Past Workshops

Join NYWC’s Program Director Calley Anderson, Director of Strategic Programming & Communications Judith Ohikuare, and Artistic Director UGBA for a genre-spanning series of writing workshops in May and June. Each staff member will lead a two-week section on a specific genre that will examine craft, offer writing prompts, and provide tips and tools for further exploration.

Weeks 5 and 6, led by Calley, will focus on dramatic writing (stage and screen); participants will learn about the basics of scriptwriting and what makes a script strong from the start.

In this 90-minute session sparked by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba’s book Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care, Calley will guide the group through a series of prompts that include letter writing, playlist curation, an excerpt from Nnenna Freelon’s Great Grief podcast, and material from the Let This Radicalize You workbook to help us acknowledge the grief and truths we have experienced over the past year—or past few years. By using writing as a tool to recenter ourselves, we’ll create time capsules that help us understand the current moment and carve out space for future reflection and hope.

A feedback-centered craft workshop exclusively for returning participants of Calley’s past BWP scriptwriting workshops. The workshop will include up to two 40-minute feedback slots for each participant. Along with feedback, participants will participate in “Opening Chats” every other session centered around a specific topic. Led by Calley, these chats will include a more in-depth script analysis of the first 20 pages of a script chosen by the group, tips and tools for submitting your work, and strategies for outlining and revision.

Whether you’re working on a new script or revising an old one, a point comes when you ask yourself “What comes next?” or “What am I missing”? In reality, the core of those questions is asking “What stays?” This workshop is for scriptwriters (TV, film, and plays) looking for both assistance with craft and feedback on pages of their script. Participants will spend 8 weeks moving through a mixture of mini-craft lectures, prompt-based writing exercises, and feedback sessions with the goal of pushing each writer further along in their journey to finish their script.

When writing a play, TV pilot, or screenplay, hearing your words read aloud by others can be a crucial part of the revision process. So is critique: Both giving and receiving critique can help elevate your work and make you a stronger writer. In this critique lab, participants will read each other’s work aloud, learn about different methods of critique, discuss how to best engage with dramatic work, and hear guest artists speak about their experiences with critique/feedback processes.

During this workshop, participants will learn about the basics of scriptwriting and investigate five key elements—or “starting points”—that will make their writing journey strong from the start. The last two weeks will culminate in a presentation and feedback session of the first few pages of participants’ scripts. By the end of this workshop, participants will be armed with notes and insight into writing loglines/synopses, and developing outlines, plot, characters, structure, and more!