WRITERS IN MOTION is a 20-week-long animation writing course led by entertainment industry veteran SHARI GOODHARTZ. Participants learn writing fundamentals and storycraft for animation, and develop a pre-production-ready short film script. The program also includes industry talks from local professionals.

Writers in Motion is for screenwriters and animation filmmakers who want to develop their writing skills. Passion for and dedication to animation is a must! To be eligible for the programme, filmmakers must have written and/or directed work that has been produced.

Writers in Motion will be taught by Shari Goodhartz. Her produced credits span animation and live-action, including Aeon Flux (pilot), Dragonheart: A New Beginning (Writers Guild Award-nominee), Disney’s Raw Toonage (Emmy Award-nominee), the “Hind Sight” episode of Young Hercules (starring Ryan Gosling, shot in New Zealand, Writers Guild Award-nominee), The Attackmen (Huston WorldFest Bronze Prize for Drama Short) and Star Trek: TNG. Goodhartz conceived and ran WritersLab 2017, a professional training course at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. She teaches Story Structure/Integrity at UCLA Extension and coaches Intellectual Property development for private clients.

• Meet your Mentor: you will have an in-person session with mentor Shari Goodhartz to discuss what you hope to get out of the program (Auckland travel koha provided).
• Track your Progress: Fortnightly online meetings with Shari to discuss your development, refine your short film’s story and script, and decide on your next objective.
• Lots of homework! You will have fortnightly project deliverables, as well as reading assignments and watch lists.
• Additional online guest talks from industry professionals.
• A pairing with an experienced animation artist to create a piece of concept art for your project.
• Hear your work performed: Auckland Table Reads will perform your script with a team of actors, so you can hear what your writing sounds like.
• A small cohort of 6-8 participants, so you are guaranteed individualized, targeted, actionable feedback.

• Understand the transformative power of driving animation narratives from underlying meaning, clear perspectives and audience relevance/impact.
• Assess distinctions between essential structural aspects of plot and interstitial narrative content and express that information clearly, including as a logline.
• Utilise basic, professional proof-reading techniques.
• Present an “elevator-style” pitch for short films.
• Learn to appraise and revise your own creative material using actionable feedback given in a respectful manner; recognise and reject non-respectful/non-actionable feedback.

• A one-page biography: who are you, what is your connection to animation, where are you in your career, how dedicated are you? (500 words max)
• Your CV.
• Your headshot.
• A link to your previous work, with a password if password-protected.
• (optional)A .pdf of still images from your animation work, if you are an animation professional (10 MB max)
• A one-page writing sample: the FIRST page of a screenplay you have written yourself (not the one you are applying with).
• A one-page narrative treatment of the short film you plan to develop during this course. This should consist of three paragraphs, one each for the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Formatting: 1.5 spacing, 500-word max.
  
  All documents must be A4-sized, written in 12-point courier, combined into one .pdf.