Kate Montgomery: Screenwriting classes

Hi Jane,

Catherine’s 1-day screenwriting intro was perfect. More please.

Catherine is terrific. Her passion and energy for her art is clear. She was anecdotal, forthright, engaging, and informative. She drew us out of our writerly shells and had us creating on demand. It was fun. While the interactive screenplay activity engaged us, it also taught me some new tricks. When I take away something from a workshop, and put into my writer’s toolkit — it’s a win-win for me.

Thanks again for the opportunity.

Brenda

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I’m going to have to take another writing class to be able to describe fully how amazing Kate’s class was.

Now, this may sound like a cliche, but Kate inspired me to make time in my life for what I really want to do, write stories. And that’s hard, I’m a cynical Eastern European, hard to impress and convince.But now I’m going to spend a couple of hours each week to write something down, and if she’ll invite me I’ll go to all her events and workshops, pitch my story ideas, and do my best to create amazing work.

She is an incredibly charismatic, and it feels great to be around her. But the whole inspiration part is what makes her a standout teacher.

Hi Jane & Kate,

I felt both the class (Intro to Screenwriting) and teacher were excellent. The course met my expectations and provided me with a roadmap of what other courses might help me write a good screenplay (such as a course that focuses on writing a captivating dialogue between characters.) There was a lot to cover and yet I received a bounty of helpful information. Kate radiated a genuine passion for writing screenplays and I enjoyed when she made us laugh while doing impersonations. The fact that Kate came from a position of experience was very important to me. She effectively shared the mechanics and structure of a screenplay with an excellent suggestion of setting the right environnent while writing (ie, playing music in the background that complements the mood of the screenplay/script.) What a great idea to immerse the senses for creativity! Love it. As a first time student of the Writing Salon I would recommend this experience and I look forward to trying out my second workshop next month in Berkeley.

All the Best,

Nancy Lucas

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On to the specifics:

* The class was well structured, and the information and handouts are easy to understand.
* We had one exercise, and it was intriguing. In my opinion, she created a safe environment where everyone felt good about sharing.
Because I’m eastern European, I do have to mention I would have preferred she would have been franker about when we said stupid stuff or made mistakes. But we’re a particular bunch and often it’s harder to do that in this setting.
* Pumpkin cake.
* The post class support. This is really important, I felt this class was the beginning of a bigger thing (and it should be, I’d pay for more). This should be a class about writing our first screenplay and trying to sell it. I’m curious what’s going to happen next, and I am excited about that prospect.
* The place where we had the workshop was very cozy, I loved the atmosphere.

Thanks!

-Radu

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It was a wonderful class! Kate really helped us understand the structure of a screenplay and had great tips on how to get the creative process of writing started. I’d love to be able to take a continuation of the course at some point . . . Thanks for the great experience!!

Prit K.

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This class went beyond my expectations. Learned a lot. Thought Kate was great, and wonderful, engaged group of students. I particularly liked the very concrete information about the structure of a screenplay, as well as talking through several ideas at the end of class, using the structure as a guide. The input from Kate and other students – invaluable!

Look forward to taking more classes at the Writing Salon, and with Kate!

Lillian S.

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P.K.

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Hi Jane,
Kate’s class met the expectations I had re: learning about structure, character, and workshops. I especially enjoyed workshopping the acts of our stories. The improvisational exercises were helpful with dialogue and character for me.

Overall, I thought Kate’s teaching style was excellent, and particularly helpful for me when it came to understanding the structure needed for marketability of scripts. I also gained a better understanding of rhythm for my script.

Thank!
Tony

Kate Montgomery, Intro to Screenwriting