So many writers write scripts that lack narrative drive or story momentum; their sequence of scenes does not escalate (which your heart rate should also be doing as you read the screenplay). Other scribes don’t really know what their screenplay project lookbook should look like (hint: it’s not a pitch deck or the like, which is probably what you made, because what’s written online about what a lookbook should include is generally wrong). But, there is a solution to your screenwriterly woes! You can study both of these with Max D. Adams via The Academy of Film Writing (The AFW). Adams is an American screenwriter and author whose unique background makes her courses for scribes way beyond ✨⭐️ stellar. ⭐️✨ A winner of the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting and an Austin Film Festival screenwriting award, Adams is recognized for her talent and was dubbed “Red Hot Adams” by Daily Variety. She’s collaborated on or written projects for film industry heavyweights, including Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, the WD Studios, Universal Pictures, and more, so she brings a wealth of practical in-the-Hollywood-trenches experience and insights to her teaching. Max’s credited produced feature films include Excess Baggage, The Ladykillers, One For the Money, and she appeared in Tony Tarantino‘s Underbelly Blues. The founder of two international online screenwriting workshops, The Left Door and 5150, and the author of The New Screenwriter’s Survival Guide, her book is one of the best you will ever read on screenwriting (get a *free* chapter here). Max is also an adjunct professor at the University of Utah and a former WGA online mentor. Committed to nurturing future writers through The Academy of Film Writing, her courses are the best that I’ve ever taken (and I’ve studied with so many scribes and screenwriting gurus). Max has a unique teaching approach and instruction style that virtually guarantees you will synthesize her concepts and come away with epiphanies (so many) about the concepts, your screenwriting creative practice, and approach to the work and your projects. The two courses that you should start with—if you are beyond the basics—are The Writer’s Reel and her Mastering Story Momentum course. MSM will rewrite your understanding of plotting and explain the vital writerly concept of narrative drive, which every fantastic screenplay must have. Visit her online at: https://theafw.com/ and https://seemaxrun.com/.
Her Awards
- College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni Award, Film, University of Utah
(2010) - Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting
(1994) - Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Award
(1994) - America’s Best Screenwriting Award
(1993)