How to Create Conflict to Drive an Original Story

ABOUT THE WEBINAR

Whether you’re developing a web series or trying to draft a pilot or writing a second draft of a feature film and working on assignment, time and time again – you’ll need fresh and reinvigorating ways to add core conflict to your story. Conflict for the sake of conflict quickly becomes stale for audiences. In order to tell a story that’s worthwhile for someone to invest their time in watching, the sources of conflict, and how conflict is played out through characters and the story at large needs to be genuine, and deeply embedded into the spine of the story.

This OnDemand webinar will teach you as a storyteller how to identify ripe sources of conflict in your story; as well as how to elongate and stretch conflict in a way that tantalizes and holds an audience on the edge of their seats through the end of the program. The instructor, Kathy Berardi will provide exercises, examples and how-to techniques to easily help you get started on building a story based on conflict and realizing why conflict is essential to the dramatic art of storytelling as a whole (for both drama and comedic content).

In addition to penning numerous feature films and a TV pilot, Kathy Berardi has written, developed and produced dozens of short-form online content pieces for narrative and branded purposes that are entirely based on conflict as the source of the story; and the resolution of that conflict at a pace that keeps the viewer engaged on screen until the very end. A writer herself, Kathy holds an MFA in screenwriting from the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television and has received awards for her scripts and film projects.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Why you need to learn how to harness conflict on every page of every story you write for the screen.
• Why conflict has to start, sustain and end a story.
• Why audiences tune out due to being bored and how conflict playing out on screen can keep them engaged.
• How to develop the right creative concepts to genuinely infuse into your story.
• What conflict can solve for you as a writer – for every part of the story from characters and their lives to the overarching theme of the creative work itself.

WHO SHOULD WATCH?

• Writers who struggle with creating stories that sustain an audience’s attention.
• Writers who need creative ways to jumpstart new projects or add new lifeblood to in-progress works by adding conflict.
• Writers who need help adding in sources of conflict that genuinely belong to the story vs. adding gratuitous distracting elements for sensationalized attention.
• Filmmakers – such as directors and producers – who manage writers or who write as well as direct/produce and want to base a story on a conflict of interest to their targeted audience.
• Creative individuals who are considering writing a new project – for the first time or to continue their study of writing – and want to try creating a story based on a central conflict.
• Viewers of films, TV shows, and online videos who notice they’re most interested in watching when there’s a problem that needs to be solved in the unfolding story, and want to learn the behind-the-scenes tricks filmmakers use to create those circumstances.
• Writers whose past projects have been un-engaging or need further work and would like to try applying a new tactic and tool to revitalize their stories.
• Creatives who may also be business owners and brand marketing professionals who are trying to learn the power of story and creating a conflict based on a “challenge” to hook and engage an audience to push them towards a desired action for a cause, product or service.

The Writers Store does not offer any refunds for the webinar. All sales are final.