Online TV Series Workshop for Screen Skills Ireland and Screen Skillnet

I had a fantastic time delivering one of my TV Series workshop for Screen Skills Ireland and Screen Skillnet last week. The participants were a wonderful group of nearly forty experienced writers, directors, creative producers, showrunners and story editors with a background in film, TV or animation.

This was a hybrid workshop combining around 10 hours of self-led training content based on my online course Writing a Successful TV Series and a live element composed of four Q&A sessions as well as hands-on group work on project development. One-to-one meetings are now being organised for those who wanted direct feedback on their project(s).

This was the first time that participants played the “Writers’ Room Game”, a recent addition to the online learning experience based on course progress and quiz answers. It’s entirely optional, so those who weren’t into games could ignore it, but many found it motivating and entertaining.

Feedback was so overwhelmingly positive (thanks everyone for your kind words!) that we’re talking about organising another workshop in June or July, so if you’re based in Ireland, watch this space…

Many thanks to Grainne Bennett (Screen Skills Ireland) and Barbara Deignan (Screen Skillnet) for making this happen.

Here are a few testimonials from the participants of this workshop:

Meticulously designed to make every bit of information comprehensible and enjoyable!

I am blown away by the attention to detail and care that was shown by Emmanuel in constructing this course. I have never been on a writing course that is so meticulously designed to make every bit of information comprehensible and enjoyable. It took one week with Emmanuel for me to understand story design, character and structure at an in-depth level I didn’t think was possible to attain in such a short time. I can’t wait to get stuck into my TV pilot knowing I have all the tools and material I need to make a compelling show.

Tania Notaro

Excellent, insightful and practical

Emmanuel’s approach is comprehensive, insightful and gives you the tools to design, test and troubleshoot your scripts or any Story writing project you undertake. The course is intensive and you really need to cover the material – not only the minimum trailers and first episodes or seasons but also preferably the full Series of the case studies to get a complete appreciation of the principles involved. It has given me food for thought, ideas on how to approach my projects and I’m looking forward to troubleshooting the projects that need rewriting. Thank you Emmanuel!

Tom Halton
HMHmmmmm Limited

Thoroughly recommend this inspirational and practical course

The structure of the TV show you aspire to write – broken down for you, by a professional. That’s what this course achieves. It is extremely well researched, and uses very up-to-date references as examples of each story type. The tone of the live training is informal, humorous but practical and straightforward. Emmanuel Oberg is a professional in screenwriting who knows his subject inside out, explains it in great detail, and he also uses visual diagrams to represent some of the more complex elements. I left this course excited about my project and would thoroughly recommend that anyone who aspires to TV screenwriting take these workshops.

Dara Flynn

Great Experience

I had high hopes for this course, that I would gain certain insights on how to progress my own project and learn what approach to take with different types of stories . This online course surpassed my expectations. I found it interesting and full of worthwhile information that I can use in a practical way going forward. I would certainly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the area.

Mark Hayes
Clear Haze Limited

A Toolbox Filled to Bursting

An excellent experience. Emmanuel doesn’t preach a magic formula for writing success, instead he presents a flexible set of dramatic tools that can be applied to any genre, format or process and which are far, far more helpful than any rigid creative doctrine. The course was both enjoyable in its own right and insightful on its topics. I would highly recommend it to anyone, regardless of your position in the screen sector.

Adam O'Keeffe

A superb and refreshing online course!

‘Writing a Successful TV Series’ is a superb online course. The story-type method is a refreshing approach, driven by dramatic conflict rooted in causality and understandable character action, reaction and evolution. It is a welcome alternative to the plethora of other structural analyses out there that often appear to strive for adherence to time-based units of progression without prioritising the internal dramatic engine. I absolutely agree with the idea of the fractal aspect of storytelling at season, series, episode, sequence and scene level – nature is built on fractals so it makes complete sense that drama that resonates with us is too. I would thoroughly recommend the course for any aspiring and indeed many experienced writers.

Dominic Wright

Brilliant step by step guide in how to design a TV series

For a total novice, only started in TV writing and intimidated by the gargantuan task ahead of me, I really needed a course like this.

Emmanuel broke down the elements into fresh, manageable parts, posed all the right questions, explained their importance and challenged me to think more deeply about the ultimate question‘ – What’s really at stake ?. It really opened my eyes to both the flaws and opportunities in my project.

In terms of the online course. As someone with patchy or no WiFi during the days allocated to the workshops with Emmanuel, I had to speed watch whenever I got a chance. I found it overwhelming so I would recommend taking your time with his excellent video instructions and rewatching the videos again and again before taking the tests.

I would strongly recommend that you buy his book Screenwriting Unchained. It compliments the course and helps you to make sense of the large body information provided online.

Lisa Callanan

A fabulous insight into the structure of TV Series

“Writing A Successful TV Series” online course, provides a fabulous insight into the structure of TV series and how to troubleshoot your project. Emmanuel covers everything from story structure to constructing your own series bible, using great examples and case studies of some successful TV shows along the way. The blend of self led modules and online workshops and Q&As is an excellent way for everyone to work at their own pace. Highly recommend this for anyone looking to learn more about structure and design.

Heather MacLeod

Easy to grasp and use in relation to your own work

Emmanuel breaks down story structure in a fresh way that really opens up the process of writing without hindering you with set rules and page numbers. His deep dive into case studies made his concepts immensely easy to grasp and use in relation to your own work. I highly recommend his courses to really get that extra personal level he brings to the live lectures and Q&A’s.

Graeme

Helping me to understand and appreciate the stories I want to tell.

Emmanuel’s passion for storytelling throughout the course was infectious from the get go. Having such an engaging tutor was a huge help to me in bringing my own stories to life.
Sign up for his course today; you won’t regret it.

Paddy C. Courtney

Fantastic and in-depth course on the fundamentals of story and structure

I really enjoyed this course and think it will change forever how I approach writing and watching TV and film. I’ve read a lot of screenwriting books and almost all point to a narrow and often contrived approach to writing which never really sat right with me. Now, I understand why. There’s a lot to unpack and I’ll be digesting the information for a long time to come, but overall I am coming away with permission to be more creative, while meeting the constraints required for screenwriting production. Thank you!

Nicola Cassidy

Thought provoking and practical

I found the ‘Writing a Successful TV Series’ hugely informative, thought provoking and practical in terms of giving you an additional ‘toolset’ for the development of stories. The case studies are excellent, and feature a forensic level of analysis of dramatic structure in hit TV serials. Highly recommended!

Bob Jackson

Great!

I did this course online and loved it from start to finish. I think it gives writers a very clear understanding of some really useful tools which can be used to design a story/storylines or to diagnose why a story might not be working and how to fix it. I loved having the ability to pause and rewind and take notes at my own pace. I also found the quizzes at the end of each module and the feedback on right/wrong answers super useful. I think I will come back again and again to all I’ve learned here.

Fiona Diver
Writer

A deep dive into story structure

“Emmanuel’s course is like a deep dive into story structure. You think you’ve got it mastered and then you realise how much more there is to learn. I feel so much more equipped as a screenwriter and script reader after this course.”

Niamh O'Connor

Excellent course for those who work with story

Excellent course for those who work with story – writers, directors and producers. Goes direct to the fundamentals which can get lost in ‘development jargon’. Can help kickstart a project revision or inspire a new one. Emmanuel is an engaging and insightful teacher.

Imogen Murphy

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