Your First Screenplay:
Writing the Movie Inside You
A Four-Night Beginner's Workshop in Writing Your First Screenplay
Mondays, April 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2026
8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern (5 to 7 p.m. Pacific)
Most people who think about writing a screenplay begin with a simple feeling: there’s a movie somewhere inside them.
A character, a moment, a world, a story you can almost see—but you’re not quite sure how to begin putting it on the page.
This workshop is for people who love movies and have always thought about writing one, but never have because they weren’t sure where to start.
Across four nights we will demystify the screenplay format, explore how movies are built, learn how characters and scenes work, and begin writing pages ourselves.
We will read real scripts, watch scenes, and open the Final Draft software together.
These four nights will be your beginning. You’ll learn what a screenplay actually is, how movies work, and how to begin translating the movie inside you onto the page.
By Night Four, you’ll no longer be staring at a blank page—you’ll be writing the first pages of the movie inside you.
"You kind of have to get one out of your system, just so you can get familiar with the format and finish a document that is 120 pages long, which is going to be the longest thing that most human beings will ever write."
— John August, Scriptnotes Ep. 58.
Faculty
Bailey Patterson is a Canadian screenwriter, director, and producer currently developing a horror project with franchise producer Warren Zide (American Pie, Final Destination). Writing screenplays since he was sixteen, he won the Story Summit Founder Award in 2020 for his script A Beautiful Life.
A true homegrown talent of Story Summit, Bailey has spent the past several years developing his craft under the mentorship of Academy Award–nominated screenwriters Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist) and Jeff Arch (Sleepless in Seattle), as well as former Hollywood studio executive David Kirkpatrick.
Born with a camera in one hand and a VHS tape in the other, Bailey’s earliest memory is watching Titanic at just three years old. He began his creative career as a theatre actor, winning Best Male Actor of Alberta for his role in Memory Garden (2016).
Bailey serves as videographer at Story Summit, co-produces the podcast Living to Write, and is the founder of Limitless Productions in Calgary, Canada, where he continues developing bold new projects in film and television.
Films We'll Explore in this Course
How the Course will Unfold
Night 1 – Seeing the Movie Inside You
Films: Sinners · Get Out · Parasite
We demystify the screenplay page and begin discovering the movie playing within you.
Many people want to write a screenplay but never start because the format looks intimidating. Tonight we break that barrier and learn how the screenplay page actually works.
We will explore:
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What a screenplay is—and what it’s not
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How to read a screenplay
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The essential elements of the page
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Sluglines (scene headings)
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Action lines
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Dialogue blocks
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Parentheticals—what they are and when to avoid them
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Character cues—how characters are introduced
In the Zoom room:
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We read real screenplay pages aloud together
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We compare script pages to finished scenes on screen
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We examine how a page becomes a movie
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After each clip we ask: What did you feel, and why?
Workshop moment:
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Each student shares the movie idea they feel inside them
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The group helps shape that idea into a logline
No writing yet—tonight is about seeing how the movie inside you could live on the page.
Night 2 – How Movies Actually Work
Films: Titanic · Weapons · No One Will Save You
We explore how movies are actually built. Not formulas. Not templates. Feeling. Characters making choices and facing consequences. This is the night you discover whether the movie inside you is truly a movie—and what it needs in order to become one.
We will explore:
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What makes an idea cinematic
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Cause and effect in storytelling—the engine
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The difference between premise, concept, and theme
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The shape of a movie story
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The inciting incident
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Page count and pacing
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Protagonist: want vs need
Workshop moment:
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Students refine their movie idea
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Each student develops a clear logline
That logline becomes the compass guiding the movie inside you through Nights 3 and 4. Still no writing yet—tonight is about understanding the engine of the story.
Night 3 – Giving the Movie a Voice
Films: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You · Past Lives · Bugonia
We demystify the screenplay page and begin discovering the movie playing within you.
We explore how characters reveal themselves through action, dialogue, and subtext—and how a writer’s voice emerges.
We will explore:
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Character and subtext
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Voice on the page
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How the screenplay page functions as visual real estate
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Protagonist: want vs need in action
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Common beginner mistakes and how to avoid them
In the Zoom room:
Tonight we open Final Draft together for the first time. We will highlight the essentials as we…
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Format a scene
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Introduce a character
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Write dialogue correctly
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Build a properly formatted screenplay page
Workshop moment:
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Together we talk about the experience of writing the first page of a story. What makes a beginning compelling? What makes a reader lean forward?
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This is the first moment the movie inside you appears as a construct to write.
Night 4 – Putting the Movie on the Page
Films: Sinners (revisited) · Anora · Lady Bird
We bring everything together and begin the screenplay itself:
Your protagonist.
Your voice.
Your story.
Everything you’ve discovered about the movie inside you now moves onto the page.
We will explore:
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What makes a compelling first page
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How tone and genre shape expectations
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Writing for your own taste and instincts
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How writers invite the audience into a world
Workshop moment:
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Everyone writes Page One of their screenplay in the room
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A few students share their pages aloud
Students leave with: their logline, the first page of their screenplay, and a clear sense of how to continue writing the movie inside them.
What You Walk Away With
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You know what a screenplay is and how to read/format a complete one.
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You understand story, structure, acts, and the inciting incident.
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You understand what a logline is and how to create one.
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You know who your protagonist is, what they want, and what they need.
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You understand subtext and how voice works on the page.
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You have opened Final Draft and are no longer afraid of it.
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You have written your first formatted scene.
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You have written page one of your screenplay.
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You know the common beginner mistakes so you can avoid them.
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You have the tools to write your first screenplay, and you know exactly what to do next.
One Last Thing
The goal of this workshop is not to produce a finished screenplay.
The goal is to produce writers who understand what they’re doing and have begun.
Every working screenwriter wrote a first screenplay. John August wrote his in grad school at a parking lot internship with nothing to do. Craig Mazin wrote his and called it, years later, "absolute garbage."
Your first one does not need to be perfect. It simply needs to exist. This workshop will help get you there!
Essential lessons from the movies we’ll be reading and watching
There's no greater way to learn screenwriting than to read, read, read screenplays. These are the celebrated screenplays you’ll be reading for the four-night class:
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Sinners — Character introduction and establishing tone on the page.
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Get Out — Setup and payoff: planting information early that becomes important later.
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Parasite — Visual storytelling through action and staging on the page.
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Titanic — Clear story engine: simple goals and escalating stakes.
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Weapons — High-concept premise revealed through multiple storylines
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No One Will Save You — “Show, don’t tell”: storytelling through action rather than dialogue.
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If I Had Legs I'd Kick You — Voice on the page and writer perspective.
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Past Lives — Subtext: emotional meaning beneath dialogue.
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Bugonia — Tonal control and narrative perspective.
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Anora — Establishing tone and character quickly in opening scenes.
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Lady Bird — A powerful opening scene that introduces character, relationships, and theme.
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Whiplash — A protagonist who gets everything he wants, while losing everything that matters.
Today's Price Only $247 for 8 hours of instruction
Story Summit Members: This class Is Included at No Additional Cost
Story Summit Membership subscribers receive this class at no additional cost. Just register and the discount will be applied automatically. Please make sure you're logged in to receive the discount. Not a subscriber yet? Join here.
Please note: Our classes are designed specifically for live participation, so your attendance is important. If you need to miss a class for any reason, you’ll receive a passcode-protected link to watch the recordings after the course is over.
