Kate Montgomery: Conjure Better Characters

What makes Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Holly Golightly, and Walter White all so unforgettable? Bigger than life yet somehow also accessible, these characters have all made us feel genuine emotion. “While we may not respect all their choices,” says instructor Kate Montgomery, “they have still managed to draw us in and make us care. If our best stories have just one thing in common, it’s a protagonist who stays with us long after the book is closed, or the screen has gone dark.”

This workshop will focus on how to develop and then reveal a compelling and memorable main character. You’ll also learn how to craft a formidable antagonist and a lively mix of supporting players who will feel real and three-dimensional, even if they’re only in the story briefly.

Says Kate: “We’ll explore the importance of character consistency and paradox, the dynamics of character contrast, and how to craft character relationships that enlighten and intrigue the audience and keep the story moving forward. We’ll also look at ways to deepen characters to make them both more sympathetic and surprising.”

Through a combination of brief lectures (with hand-outs you keep for reference), writing exercises & creative games, this workshop is an opportunity for both new and seasoned writers to hone tools they can put to use in a short story, novel, or screenplay.

Kate Montgomery wrote, directed and produced the Sundance indie feature Christmas in the Clouds, which won top honors at festivals in Austin, Santa Fe, Vancouver, Philadelphia and Ft. Lauderdale, and endorsements from Oprah Winfrey & Roger Ebert. She executive produced the micro-indie, Ever Since the World Ended, which won at the SF Indie Fest and the London Sci-Fi Film Festival. She has optioned & sold screenplays to producers and studios in the US, Canada and UK, and works for hire as a script editor and production consultant. Her current feature projects include the Italian romantic comedy Pane Vine, and the western Stealing Lily, for which she also wrote the adaptation. She has taught screenwriting to first & second year film students at the Weengushk Film Institute, where participants developed original stories from concept to camera-ready scripts.