On November 23, the PEI Writers’ Guild will host a screenwriting workshop, the first of a new "Crossing Over" series the Guild is hosting this year. Entitled "Screenwriting 101,” the workshop will be facilitated by Louise Lalonde of Louise Lalonde Productions, a Prince Edward Island media company. Future workshops will consist of crossing over from prose to playwriting, and from poetry to song.
In Screenwriting 101, Lalonde will guide participants through the screenwriting process, from creating a draft to making it ready for market. Participants will learn the difference between novel writing and writing a screenplay; the criteria used to ensure an idea is strong enough to carry a whole movie, series, mini-series, short film or feature film; how to tell a visual, emotional, and surprising story for screens; an overview on various screenwriting programs and their functions; and the use of dialogue for exposition.
Participants will also learn about funding opportunities for screenwriters, something Lalonde knows all too well as a familiar face at FilmPEI. Louise Lalonde is the program coordinator of the popular PEI Screenwriters' Bootcamp, an annual series of workshops for emerging screenwriters since 2008. She has served on the Island Media Arts Co-op, Women in Film and Television—Atlantic, and the PEI Council of the Arts committees. She is also the president of the Charlottetown Film Society. She has written and directed several short films: Looking for Mr. Right, Hole in My Heart, C J Superstar, and, most recently, The Appointment/Le Rendez-vous.
The workshop will run from 9:00am until 4:00pm at the Haviland Club in Charlottetown. Cost is $85 for Guild members and $95 for non-members.