by Charles Harris
The first ScreenLab - 2002 - was highly successful and 2003 has already received many enquiries. One key reason has been the enthusiasm and vitality of ScreenLab participants.
Many have found useful contacts and mutual support for their development work. The range of experience is fascinating, from shorts producers looking to move into features, to those who have worked behind the scenes on major films, directed TV documentary or developed key skills in quite different media.
Another reason for ScreenLab's popularity, I'd like to think, is the underlying philosophy of ScreenLab itself. Fed up, as many are, with the slavish screenwriting formulae that are taught so widely nowadays, we wanted to steer a course that allowed participants to learn about the craft of script development without stifling their ability to develop scripts that break new ground.
It helps that our tutors are also experienced working writers and film-makers in their own right. Everyday, at their own creative work, they face the fact that no formula is ever infallible. In fact, one of our core beliefs is that while there are indeed rules to script development, every film needs to break at least some of those rules some of the time.
Those with long memories, going back at least as far as the end of 2001, will recall that the NPA set up ScreenLab with Screenwriters Workshop to fill a crucial need. We felt strongly that while many organisations focused mainly on helping screenwriters improve their craft, there were few if any resources out there to help those producers, directors and development executives who also form an important part of the development team.
If we are to make better films, it is vital that up-and-coming producers, directors, script editors, etc, have a place where they can improve their skills in working with writers and their scripts. And not just up-and-coming film-makers. The most experienced film-makers know better than anyone how you never stop learning, and are constantly aware how much more they want to learn and grow.
ScreenLab was developed as a result, in a series of seminars, each dealing with different aspects of script, which participants could either take individually or as a continuous whole. We wanted to give developers a way of charting their course through the confusion that can reign in script development, but at the same time we didn't want to create yet another organisation that preached a set of predictable and formulaic rules. We wanted to look for an alternative.
Now read - What's the Alternative?
© Charles Harris, 2003
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