Studying the craft of screenwriting

Just finished a great weekend course on writing for the screen. From the perspective of a novelist, I learned how differently a writer must approach the visual medium of film. Brian Paisley OC (right) started Canada's first Fringe Festival. Keith Digby founded Edmonton's Phoenix Theatre. These instructors helped workshop participants create the pattern of beats needed to structure an engaging "three-act" movie.

Hollywood, said Brian, is "Darwinian;" it has learned and retained what works best in movie story telling. That knowledge, Keith pointed out, is not new. It goes back to Aristotle.