Three Pillars of Immersion

Topic · 3 minutes

Before achieving genius status, Picasso copied his predecessors.
Copying is a proven method to master technique in many disciplines.

In the first half of this course, we’re going to copy script excerpts from high quality scripts in a diverse range of genres. The snippets we copy, we’ll call scrippets.

This task of copying – because it sounds kinda naughty – we call Forgery.

Imitation preceded creation, I would copy Combat Casey comics word for word in my Blue Horse tablet […] Eventually I showed one of these copycat hybrids to my mother, and she was charmed – […] She asked me if I had made the story up myself, and I was forced to admit that I had copied most of it out of a funnybook.

– Stephen King

The second objective of this course is to help you identify effective writing.

You will read, synopsise (v. tr.) and report on 2 full-length screenplays, one for a feature film, and the other for a TV pilot.

As you do this, you will discover some of the principles of great writing without handholding. In addition, as you grapple with ways to summarise the story, you’ll see which parts matter the most. 

This builds beginnings of an innate understanding of story structure. No need for any theory about the 3 acts, six stages, or eight sequences (yet). You’ll figure out for yourself what is important — and why.

Any knowledge discovered in this way will last longer than anything lectured.

This journey of purposeful reading, we call Discovery.

In the third and final task, you will apply what you learned in Forgery and Discovery, in order to transcribe scenes.

This is the most powerful practice for the budding screenwriter, as it replicates the brain processes of the pro screenwriter. 

Every day, you will translate images on the screen into words on the page. Sound familiar?

We will call this task: Mastery.

The Immersion method is all about studying, copying and otherwise learning from the masters.

But what constitutes a master?

The toughest task in designing this course was the selection of materials.
When picking the scripts and excerpts, I looked at criteria like these:

• Is the format still in use today?
• Is the genre something that still works today?
• Does the film/show enjoy critical or public acclaim?
• Is the script’s page count realistic?
• Is the writing style engaging?

In addition, I tried to keep a reasonable balance of the following:

• film / tv
• recent / classic
• masculine / feminine
• dialogue / description
• drama / genre
• hollywood / arthouse

The excerpts also offer examples of the following specific challenges:

• phone call
• flashback
• series of shots / montage
• text on screen
• etc.

Not every example gives you the best solution, but the diversity of them all exposes you to what you may expect in the industry, and as you cherry-pick your favorites, you’ll develop your own voice.

In the next step, we’re going to benchmark for your skill level with the help of Walter White.