Filmmaking Lab Studios

LAUNCH YOUR STORY: THE SET UP

*Subscribers: this Live Online Exclusive is included in your program.

WHAT IS IT?

Set Ups are the key to launching a compelling journey.

Built as a seamless flow from JOURNEY, PLOT JOURNEY: SETUP continues the plot work that moves through the five key scenes of your story: Set Up, Point of No Return, Crisis, Evolution and End. We start at the beginning, the launch of your story, the moment your audience steps straight into the story you are telling.

Together we focus on what needs to happen in your Set Up, how to articulate it on the page, and how to land it in a shot. Scenes are selected from the class and worked on directly, so you begin to hone the five key scenes you investigate in JOURNEY.

IN THIS CLASS

1. Discover what your Set Up needs so your whole journey pays out
2. Move beyond exposition by setting up relationships in action
3. Clarify the plot event and overall actions that drive your opening
4. Land your Set Up in a shot through the principles of blocking
5. Hone the five key scenes of your 5 Point Journey

BRING YOUR WORK

Bring your work to class. Joan may select 1 to 3 scenes from class at her discretion. Prepare and have ready to share one of the following:

1. A Hot Coal (sketches, index card ideas, etc.)
2. A completed Crib Sheet from the Workbook
3. A Scene and a completed Crib Sheet
4. A Pre Shot Scene, shot on location with blocking, and a completed Crib Sheet

WHO IS IT FOR?

Writers, directors, actors, producers and all artists shaping a story for film or series.

A natural next step for artists fresh from JOURNEY SEPT 2026!