Screenwriting & Story Development Course
Hands-on training in screenwriting, story development, and practical storytelling techniques.
About This Course
Learn the fundamentals of screenwriting and story development through a practical, hands-on course designed for aspiring writers, filmmakers, and storytellers. From understanding screenplay formatting and developing strong story concepts to applying established storytelling structures, character development, emotional elements, and professional writing tools, this 10-week course takes students through the complete process of developing an idea into a workable screenplay.
Students will study established storytelling models such as the Three-Act Structure, Hero's Journey, Dan Harmon's Story Circle, Chekhov's Gun, Rule of Three, and other practical storytelling tools. Through weekly exercises, discussions, examples from popular films and series, and continuous development of their own stories, students will build the skills needed to write engaging and production-ready screenplays.
By the end of the course, students will develop a semi-complete 8–15 page screenplay that can be further developed into a larger project. Successful students can be offered to join the writing room for the children’s series Adventures in Mayapur.
- Format: 10 weekly classes · 10 weeks
- Online
- Weekly: Saturday, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
- Language: Bangla / English
- Level: Beginner
- Available seats: 10
- Tuition: Price to be confirmed (Early bird special: Save 2,500 BDT)
Instructor
Tabassum Jahan
Screenwriter & Story Development Professional
Tabassum Jahan is a screenwriter with over five years of experience crafting narratives for audiences as varied as grassroots communities, development professionals, donors, and children’s TV shows. Her screenwriting work includes the animated children’s series Adventures in Mayapur as a staff writer, and also humanitarian scripts for UNDP.
She is also an expert trainer of storycrafting techniques, and has taken multiple training sessions of root level beneficiaries for iNGOs. It is important to look beyond simply telling a story, to understand what makes an audience care, connect, and respond. She brings this audience-focused approach to her screenwriting practice, with particular interest in story structure, character, emotion, and the craft of turning an idea into a compelling narrative.
Course gallery
Curriculum
Class 1: Story Foundations — What Makes Something a Story?Introduction to screenplay storytelling: someone wants something and something gets in the way.
- Introduction to screenplay storytelling: someone wants something and something gets in the way.
- Dan Harmon’s Story Circle as a simple beginner-friendly structure.
- Difference between a situation, an event, and an actual story.
- Cause and effect: one decision should create the next problem.
- Understanding that a story usually involves some form of change.
Class 2: Character — Want, Need & MotivationWhat does the protagonist want externally?
- What does the protagonist want externally?
- What do they need internally, even if they do not realize it?
- Motivation: why does the goal matter specifically to this person?
- Character weaknesses, habits, fears, and contradictions.
- Creating empathy through behavior rather than simply describing personality.
Class 3: Conflict, Opposition & Difficult ChoicesWhy conflict is more than people arguing.
- Why conflict is more than people arguing.
- Creating an opponent who has a legitimate reason to oppose the protagonist.
- Giving characters increasingly difficult choices.
- How decisions reveal character better than exposition.
- Introducing themes through the choices characters make rather than through speeches.
Class 4: Worldbuilding for ScreenwritingBuilding only the parts of the world that actually affect the story.
- Building only the parts of the world that actually affect the story.
- Rules of the environment, society, family, workplace, fantasy world, etc.
- Using specific visual and sensory details to make the world believable.
- Turning world rules into obstacles and opportunities.
- Translating ideas into things the audience can actually see or hear.
Class 5: Plot, Escalation & OutliningTurning a premise into a sequence of connected events.
- Turning a premise into a sequence of connected events.
- Understanding cause and effect rather than “and then this happens.”
- Escalating problems so the story becomes more difficult over time.
- Building a simple scene-by-scene outline.
- Introducing setup/payoff and preparing the ending early.
- Planning the pacing of the story using Three-Act Structure
Class 6: Scene ConstructionUnderstanding that every scene is almost a mini-story.
- Understanding that every scene is almost a mini-story.
- What does the character want right now in this scene?
- Obstacles, tactics, and changing strategies.
- Making sure something changes between the beginning and end of a scene.
- Learning when a scene is necessary and when it can be removed.
Class 7: Dialogue, Subtext & Character VoiceWriting dialogue that sounds specific to the character.
- Writing dialogue that sounds specific to the character.
- Understanding the difference between what someone says and what they mean.
- Subtext: characters avoiding, hiding, or indirectly pursuing something.
- Using behavior and silence instead of explaining everything verbally.
- Removing repetitive or overly explanatory dialogue.
Class 8: Emotional Storytelling — Suspense, Surprise & PayoffThe difference between what the character feels and what the audience feels.
- The difference between what the character feels and what the audience feels.
- Creating curiosity, anticipation, worry, suspense, surprise, and relief.
- Controlling what the audience knows and when they learn it.
- Setup and payoff: making earlier details matter later.
- Designing the ending so it produces an emotional consequence.
Class 9: The Writing RoomWriting room as test ground where you make, break and diagnose your idea and script to your first audience.
- Writing room as test ground where you make, break and diagnose your idea and script to your first audience.
- Understanding that the first draft is material to work with, not the finished product.
- Learning how to receive notes without automatically following every suggested solution.
- Separating the reader’s reaction from their proposed fix.
- Table reads to hear problems that are difficult to notice on the page.
- Identifying the biggest structural or emotional problem before polishing individual lines.
- The verbal pitch - communicating your story in 2 minutes
Class 10: The Rewrite — Finishing the ScreenplayComparing the first draft with the rewritten version.
- Comparing the first draft with the rewritten version.
- Strengthening character choices, structure, scenes, dialogue, and emotional payoff.
- Learning how to diagnose your own screenplay.
- Writing a logline and short synopsis so the writer can clearly communicate the story.
- Establishing a repeatable process: idea → character → outline → draft → feedback → rewrite.
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