This course is self-paced and on demand. You can go through the materials and complete assignments at your own pace. There is no instructor or peer interaction in this course.

High concept screenplays are what sell in Hollywood. They also make great writing samples for new screenwriters because it shows they have the skills it takes to create ideas with a strong and broad appeal. Writers—if they’re paying attention—come across a dozen potential story ideas every day, from snippets of overheard conversation, or an unusual headline, or a single image or gesture glimpsed out of the corner of the eye that starts the mind wandering. The real question is, How do we recognize those ideas that have the potential to be something more than a pleasant momentary distraction…that contain enough intrinsic intrigue, possibility, and tension to build a full story and even a full world around them, and which offer the writer ways of finding new dimensions of story and character throughout a long writing process?

This course will give writers tools for generating and refining high concept ideas, from paying attention to—and seeking out—those initial sparks of inspiration which might launch a screenplay to finding ways not just of sustaining the story but building its potential, forward momentum, and meaning. The goal of the course is not only to help you discover those places you might seek out viable story ideas, but to help you see how such initial sparks become, through the process of asking the right questions, and making the right decisions, enough to build a full world.