Story Development and Outlining

LYNN GRANT BECK

Story Development and Outlining

LYNN GRANT BECK

$229.99


09/25/2025 - 10/23/2025

Enroll Now

The most intelligent and intriguing premise in the world is only that—just a premise—until it’s been given a shape that draws an audience in and keeps its attention and investment. Until it’s given a protagonist through which the audience understands the premise in concrete terms, and feels the clearly-defined stakes, someone with whom they can identify and for whom they can cheer. In other words, until the premise has become a story. 

This course will examine plotting a screenplay from premise to story. You'll learn how to take your screenplay from the early stages of building an idea to a full story, ways to structure the story to keep tension and investment high, and strategies to build not only structure but texture in the world of your film. You'll work to discover how to create an experience of the world, including what the events and the world of the story mean for characters and audience alike, rather than just building up a point-by-point plot.

In online lectures, supplemental readings, and written assignments and exercises, we’ll consider many elements of story development:

  • plot and character arcs and what makes them work
  • the scene as the essential, powerful unit of story
  • how a writer might use multiple genres in crafting story, and the degree to which one ought to push back against, rather than merely accepting, genre expectations
  • the difference between story and discourse and the function of each
  • best practices in plotting out a story

We’ll also reference—and occasionally take cues from—such seemingly disparate films as Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, 8 ½, Annie Hall, Inglorious Basterds, and Boogie Nights, among others.

$229.99


09/25/2025 - 10/23/2025

Enroll Now

The most intelligent and intriguing premise in the world is only that—just a premise—until it’s been given a shape that draws an audience in and keeps its attention and investment. Until it’s given a protagonist through which the audience understands the premise in concrete terms, and feels the clearly-defined stakes, someone with whom they can identify and for whom they can cheer. In other words, until the premise has become a story. 

This course will examine plotting a screenplay from premise to story. You'll learn how to take your screenplay from the early stages of building an idea to a full story, ways to structure the story to keep tension and investment high, and strategies to build not only structure but texture in the world of your film. You'll work to discover how to create an experience of the world, including what the events and the world of the story mean for characters and audience alike, rather than just building up a point-by-point plot.

In online lectures, supplemental readings, and written assignments and exercises, we’ll consider many elements of story development:

  • plot and character arcs and what makes them work
  • the scene as the essential, powerful unit of story
  • how a writer might use multiple genres in crafting story, and the degree to which one ought to push back against, rather than merely accepting, genre expectations
  • the difference between story and discourse and the function of each
  • best practices in plotting out a story

We’ll also reference—and occasionally take cues from—such seemingly disparate films as Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, 8 ½, Annie Hall, Inglorious Basterds, and Boogie Nights, among others.

Course outline

Course outline

Each session includes a written lecture, creative exercises to further your learning, and a writing assignment to turn in for personalized feedback from your instructor.


Meet the instructor

Lynn Grant Beck

In the spring of 2023 Lynn was hired to write 2 episodes of “Cypher” on Roku. Her newest play, All American, had its world premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in spring of 2022, where it was nominated for Best Drama and won the Hollywood Producers Encore Award. Her latest adapted series, French Vanilla & Felonies, is currently being pitched to streaming networks. She’s also written an action/disaster feature, BlackOut, as well as two animated family features, Sandra Claus and The TreasureD Cat. She was hired to write a TV pilot, Hashers, by Google VP, Jim Kolotouros. Her TV movie thriller, My Mom is a Bank Robber, aired on Lifetime in 2016 and her TV movie rom-com, 12 Gifts of Christmas, aired on the Hallmark Channel in 2015. Her other MOW scripts include Spring Break Nightmare, Quiet Night, Trapped and Cult of Lies.

Lynn’s feature screenplay, Dead Wrong, won an award in the WIF/MORE Screenplay contest and was optioned by the director, John Rhode. Her half hour pilot, Life in 2D, won a fellowship at the Writers Boot Camp and she was hired to co-write a sci-fi web series, The Annex, by director Hank Isaac. She was also hired to write the feature comedy, Hollywood Hit, for Miracle Mile Ent.

Lynn’s other feature scripts include two comedies, James Borkowsky 000 and Trophy Husband, two romantic comedies, The Death of Art and Trouble, and a sci-fi adventure story, Jonny Was. She’s also written a sci-fi series, Fuzion, a spec TV script of Mad Men, and a half hour tween, comedy pilot, Twindroids.

Lynn currently teaches screenwriting at Writer’s Digest University, and has taught at Pepperdine University, Spalding University, the University of Auckland, and SMC. She received her MFA in Screenwriting at UC Riverside in 2021. She also has significant industry experience as VP of Production at Kopelson Entertainment, as well as a CE at Interscope Communications. During her tenure at Interscope she traveled to Australia where she was an assistant producer on Pitch Black with Vin Diesel.

Originally from NJ, she arrived in Los Angeles from New York where she was a playwright. She founded the independent theater company, The Chelsea Players, and wrote and produced numerous successful Off-off Broadway plays. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Russian Studies, she traveled to Russia where she worked as an assistant director at the Nikitsky Vorot Theater. She wrote about the experience in a memoir titled Adventure in the Soviet Union. She’s also written numerous manuscripts for children’s books. Her love of writing and the arts in general was first fostered during high school at Choate Rosemary Hall. She currently lives in Ashton, Idaho with her husband, Devan, and has four children.

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