A workshop by and with Pål Jackman & Jon Garcia de Presno
No one knows what you do or how you do it.
Not even yourself. Can you even remember the last time you had a conversation about how you even identify motivation?
This is a MasterClass where you are a master among masters.
We organize tasks where you, dear potential participants, will get to explore your own methods, exchange ideas, and play and experiment with acting and drama in a way you cannot do alone in the office, in the dark, alone.
Program goals:
We will explore what makes a dramatic scene good for a director, and what makes it good for actors.
We will play and explore the innermost mechanics of what and how a dramatic scene unfolds from a writer, director, and actor's perspective.
We want to give directors and writers the opportunity to challenge themselves to delve into their understanding of their own methods – and perhaps most importantly, create an arena where directors talk together about directing – something they famously never otherwise get the chance to do.
Date: May 22 and 23
Duration: 17:00 – 20:00
Number of participants: 6-8
Target group: writers and directors, some experience/competence is required. Two places are reserved for talents.
Registration by May 1, 2025
Day 1 (3h + break)
1: Warm-up: flow writing x3
2: Divide into pairs.
The pairs will improvise a dialogue. (7min)
This is recorded on audio and transcribed into text. (10 min)
2a: The pairs exchange text
Individually try to rewrite the dialogue into a scene to the best of their ability and taste (10min)
2b: We select 3 texts at random.
The participants make a directorial breakdown of the scene (motivation, action, subtext, shift and breaks)2c: The scene should be played on the floor by the participants.
This is done several times with several interruptions and breaks, where the participant contributes their ideas about which actions (internal and external and motivations the characters take)
Summary of goals day 1: improvisational drawing, creativity,
idea development, playing with actions (internal and external) and motivations.
Day 2 (3h + break)
1: Warm-up: flow writing x3
2: Exquisite corpse* – 2 groups of 4.
(Exquisite Corpse: Writers Take Over
And continue each other's story.)
3: Improvise a scene.
Establish a given circumstance with setting + 1 character.
As in Exquisite Corpse, it's a round of finding the next step,
beat or action in the story. No censorship, just build-up. Aimed at
maximize interest or conflict or stakes or aesthetics. Develop into a small scene -> manage to contain at least 2 characters.
4: The groups switch scripts. Everyone must act out the scenes, while talking and explaining what kind of ACTIONS and motivations they think they can use to maximize interest.
Discuss and find suggestions and solutions together.
An occasional workshop
