January 22, 2011

You work hard at your craft. Someday you hope to win a screenwriting competition or maybe even see your movie get made. Why not learn the keys to making it happen from someone who’s actually done it?

In this in depth and wide ranging presentation, Nicholl Fellowship winner T.J. Lynch shares his techniques for constructing a screenplay that wins awards and gets you noticed. Topics include Dramatic Tension and “The Dramatic Question,” Character Arc and Range of Change, The Emotional Need and the “Critical Flaw,” The Villian and other Levels of Antagonism, The “Impact” Character, Theme and Premise. Whether you’re a beginner or advanced screenwriter, you’re sure to come away with some great new tools to put in your own screenwriter’s toolbox.

T.J. Lynch won both the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting and the Scriptwriters Network Carl Sautter Memorial Screenplay Competition for his screenplay, The Beginning of Wisdom. He has also been a finalist in the ABC/Disney Fellowship, the Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project, Final Draft’s Big Break Screenplay Competition and the Slamdance Screenplay Competition. Most recently Lynch was awarded 2nd Place in the Slamdance Horror Screenplay Competition.

The screenplay Lynch wrote to fulfill his Nicholl Fellowship obligation became the feature film, A Plumm Summer. It stars Henry Winkler and William Baldwin, and enjoyed a limited theatrical release in 2008. It was released by Paramount Home Entertainment in May 2009 and is currently in rotation on Showtime.

Lynch recently wrote and directed the short film, Water Under the Bridge, which received a warm reception at the Lake Arrowhead and the Big Bear Lake Film Festivals.

Lynch is a long time member of the Scriptwriters Network and does screenplay consultation on a limited basis when time permits. More at: writingisrewriting.com.