8 Week Working Writer's Master Lab

One of the most useful things a writer can do is to team up with a mentor to help them on their journey. Too many writers try to navigate through the script writing process without guidance. Wouldn't you want a mentor that develops and sells material for a living to help you take the mystery work out of your journey? The most successful writers in the industry have their own mentors to make sure they are going in the right direction - do the same for yourself.

Stage 32 Happy Writers is thrilled to bring back our 8 Week Working Writer's Lab. This is one of our most hands on, prestigious and talked about labs and we only offer it a few times a year. To find the perfect teacher we go through our rolodex of 400 executives and hand pick an executive that is one of the most raved about from our writers. Your teacher for this lab will be Patrick Raymond, creative executive at Mandalay Pictures! Patrick has assisted a number of our writers on strengthening their scripts and he is excited to help you bring your concept to life.

With interactive lectures and weekly homework assignments directly geared towards bringing your concept to life, PLUS ongoing contact with Patrick in between classes, your experience writing has never been easier.

Under The Guidance of Patrick Raymond you will:

• Pick a unique and commercially viable concept.
• Craft engaging, unique characters that pop off the page.
• A solid structural skeleton that successfully carries your concept.
• Cinematic set pieces that will give your story that much-wanted theatrical feel.
• A fully realized outline highlighting every major plot point in your script.

The Objective of the Lab is:

• To take the mystery work out of picking a concept that can sell.
• To match you with an executive that will assist you with making sure all your script's elements is as strong as possible.
• Give you an experience on how development executives develop projects that are now on their company's slate.

Class Schedule

WEEK #1 – The Story of Me; Your Questions; Your Stories

• General class overview.
• Patrick's history and experiences.
• What Patrick loves writing about and why.
• What he looks for in a good story/screenplay.
• Any initial queries raised in the pre-class questionnaire.

NOTE: Given the online format, Patrick will use this week’s “office hours” to more personally respond to/discuss the ideas you are contemplating working on during the Lab.

WEEK #2 – Character

• Creating strong, unique memorable characters.
• How to have them best serve your story, the genre, themes, etc.
• Dialogue and voice.

Patrick will cover some examples, including personal experience.

WEEK #3 – Act I; Premise into Story

• How to make the leap from basic premise/concept and characters into a full-blooded story.
• Where to start.
• What to include in Act 1.
• Where does Act 1 end and Act 2 begin?
• Creating a world and setting a tone.

Patrick will discuss examples of strong (attention-grabbing and/or smartly-chosen) and weak (meandering, overstuffed, unfocused, etc.) beginnings.

WEEK #4 – The Story So Far (Consultation)

No on-line class this week. Instead, you will submit premise, Character Bio(s), and Act I outline for review; Patrick will discuss the materials individually in 30 minute phone calls and advise any changes/concerns.

WEEK #5 – Act II; Structure and Plotting

• Plotting and development of your story across Act 2.
• Examples of structure (midpoints, end of Act 2, Internal/external conflict, etc.

WEEK #6 – Theme; What’s it All About?

• How to ensure that your script isn’t just an escalation of events, but is a rich narrative experience that is hopefully actually about something.
• Topics to include Theme, Topicality, Relatability, Universality.

WEEK #7 – Act III; Sticking the Landing

• Why 'when and how' to achieve a strong finish is arguably one of the most difficult parts of writing a screenplay.
• Examples of scripts/films that have accomplished this, as well as those that have not (and why).

WEEK #8 – The Completed Outline (Consultation)

No on-line class this week. Instead, you will turn in your completed outline for review; Patrick will then discuss with you over a 30-minute consultation.

About Your Instructor, Patrick Raymond

Patrick Raymond is a Creative Executive at Mandalay Pictures, Peter Gruber’s decades-old production company responsible for films such Sleepy Hollow, The Score, The Jacket, Into the Blue, When the Game Stands Tall and Horns. At Mandalay, Patrick gets to work on his passion every day: cultivating amazing stories and working with great writers.

Prior to joining Mandalay, Patrick studied business and film production at the University of Southern California. He worked in the financial services industry for four years before transitioning to entertainment, where he worked as a production assistant in television for four years.After that he transitioned to working at Gersh in the production department but he also gained exposure to the literary world, working with writers and story. He then moved over to LD Entertainment for three years, where he was a Creative Executive, working with writers and helping build scripts and acquire ideas for new projects. Here he had the opportunity to work for Tate Taylor on a James Brown biopic entitled, Get On Up, and learned about assembling large studio films. He has since transitioned to the Creative Executive position at Mandalay Pictures. Patrick was born in Alaska and raised in Seattle prior to moving to LA.