Write it, Shoot it, Show it – a film making weekend workshop

A film making weekend workshop

Do you want the full experience of making a film from writing it to the finished product? The Studio Beyond has three industry professionals to guide you through the process.

Course details

Choose to take part as a writer, crew or actor.

Ted Gray will facilitate the writing section, Blake Emery The filming and Kieth Hyland  the Acting.

Ideal for beginners to the world of film and screen

The finished film will be premiered at Liverpool Fringe and the film will be entered into other festivals.

 

This course will run over the two days of the weekend 23rd – 24th August .  It will be held at The Studio Beyond (63 wood Street Liverpool). Course times will vary depending on your course choice. Please bring your own lunch or some money to buy your lunch in the surrounding shops.

Cost: £20

 

To enter contact: Blake@studiobelow.co.uk

Deep Dive Creative Writing – Workshop 4 (Writing Unpredictably )

Deep Dive - Exploring the unexpected

Course details

Edward Gray writer of Passing Moustache and director of obscurest style plays will be your facilitator. Learning his craft in an era of protest and political theatre Ted’s work could never be called dull or predictable. 

 

Sunday 22nd June 12.00 to 14.00
What to expect:
  • The essence of storytelling
  • What defines a great story
  • How to break the rules
  • How to turn left instead of right
  • How to avoid the pitfalls of predictability
  • Going outside what you know without falling for stereotypes.
 
Please bring a note book and wear comfortable clothes.
The workshop will take place at the Studio Below, 39 Rodney Street Liverpool
 
 
Book Here

Deep Dive Creative Writing – Workshop 3 (Dialogue)

Deep Dive - Dialogue, all talk!

Course details

Kiefer Wes Williams, who’s play Orton Fallen Angel is on at Shakespeare North and his work has toured as part of Grin Theatre, is your facilitator for this course. Renown for his fast paced and touching dialogue he will introduce you to real dialogue within the structure of a play.

Sunday 1st June at 10.30 to 12.30
What to expect:
  • The key function of dialogue in a script
  • Writing effective dialogue and what it is.
  • Making people sound different using hierarchy, mood and local colour
  • Developing natural Dialogue
  • Practical exercises to explore what we have learnt
  • Editing your dialogue and avoiding bad habits
Please bring a note book and wear comfortable clothes.
The workshop will take place at the Studio Below, 39 Rodney Street Liverpool

Please note Kiefer is currently unwell so this workshop may be run by another facilitator if he is unable to attend.
Book Here

Deep Dive Creative Writing – Workshop 2 (Solo Shows)

Deep Dive - Creating a one person show

Course details

Molly Farquhar is your facilitator who is taking her award winning  one-woman show, Hairy Bastard, to Edinburgh Fringe this year. She will be on hand to guide you in writing your own solo performance whether it is auto-biographical or fiction.

 

 Sunday 18th May 12.00 to 1400

 

What to expect:
  • Finding your Story
  • Setting the Journey of your character
  • What should/shouldn’t I share
  • Adding humour
  • Giving the light and shade a rhythm
  • Avoiding the Pitfalls such as self-indulgence.
  • Cutting and editing your show 
Please bring a note book and wear comfortable clothes.
The workshop will take place at the Studio Below, 39 Rodney Street Liverpool
Book Here

Adapting a Book (A Tag Team Challenge)

Adapting books with Sharon Colpman

Course details

William Booth is a local author writing about growing up in Liverpool as a working class lad with an entrepreneurial spirit. It is essentially a love story to his wife and Liverpool itself. 

Participants will be given a section of the book to adapt for stage  and will be guided via workshops and zoom meetings to understand how a creative writer’s room works and to meet deadlines and work as a team and individually. 

Editing written work and working with a producer and a director and dramaturg is central to this Tag Team Challenge.

Writers have been selected but we will be looking for more people with other skills, later in the project. 

The course is designed to run over 5 months with group meetings to suit the participants at Studio Below, 39 Rodney Street and via zoom for mentoring purposes

Dates between: 5/2/25 and 30/6/25 

We'd love to hear from you

email: info@makeitwrite.org
The Studio Below,
39 Rodney Street,
Liverpool.
L1 9EN

Creative play writing- 8 week course

Creative Play writing with Kiefer Wes Williams

Course details

This 8-part course is delivered by Grin Theatre’s Kiefer Wes Williams aims to give writers all they need to write a full play

In this intermediate playwriting course, participants are aiming to produce a 45-minute script through guided sessions and workshops related to writing for the stage. Participants MUST have some playwriting experience as this is NOT a beginners course. 

Price £48 per person. (This can be paid in three instalments)

What you will learn

The eight sessions will cover the following elements:

Giving in to Your Muse : the writer and the imagination – how the writer can harness individual imagination through writing techniques and exercises. Also to look how inspiration plays an important role in the writing process.

Setting Goals and maintaining discipline :  How to target the writers time and delegate writing tasks in a sensible and stress-free manner. Setting realistic goals and balancing writing time and lifestyle.

Characterisation and Dialogue :   how to refine characterisation and dialogue through your writing. Understanding the importance of character development and extending how dialogue works to the writers advantage

Mapping the Journey :   Understanding the ideal plotting tools available to the writer. Realising the journey to be taken. Making use of logging techniques. Being one step ahead of the process.

Creating The Script  :    How to pull everything together in a cohesive whole. Learning to edit and facing the final draft. How to access where you are at this moment

Delivery of Script   :  To the tutor and to be given a basic assessment by both MiW and Grin Theatre. For an additional fee we can dramaturg or give a detailed assessment. This can be discussed at the end of the course.

 

The course is designed in such a way that writers are able to communicate, develop and utilise their skills in a workshop setting to eventually produce and present scripts for submissions to either MiW and/or Grin Theatre Company

The course is designed to run over the course of 8 Saturdays 10.30-12.30 at Studio Below, 39 Rodney Street

Dates between: 8/3/25 and 26/4/25 

We'd love to hear from you

email: info@makeitwrite.org
The Studio Below,
39 Rodney Street,
Liverpool.
L1 9EN

Book Here

Queer Writing in Action- MIW and Grin Theatre.

Queer Writing in Action as part of the Queer Words Weekend

 Kiefer Wes Williams (The Plays the Thing) and Sharon Colpman (Writing Together) are your facilitators to bring you a workshop that looks at writing good queer characters for your plays and spoken word.

Participants will:

  • Initiate an idea for a play, duologue or monologue
  •  Learn how to create real 3D LGBTQ+ characters without resorting to stereotypes or getting things wrong
  • Explore how to approach play writing from a queer perspective
  • Give voice to the imagination and embrace Queer words

Course details

This course will run on 1st September 2pm to 5pm. It will be held at The Studio Below (39 Rodney St. Liverpool)

Doors will be open from 1.30pm where refreshments will be available, for a prompt start at 2pm. The course finishes at 5pm. Please bring a note book and wear comfortable clothing.

All participants are welcome

The course is £10

Book Here

LGBTQ+ Theatre Making – MIW and Grin Theatre.

Producing a Queer Christmas Carol - Making Good LGBTQ+ Theatre - as part of the Queer Words Weekend

 Kiefer Wes Williams (Grin Theatre Producer) and Sharon Colpman (MIW Producer) are your facilitators to bring you a workshop that will give you a better understanding of acting, writing, directing and producing Queer Theatre, by adapting Dickens’ A Christmas Carol from a Queer perspective.

Participants will:

  • Examine the Ghost of LGBTQ Theatre past, and it’s influences on modern theatre
  • Understand the importance of diverse voices in playwriting and theatre
  • Looking at the current LGBTQ+ topics of theatre present
  • Create an ideas for how to address queer theatre for the future
  • We will put together ideas for making a Queer Christmas Carol.

Course details

This course will run on 31st August 2pm to 5pm. It will be held at The Studio Below (39 Rodney St. Liverpool)

Doors will be open from 1.30pm where refreshments will be available, for a prompt start at 2pm. The course finishes at 5pm. Please bring a note book and wear comfortable clothing.

All participants are welcome

The course is only £10

Book Here

Play with your Play – 25th April

A workshop where directors and actors play with your play. the intention is for you to introduce your work to us. Writers must attend this live event. Please do not enter if you are unable to attend.


Thurs 23rd May 7pm
The studio below, Liverpool
Facilitator Molly Farquhar and Luke Sookdeo
Deadline 12th May midnight

 We are currently looking for full plays 30-45 mins up to 3 characters that are fun and unusual, ripe for the fringe, for our director facilitators and actors to work with. They will choose three to work on live at the Studio Below. You have the chance to ask all present about your work and how to improve it. If the directors like it, you might get a chance to have it produced with us. This is a general introduction so we can get to know you. You will see your play on it’s feet and just what a director would do with it.

Please make sure your submission has a cast list at the top with ages and gender, where needed. Write a short synopsis of the performance and anything else you think might persuade us to pick your work.

Please make sure you give us full contact details including phone number.

The studio has no disabled access but do let us know and we can arrange a zoom reading at another time, should our director be interested in your play.

Email your entry to info@makeitwrite.org

Playwright’s Weekender (3rd and 4th February)

Playwright's Weekender (Your bootcamp for techique improvement)

 Kiefer Wes Williams (The Play’s the Thing) and Sharon Colpman (Writing Together) are your facilitators to bring you a whole weekend to work on understanding your technique and how to make your plays work. This course is suitable for beginners and those with no formal training in play writing. People wishing to improve on areas they struggle with will also enjoy this weekender.

 Areas covered in this course are:

  • Playwright’s Toolbox
  • Making an ideas bank
  • Characterisation
  • Dialogue
  • Plotting and structure
  • Writer’s block
  • Team writing
  • Editing
 Participants will be expected to attend both days of this 2 day course. Any participants who write a 30 minute play following this course will have priority access to Play with you Play, where your work could be chosen to be performed during the Liverpool Fringe festival.

 

Course details

This course will run over the two days of the weekend 3rd and 4th February.  It will be held at The Studio Below (39 Rodney St. Liverpool)

Door will be open from 9.30am where refreshments will be available, for a prompt start at 10am. The course finishes at 4pm each day. Please bring your own lunch or some money to buy your lunch in the surrounding shops.

The course is £60

Book Here