Free Mini-Camp: Creating Your Voice Through

YOUR VERSION of a Classic Genre or Movie Model

Tuesday, December 2nd, 5pm-6pm, LA Time

by Founder Jeffrey Gordon (via zoom)

RSVP Here

RSVPs will be accepted until the morning of the event;

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Before you travel for the long holiday this week, please mark your calendar for this pragmatic discussion of how to be most creatively opportunistic in this truly disrupted and difficult time in the entertainment business.

Join us to discuss Writers Boot Camp Founder Jeffrey Gordon’s (JG) insight about classic genres, paradigms, and business models that do well–and that provide a platform for illustrating a writer’s unique voice.

The key is to review your favorite movies that have inspired you and to identify YOUR VERSION of a genre that always works, whether an inexpensive road trip/overnight teen comedy (SUPERBAD, BOOK SMART, ever hear of AMERICAN GRAFFITI?)–or an operative on a dire rescue mission (TAKEN, THE EQUALIZER, NOBODY)–or the next high-concept wedding movie, romantic comedy, buddy picture, or fish-out-of-water comedy.

Yes, we’re talking about being in the hits business–except excitement in the biz has always been based on finding fresh takes on familiar fare.

While we don’t quite know from all the tea leaves if production will profoundly revert to the tradition of regime-change + new development = an 18-month to 2 1/2 year belt-tightening lull until slates are prepped and marketed, there is yet a way for clever artists to insulate from downturns by professional craft and, well, crafty project decisions, conceit, and invention.

As we’ve been reminding, there’s an opportunity in independent movies–because distributors need well-crafted material. Not just a “good story well told” but inventive stories with inherent acknowledgement of the lineage and heritage of prior movies and TV. Material that incites executives and producers to say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Remember, when we enter the industry meeting rooms–or zooms today–we’re enjoined in an ongoing conversation, one going on long before our arrival in TV Land or Hollywood Land. To break through today requires more stamina and commitment in a nuanced way beyond working only craft on the page. After all, execution is a function of concept–and where concept and craft meet is in a moment on the page!

JG will reinforce in the current climate how artists–writers, filmmakers, producers, and actors alike, need to identify how each project shared is completely viable without caveats or the need for notes and support.

Of session, that’s the educational and behind-the-scenes support to our writers/alumni we affordably provide PRIOR to exposure–and that’s why for 36 years our alumni have blazed a trail with a remarkable history of 1000+ success stories: Hundreds of A-List movie and TV credits, and hundreds of books published–not self-published, though these can potentially serve professional ends and grow into business platforms.

An aside: Over the past couple decades independent producers became managers–as the studios were cutting development–and now artists need to be–and can become–their own managers.

Again, this is one of the subtle and sophisticated facets of how we strengthen the work and resolve of our Professional Members within our unique Project Group approach.

Your TV series concept may also work from classic paradigms and models. Going back to Seinfeld, the whole “show about nothing” riff, while very fun and illuminating, essentially was about something–and this was an informed approach by Larry David who understood his conceit and his adaptation and extension of the foundational sitcom while assembling a modern and relatively un-hip assemblage of misanthropic characters–on purpose!

All those HBO-style shows, once doing blue on cable became the thing, from Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Hung, and, the ultimate with additional flair, Breaking Bad, took doing ill for justifiable personal reasons creating dimensionality and inherent at-traction through Misbehavior.

Have you ever considered that The Mandalorian as a show is a Western “in space” and that the titular character is a gunslinger, who happens to NEVER miss a shot? In our earthly world, television has historically empowered the rest of the business, so TV is never an afterthought.

We’ll see if time permits additional discussion for the writers who attend the Mini-Camp who are currently focusing on television pilots.

Feel free to send questions directly to jg@writersbootcamp.com in advance of the event!

Where Artists Learn as Professionals

Writers Boot Camp’s myriad methods have helped thousands of writers and artists jumpstart their climb in the professional entertainment business.

While it’s clear that new writers entering the business may not as broadly see their path as prior generations before, with every disruption comes significant opportunity for motivated workers.

For example, after the writers’ strike and economy meltdown of 2007-2008, limitations on private equity severely reduced independent production of feature films. However, when investment ramped up again a few years later, we learned that nearly 80 feature films were made between 2011-2017 that were written by Writers Boot Camp alumni. And you know how they earned their keep? By staying on as the writers of record all the way through the creative process.

In addition to AI looming, which may assist very clever writers in minimizing the drudgery of writing, the Mini-Camp will raise the profound differences between machine-based storytelling and the human intuition that will distinguish your material.

Regardless of trends or changes in the business, idealism about the creative process can help a new writer generate excitement for their ideas and muster a certain level of productivity. That said, it’s crucial to identify the methods of professionals–and to learn more specifically about the expectations of studios, networks, executives and established producers. Inexperience is inherently a path of inertia, which can present an invisible wall. Walls like being unwittingly derivative, not knowing how to test one’s ideas, being content-driven or text-driven, editing rather than rewriting more authentically, all contribute to profound delays in a writer’s productivity and career progress.

Normally reserved as a review and ongoing benefit for our Professional Members, we’ve opened up this Mini-Camp for Basic Training alumni and colleagues in our Creative Community as a way to meet aspiring writers and talented filmmakers. Or top success stories tend to come through alumni and friends in the business.

Writers Boot Camp’s core philosophy is one of Full Development, a six-month, 10-draft process for part-time writers who have committed 10 hours per week for their writing regimen. Each of these drafts is not as daunting as a page-one rewrite, yet each one can bring a new layer of depth and improvement to a script. We’ll discuss how each month is refined by very specific creative objectives, as well as the best order of rewriting priorities.

In addition to doing too much with the first rewrite, mixing up the various fundamentals and levels of work–Concept, Structure, Character Development & Scene Work–inevitably undermines a writer’s sense of progress. In that way, drafts are not necessarily progressive and the writer’s view of their own work becomes obstructed and the work that would ideally feel stronger tends to lead to project burnout.

Rewriting Is Where the Work Is

For professional perspective, we have rarely seen writers attract interest for their material when they have not been motivated to rewrite on their own. While we believe in writers getting paid, Writers Boot Camp’s unique tools empower writers to more effectively and more fully develop their work. Most paid work comes from rewriting, whether having the chance to do the first rewrite upon setting up a project, landing a development deal or staff job based on your writing samples, or even as a show runner rewriting the staff’s work to match the voice of your show.

We’ll have ample time for Q&A, and Founder Jeffrey Gordon (JG) will mention a few updates to the classic Checkpoints as topics converge.

If you have a colleague or loved one who may be considering Pro Membership and writing as a career, or even just the 10-Week Basic Training, this is an ideal introduction to many of the core philosophies that have helped thousands of writers and filmmakers for the past 36 years.

Please have your guests note your name on their RSVP.

If you RSVP and cannot attend, please let us know. Mini-Camps are an ongoing benefit of Professional Membership. We open certain Mini-Camps to Basic Training alumni and friends in the business to meet new writers and filmmakers who will benefit from our support.

For more info about Writers Boot Camp you can call 310/998-1199, check out writersbootcamp.com, or email jg@writersbootcamp.com.

We always love to hear from alumni with news and success stories!