INDUSTRY 101 EVENT SERIES
Outline 101:
Building & Shaping a Movie-Sized Story
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 | 5-6:30 PM PT
You’ve decided to write your very first feature-length screenplay (welcome to the party). You’ve heard people say it’s a good idea to start with an outline so you know where you’re going when you type “FADE IN” on the first page.
But how do writers build an idea into a movie-sized, shaped story? This session will address what a film story is and is not; what three-act structure is; and how to outline three acts.
What does an outline look like? Why do writers sometimes use index cards? What’s the difference between an outline, a treatment, and a beat sheet? Questions like these, and more, will be discussed during this event.
Please note: This event, like all Industry 101 events, is one night only and a recording will not be made available after. Please feel free to take notes during the event.
GUEST PRESENTER
Karen Janszen
While Karen Janszen has worked on thrillers, comedies, and historical epics – and done uncredited polishes on animated films – she is most passionate about book adaptations, family dramas, and anything science. Her theatrical writing credits include Netflix’s Rescued by Ruby, Warner Bros. films Dolphin Tale, A Walk to Remember, and Duma as well as the indies Gracie, Digging to China, and The Matchmaker.
For television, Janszen wrote the pilot and co-developed the sci-fi series MARS and wrote an episode of HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon. She’s also written pilots for original series for ABC, CBS, and Tandem. Most recently, she wrote two episodes of the six-episode series Earth Abides for MGM+/Amazon that is headed into production for streaming next December. She is currently adapting the New York Times bestseller Mad Honey into a limited series.
The daughter of a physicist and psychologist, Janszen grew up exploring and imagining in fields and woods outside Boston. She was a late bloomer who often ate lunch in the library stacks. It took until college for her to find her place and her people, and to wed her outsized curiosity and varied interests to her story sense. She studied at the University of California, Harvard, MIT, and the AFI as she made several quick transitions from anthropology to science journalist to publishing to series development to screenwriting/producing. She created and runs a story incubator for first-years screenwriters at the American Film Institute.
