Out of the Box | Writing Seminar with Billy MacKinnon

“This will be a series of weekly seminars aimed at bringing an existing film and film script into quite another form – the form of stageplay.

We recognise that the present opportunities for feature film development and production here in Greece are rather limited. Writing from screen to stage may offer a practical way forward which is still challenging and still contemporary. We will look at the process of dramatic writing for both stage and screen. Conventional screenplay structures will be looked at, but not taken too seriously. The object of our exercise is reinvention, not repetition. The stage may be restricted in its physical possibilities, but as an imaginary and conceptual space, it is unlimited. From one medium to another, we will take on the crucial exercises of story development – deconstruction, reconstruction, narrative, character, and dialogue.

Seminars and exercises will take place in English. Total proficiency is not necessary: in written exercises in particular, it will be ideas that are important, not grammar Above all, the close involvement of each participant will be required. Exercises will be set, and shared and discussed. There will be periods of formal teaching, but at others we will take an approach more like the ‘workshop’ process. The full range of development tasks will be considered, from the creative, to the editorial. Questions will not only be welcome, but expected.

To begin, we will consider an adaptation of the film and screenplay of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s ‘Fear eats the Soul’ (1974). This is the story of a much older, lonely German woman and a young Moroccan man, and the love between them. As such, it feels particularly relevant to the difficulties and issues of a present-day Athens”. – Billy MacKinnon

Info:
Every Saturday, from the 11th of January to the 29th of February 2020
Schedule: 11:00 – 14:00 (8 three-hour classes)
Apply at: info@polychorosket.gr and 69.45.34.84.45
Cost: 200€ (you may pay tuition fees in installments)
*The seminar will take place in the english language.

*Billy MacKinnon will give an introductory presentation about the seminar on Saturday, January 4th. The presentation as well as the seminar, will take place in the english language.

Billy MacKinnon has written or produced four international feature films, and story edited/consulted many more, including Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning ‘The Piano’. His work as writer has won numerous international awards including, for ‘Small Faces’, best European feature film (Rotterdam Tiger) and best British feature film (Edinburgh). A third feature, ‘Hideous Kinky’ was written for BBC Films, and shot in Morocco with Kate Winslett and Said Taghmaoui. He has also been an academic editor in social anthropology for the Max Planck Institute and Humboldt Universities, and fellowship writer at the Royal National Theatre, London. His 2016 feature film ‘Dawn’ was based on the novel by Nobel Laureate Elie Weisel and shot in Tel Aviv and Zurich. As poet/songwriter he has written for experimental performance groups in Zurich, Berlin, and Seoul. A recent volume of his poetry ‘A Street in Athens’ is published by Biblioteque Publications, Athens. He is currently resident in Athens and Berlin.