Writers Boot Camp is offering three spaces in the Saturday, December 6th, 10-Week Basic Training with Founder Jeffrey Gordon (JG) to deserving writers and filmmakers who are writing movies, TV pilots or books pertaining to the above topic.

Priority consideration will be given to current and veteran U.S. military servicemen and women. We encourage all candidates to apply based on the availability to commit 10 hours per week for creative exercises and writing for the duration of the 10-week process. (There will be accommodations built into the schedule for the upcoming holiday season as well.)  Selection of winners will be based on excellence of prior writing and storytelling experience, along with the distinctions of your point of view.

We honor your service through encouraging military members and veterans to embrace ownership of their writing or entertainment career and refine their craft through applying for a Fellowship. This creative opportunity focuses on stories and projects about experience in U.S. military service and support of the field of combat. This can include the view of veteran status, returning home, reunion with family, personal challenges, assisting others post-war, as well as the segue to new goals and career objectives, whether related to military service or not.

Your service may have provided insight into a range of interesting and conflict-driven stories and perspectives, from the nature of local governance, the clash of strategic tactics and philosophy, the ramifications of post-9/11 politics, the history of the tribal culture in the region and the limitations of humanitarian resources and efforts.

Within any of the above subjects, from one’s enlisted service experience to combat theory, the telling of a story may be very personal, an intimate encounter potentially folded into a global event or movement. Classic genre project ideas, from indie-style to studio and network productions, may be submitted within the fellowship’s thematic emphasis. Projects are expected to highlight audience engagement and fresh entertainment.

As is true with most Fellowship categories and parameters, Writers Boot Camp’s focus is to expand areas of creative material and to support new and distinctive artistic voices. As always, projects will ideally focus on audience engagement and fresh entertainment.

This Fellowship topic highlights the experience of veterans, though stories submitted by veterans may extend from any life perspective. Maybe your story is not exactly military-related, but it is still a great story from your point of view. By proactively welcoming veterans into the December 6th Basic Training, it’s possible that other, non-veteran writers may experience fellowship with veterans. While a veteran may not want to share certain aspects of their experiences with others (especially combat veterans), perhaps civilians can better understand what serving in the military is like, and that may lead to more authentic presentation in movies and film.

The November 18th Basic Training will be conducted by Writers Boot Camp founder Jeffrey Gordon (JG), offering the tools that more than 12,000 writers have learned to be productive on their path to success. The three fellowship winners will be empowered as hundreds of alumni who have gone on to work at the highest levels of the entertainment business, including writers and filmmakers who have garnered Academy Awards, Golden Globes, WGA awards, Emmys and even the Tony Award.

The brief application includes questions about the candidate’s background in the arts and entertainment, writing experience and topical questions to articulate one’s distinctive vision and creative voice within the Fellowship theme. Feel free to forward this application to both aspiring and accomplished writers, artists, actors, producers and filmmakers. The notes provided in follow-up are very helpful to writers who truly aspire to become professional writers in the entertainment industry.

Experienced writers will find that Basic Training is more than basic. The terms and tools we impart will be intuitive and confirming without being formulaic. They empower any writer and industry collaborator. Writers who have written before may have an advantage in making the case for their ability to execute their story on the page, yet we find that even veterans of the creative process tend to have similar problems of Premise Lines that are missing 2nd-Act Adventures, missing key characters and wind up to be disappointingly more like vague loglines that barely set up the story, versus more complete structural expressions of how the story will work.

All applicants may watch for news of an upcoming Mini-Camp before the end of the year that will include application tips and techniques. If you want to make sure to be on that invitation list, please email Brad Miller, our Director of Development, at brad@writersbootcamp.com.

The application process is designed to have a short window because we find too many candidates will wait until the last 48 hours anyway. While there is no prejudice of the timestamp in the determination of winners, we encourage you NOT to wait until the last minute.

Since the start of the pandemic, Writers Boot Camp has provided more than $250,000 in fellowship and scholarship awards, highlighting opportunities to writers of diverse voices, including women. Through our 35-year history, a high percentage of our successful alumni are diverse.

As always, we believe at Writers Boot Camp that the best idea is the one you’re actually working on–and that is usually the project that you can sustain passion for the many stages of work necessary to fully develop it. The stories that create a relationship adventure beyond the physical adventure of the plot have the best chance to be seen and succeed.

Please Apply Here by Tuesday, November 18th at 5pm, LA Time

Candidates will ideally consider this application as a streamlined form of job interview, and the Basic Training as an opportunity to learn and to develop a stronger writing sample. While the script may not lead to an immediate sale, the process can refine your unique voice and the writing experience may further qualify your ability to support a writers’ room, adjust your professional understanding and attract industry experiences.

The emphasis on single sentence answers can be deceiving–we’re not looking for brevity as much as economy, which allow you to include compelling and evocative necessities of story. Consider how your answers will convey distinctions as an artist and, conversely, how vague answers or generic comments may fail to do justice to your voice. One trick is to make sure the second half of each sentence is explicit.  Only one application per person, please!

We reserve the right to follow up individually with individual applicants regarding additional guidelines and policies.  There will be up to three fellowship winners, but we reserve the right to limit winners depending on quality of applications received. Only winners will be notified by phone, though all applicants will be notified within a couple days of the application deadline that winners have been selected.

“Each sentence is an opportunity. An opportunity to illustrate your voice, to practice being succinct, to practice making distinctions, to convey a fresh take, and to add to the conversation of the topic.” – JG on best practices for fellowship applications.