We sat down for a chat with Emma Dennis-Edwards about her new project: Writing for Screen: Level 1
What inspired you to design this course, and how does your experience as a writer and actor influence your teaching approach?
I’ve always taught alongside my work as a writer and actor so this designing this course came naturally to me. When I designed this course I thought about all the things that I wish I had learned and experienced when I was starting out, for example I think for a long time I had scripts on my laptop (and in my head) but I’d never heard them out loud, which is why I keen that an element of the course will include a table read. I very much see this course as me working alongside other writers so less teacher/student more peers working together to write a script.
How do you balance teaching the technical aspects of screenwriting, like treatments and pitches, with fostering participants’ creative storytelling skills?
That’s a great question. I would say it’s a 50/50 split. Everyone has a story to tell, right? So I guess the technical aspects of screenwriting are what most participants come to me wanting to know. But I love fostering their creative storytelling and looking at how we can tell stories in the most interesting way.
Can you share an example of a challenge you faced in the writers’ room or during a project, and how experiences like that shaped the content of this course?
I wrote an episode of medical drama and it was a really hard slog, it was my first television writing commission and the experience was so gruelling and I felt like the editorial team were not aligned and the communication was awful. I simply didn’t feel equipped to deal with it so what I try and create in my classes is a sense of community. We are all writers and we are all now a community and we can lean on each other, share ideas, and solve story and script issues together. I also am very transparent in my content of my courses about the financial, physical and mental struggles that come with being a writer and where and how I have got support.
What can participants expect from the final 2.5-hour session, and how does it build on the skills developed throughout the eight weeks?
The chance to hear their work read out live by professional actors! This is the culmination of them using all the skills they’ve developed over the eight weeks to present an extract of their script that they’re excited and confident to share.
What advice would you give to a beginner writer who’s struggling to turn an idea into a screenplay, and how does your course address that challenge?
The advice I would give is to just write. Allow the story to lead you and go for it- be brave! And that’s what the course is all about, just writing the thing! I offer you skills and advice but at the end of the day its YOU who’s on the other side of the Pen/Computer.
Emma will teach Writing for Screen: Level 1 (Ages 18+) (in person) from Tuesday 21 — 11 March 2024, as part of Guildhall School’s Spring Courses. Find out more and secure your place here. Limited places available.