Want a career in ten years? Flashback, nonlinear, ensemble and multi-plot structures are now mainstream in film and TV. You'll need them.
In this revolutionary course, award-winning writer Linda Aronson cracks the code of complex films like Pulp Fiction, 21 Grams and Memento, showing they aren't aberrations or 'devices' but structures in themselves, falling into six families. She explains that they work by multiplying, fracturing and reconstituting the one-hero chronological model according to patterns, patterns so predictable that writers can use them as templates for film, new generation TV series, games and cross media. Eureka!
Ever been told that flashbacks are lazy? The sign of a bad writer? TV has been using multiple stories, multiple protagonists and interweaving for ever, while flashback and ensemble films are so mainstream they routinely figure in the Oscars. Yet still we’re told that one hero on a chronological journey is the only game in town.
Unconvinced, British scriptwriter Linda Aronson watched and rewatched nonlinear and ensemble films to find out why some worked and others didn’t - and she cracked the code.
In this truly revolutionary course, she shows that these films are not aberrations and or 'devices', but structures in themselves, falling into six families. She explains how nonlinear and ensemble films multiply, fracture and reconstitute the one-hero chronological structure according to patterns so predictable that writers can use them as templates - for film, new generation TV series, games and cross media. Eureka! Suddenly, these previously inexplicable structures are doable, even for new writers. Suddenly, and amazingly, writers have a dazzling new range of storytelling options at their fingertips.
Out of her extensive practical TV experience, Linda also explains ways you might use fractured narrative
- to reinvent overworked film genres,
- to introduce suspense into predictable plotlines
- to reinvigorate long running TV serials;
- as a structural shape for an entire TV series (so that, for example, you could create a TV series using a Pulp Fiction style structure)
She discusses hybrid films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which combines one flashback story with one ensemble story, since hybrids in these forms are developing all the time.
And since none of these films are easy, she also explains what can go wrong and how to prevent it.
Ensemble and nonlinear writing are now everywhere and their use will increase. The one hero chronological journey model is no longer enough. This genuinely revolutionary course will show you the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of techniques everyone will have to master. So start now.
Linda Aronson BIO
Described by Linda Seger as ‘one of the most important voices in screenwriting’, British writer/ script consultant Linda Aronson teaches widely on the international screenwriting ‘guru circuit’ and is regarded by many as the world expert on nonlinear scriptwriting. She has credits for feature film, TV drama series, serials, mini-series, children’s TV, drama documentary, stage plays, four novels and short stories. She has often been employed to create TV drama series’ and has judged the Emmys. More recently, she has started advising on cross-media and is currently writing experimental immersive VR screenplays as well as mainstream scripts. Her screenwriting books The 21st Century Screenplay (translated into Polish and Czech) and Screenwriting Updated are required reading at many film schools internationally, including NYU and Berkeley. Teaching includes NYU, Columbia, Berkeley, American Film Institute, The Great American Pitchfest and many film schools and professional bodies elsewhere, including NFTS, London Screenwriters’ Festival, Swedish Film Institute, Swedish TV and BBC TV
For more information about Linda Aronson see Linda Aronson www.lindaaronson.com