Writer
‘Watching the clips and breaking them down as we went really clarified the process. The whole day was really, really insightful and, most of all, practical. Working through the stages and writing them on the spot meant I moved forward much more quickly.‘
Varsha Shah // Screenwriter
‘I came away with real practical ideas on how to plan and improve my final act. It was so enjoyable! A fabulous, analytical and practical workshop that has transformed my ideas on writing an effective and, most importantly, emotional final act. Thank you!‘
This class is run by screenwriter Bob Schultz. For more than 20 years, Bob has been training screenwriters , helping thousands of writers clarify their stories, reorganise their ideas and build confidence to bring the very best version of any writer, to the opportunities they create.
