In-Person Los Angeles Story Breaking Workshop with Jamie Nash

Start with an idea and finish with the 15 beats of your story in this live 2-day workshop for writers.

A MAXIMUM OF 8 STUDENTS MEANS YOU WILL BE GUIDED BY THE INSTRUCTOR STEP-BY-STEP, BEAT-BY-BEAT.

This class is for all storytellers, no matter your medium. The beats will apply whether you write for the screen or the page.

2 All-Day sessions:

Wednesday, September 29: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Thursday, September 30, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Over the course of the 2 days, you will:

• Learn the difference between a pitch and a logline, and why you must nail each one.
• Lock down your logline with the Save the Cat! mini-story template to get out of any logline jam.
• Learn the 15 key beats found in any story to make yours resonate with what is “primal.”
• Crack the “Magical Midpoint”—the secret of every story’s power.
• Find out why the Opening Image and the Final Image are your way to “doublecheck the math” of a hero’s transformation.
• Practice your pitch and improve your technique in front of a friendly group of fellow writers eager to help you succeed.
• Network with other writers.

The Workshop Schedule

DAY ONE

• Find your story according to Blake’s four elements of every successful logline.
• Crack your story and your hero’s transformation with the Opening Image, Midpoint, and Final Image.

DAY TWO

• “Beat out” the remaining beats of your story using the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet.
• Pitch your story to the class using the 15 key beats every successful movie or novel must have.

PLEASE NOTE: Proof of vaccination is required.

Your instructor is Jamie Nash, author of Save the Cat! Writes for TV. Jamie has written and sold almost every type of story under the sun, including the horror films Exists, V/H/S/2, The Night Watchmen, Altered, and Lovely Molly, and the family films Santa Hunters and Tiny Christmas. He has written the Middle Grade novels Bunk! and The 44 Rules of Amateur Sleuthing and the sci-fi novel Nomad. Jamie knows what it’s like to make a living as a writer. When he’s not writing and selling work, he teaches screenwriting at Johns Hopkins University and MICA and co-hosts the podcast Writers/Blockbusters.