Start Your Passion Project @ NYLS, April 30

I’ve never met a lawyer who didn’t have dozens of great stories. A legal practice deals with human nature at its best and worst and involves situations of tremendous conflict. Human conflict is the bedrock of all great films, television shows and novels. Personal and professional experience has enabled a whole host of lawyers to establish rewarding writing careers in the entertainment business. You have the stories. You have writing skills. You just need to take what you already know and apply it to a new form.  

Expand your existing writing skills into a fascinating new area.

This practical one-day weekend program gets to the heart of the one of the most commercial film genres. Discover why great suspense stories never go out of style. Learn the crucial elements of a spine-tingling thriller. Explore the emotional dynamic of the thriller protagonist. Create tension and anxiety on the screen. Discover how to make this popular genre uniquely your own.

Whether you are developing an idea and story for a thriller, currently writing a thriller or struggling with a thriller rewrite, this course is for you. It’s filled with practical story, plot, theme and character information that can save you endless days, weeks and months of frustration, difficulty and story dead-ends.

In this information-packed program you will learn:

• How the Power of Truth propels a protagonist through the thriller plot line and creates an emotional bond with the audience.
• How great story twists develop themes of loyalty and betrayal.
• How deceit and deception keeps the audience off balance.
• How you can increase mistrust and suspicion by turning allies into enemies and enemies into allies.
• How you create a compelling emotional dynamic for your thriller protagonist.
• How non-traditional narrative structure is created through character development.
• How you can re-imagine and refresh this popular film genre and make it uniquely your own.

A legal background is a great platform to launch a writing career. I worked as a lawyer before I transitioned to television and film (See my Bio).

Ron Bass, practiced entertainment law before penning box office hits My Best Friend’s Wedding and Rain Man among many many others. Novelists Scott Turow, John Grisham, Richard North Patterson, Sheldon Siegel put their legal training to use writing best-selling crime or mystery novels. David E. Kelley transitioned from a Boston law practice to writing hit television shows like Ally McBeal, Picket Fences, and The Practice. Lawyer turned science fiction writer Melinda Snodgrass wrote several Star Trek: The Next Generation scripts during her successful career. They are just a few of the many many lawyers working in Hollywood or claiming a place on the best-seller list. Are you next in line?