Night School Bar is pleased to announce that applications are now open for a yearlong screenwriting workshop: 

The 2027 Screenwriting Yearlong Workshop will run from January-December, 2027. We are accepting applications until November 30, 2026, and will finalize the cohort — maximum of 8 people per workshop — by December 12, 2026. 

APPLY HERE

Overview:

Please join a small group of screenwriters in either fiction or non-fiction, in any genre. This workshop provides you an opportunity to develop your visual writing sensibilities, hone your unique perspective, and receive rigorous, constructive, and compassionate feedback on your work. Your work can be either short films, the pilot of a series, or a feature film. Traditional documentaries, non-fiction video essays, and hybrid documentaries are more than welcome and I will help introduce students to the A/V documentary “script” format.

Structure:

• 10 workshop meetings January-June and September-November, 2pm-5pm ET, 3rd Saturday of the month, at Night School Bar in Durham, NC.

• August 2-day retreat, 3rd Saturday and Sunday, 1-5 pm

• 2 final full manuscript workshops in December - in person

• 1-hour accountability and generative meetings on Zoom (1st Saturdays): 12pm-1pm

• No meetings in July; you will submit and receive written feedback from colleagues

Each participant will be offered the opportunity to share and workshop ideas, outlines, and 15-90 pages of work ten times over the course of the year, to be discussed with the entire group or in smaller work groups or pairs. I will provide guidelines for workshop best practices with the goal of co-creating a warm space for you to share vulnerable work both compassionately and rigorously. 

You will be able to share completed and revised work in our December meetings. In NSB’s fiction and non-fiction manuscript workshops, many students completed full-length manuscripts, while others developed and refined shorter sections. Previous workshop participants have seen their work published by a variety of journals and presses.

Monthly submissions will be due one full week before the meeting date. Participants should expect to spend 3-6 hours per month reading other participants’ work, in addition to their own writing time. Each month, you should read the other participants’ work carefully and be prepared to discuss each writer’s work in detail. You may occasionally be asked to provide written feedback.

Tuition

Tuition for the entire yearlong program is: $2200. We will be able to offer one half scholarship per section ($1100 total tuition payment). A $350 non-refundable deposit will be due by December 20 for accepted students (except scholarship students, for whom a $100 deposit will be required). The remaining tuition will be due by January 10. Students may opt to check-out with PayPal if they would like to pay in installments. 

Application Questions

1. What do you want to work on? (e.g., short film, pilot, feature)

2. Type of film? (e.g., fiction, documentary, hybrid, video essay, experimental)

3. What stage are you at? (e.g., idea, draft, or archiving if doing documentary)

4. What are your goals for this workshop? This can be personal and/or craft oriented.

5. What is your communication style when giving feedback?

6. How do you manage conflict within a group setting? Within yourself and with others?

7. Include a short writing sample (max 5 pages) from your work-in-progress, or previous related work. If you don’t have this, please write a pitch for your idea that includes:

   1. What are you making? A short, feature, pilot?

   2. Logline — a brief 1-3 sentence essence of your project, if you have one.

   3. Coherent story summary — this is not a beat-by-beat plot summary. What is the crux of your story? What are the most important elements we should know about? This can include:

      1. Setting

      2. Character(s) and their goals, needs, problems, challenges.

   4. What is the meaning of the story? Its themes?

   5. What are your goals as a writer?

8. Tuition for this yearlong program is: $2200. We also currently have funds to offer two half scholarships. Will you be requesting a scholarship for this course? Y/N

Apply for the 2027 Screenwriting Yearlong Workshop

Facilitator Sowjana Kudva | Monthly January-June, September-November: 3rd Saturdays 2-5 PM Eastern Time | August Retreat 3rd Saturday and Sunday 1-5 PM | December Final Workshops | Monthly check-in and accountability meetings: 1st Saturdays online, 12-1 PM | No meetings in July.