On May 26th, I had the privilege, courtesy of the Kenya Scriptwriters Guild, of facilitating a short workshop on the basics of screenwriting. I used two short films submitted to ROFFEKE - Lupe and the Galactic Corn Cake by Javier Badillo (read the ROFFEKE interview HERE) and After the Fire the Firefighters by Natasha Mashkevich (watch the interview HERE) to illustrate basic screenwriting concepts.
Due to the limited time, I began from the end, tackling the questions the attendees had asked as they had introduced themselves and shared their expectations of what they hoped to learn from the workshop. They included:
- How series are written. I mentioned that the basics of screenwriting still apply, even when writing a series and that in a series, you have more time to develop characters and backstories and that you can have multiple sub-plots.
- Dialogue. I mentioned how dialogue in both Lupe and the Galactic Corn Cake and in After the Fire the Firefighters reveals character, backstory and adds conflict.
- One attendee just wanted to be 'the best'. I asked: the best in life in general or the best in screenwriting? I took this opportunity to mention the importance of making a protagonist's goal S.M.A.R.T - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timebound.
- Another attendee wanted to know more about creating short form content. Again, I mentioned that the basics of screenwriting still apply, even in short form content as short as 1 minute or 30 seconds.
A big thank you to the Filamu Festival team, the attendees - including representatives from Africa Digital Media Institute (ADMI) and to the Kenya Scriptwriters Guild.
Sadly, less than 48 hours after the workshop, the Utumishi Girls High School fire tragedy happened. Sincere condolences to the family and friends of the victims.
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