High School Screenwriting Workshops
Read student thank you notes from our recent workshop at Fairfax high school. This workshop was instructed by Frederick Rappaport with Marie Weiss assisting.
The Writers Guild Foundation’s Screenwriting Workshops are designed to increase high school students' fundamental written and visual literacy skills through the art of screenwriting. We target public high schools in the Los Angeles area that perform in the lowest percentile for English Language Arts.
WGF Workshop Leaders, professional writers and members of the Writers Guild of America, first deconstruct popular film and television shows to teach the basic process of writing for film and television; and then guide students through the process of writing their own short screenplays.
At the end of a two-week workshop, each student completes at least a three-scene screenplay (roughly 7 – 10 pages), based on stories drawn from their own lives. On the final day of the workhops, volunteer actors from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) perform select students’ scripts before the entire class and possibly the larger student body.
The Foundation offers scholarships and mentorships to students through the Workshops. The scholarship program, begun by the Foundation in 2008, provides for up to one $250 award for post-high school education per workshop. At the end of the year one of the $250 scholarship recipients can be selected as the overall winner to receive a special $1,000 scholarship instead. This year six scholarships were awarded from the nine workshops that the WGF conducted.
There is no charge to the participating school for this program.
To date, the Writers Guild Foundation has conducted 49 two-week workshops in Los Angeles area high schools, engaging over 1,200 students in the writing process. Student screenplays have been performed before approximately 7,000 students, with over 250 professional actors donating their time to perform the scripts. The workshops are designed to cover at least 25 English Language Arts standards for students in grades 9–12.
At Los Angeles High School, the teacher, Kathleen Tyler, commented that the students had written more for the workshop than they had written in her class all term. This is not uncommon for the workshops, as the enthusiasm they generate continually leads to truly remarkable achievements by students otherwise unmotivated in the public school system.
Visit the WGF Screenwriting Workshop Blog Learn about the workshops from the students, instructors, and others involved.
This program needs funds. Due to overwhelming demand for this successful program, we are unable to conduct as many workshops as we receive requests for. A grant in the amount of $2,500 will fund one two-week workshop.
Mentor a Workshop Student If you are a professional in the entertainment industry, please consider volunteering to mentor a workshop student. We pair students who express interest in learning more about any aspect of the entertaiment industry with professionals in their specific field of interest for a one-year, monthly mentorship.
If you are a teacher who would like to schedule a workshop in your class or if you are interested in supporting the Writers Guild Foundation’s High School Literacy Screenwriting Workshops, please contact: Adam Huss, Director of Outreach Programs 323-782-4679 or PLEASE DONATE
