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Watch live panels featuring screenwriters as they break down their techniques for crafting compelling scripts and navigating the entertainment industry.

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April 30, 2025

The Book Skeleton Workshop: How to Structure Your Story Before Writing a Single Word

In The Book Skeleton, bestselling author and book coach Rea Frey will guide you through building the invisible structure that every strong book needs. Before you write a single word, you’ll design the "bones" of your story—giving you a clear, flexible blueprint to move forward with confidence, momentum, and creative flow.

Book Pipeline

Book Pipeline connects writers to publishers, agents, and the film industry through competitions and workshops, providing hands-on support to bridge the gap between emerging authors and the industry since 2014.

Script Pipeline

Script Pipeline connects writers with producers, agents, and managers, facilitating over $8 million in sales through competitions and ongoing industry support, helping launch major films and secure high-profile representation since 1999.

Film Pipeline

Film Pipeline connects filmmakers and writers with agencies and executives, focusing on diverse storytelling and playing an active role in developing and promoting projects, reviewing thousands of submissions annually since its launch in 2018.

The Perfect Ten: How to Grab the Reader

Recorded

April 10, 2024

Duration

2 Hours

Cost

$35

Subject

Screenwriting

Topic

Craft

A killer first ten pages—the kind that’ll make an executive want to keep reading your script--boils down to a few key elements.

We’ll discuss what those elements are, cite great examples from exemplary screenplays, and do some live exercises together that will help you develop the perfect ten (or close to it ...) for your script.

In this session, we will cover the following:

  • Discuss the core elements that must go into your first ten pages.
  • Discover how to show your unique voice as a writer.
  • Explore how to prime the reader for the structure you’re about to build in your story.
  • Build a first page that will grab the reader right away.
  • Look at examples from iconic screenplays to see what works, and why it works.
  • Q&A

Host

Merridith Allen
Merridith Allen is a theater-trained performer and storyteller with an extensive background in martial arts. She writes about women wrestling with their demons (read: kicking their demons in the teeth), with a special focus on female-driven martial arts, drama, action, and dramedy. Excerpts from Merridith's produced plays can be found in over a dozen anthologies through […]

Education for creators.

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Upcoming Events

April 30, 2025

The Book Skeleton Workshop: How to Structure Your Story Before Writing a Single Word

In The Book Skeleton, bestselling author and book coach Rea Frey will guide you through building the invisible structure that every strong book needs. Before you write a single word, you’ll design the "bones" of your story—giving you a clear, flexible blueprint to move forward with confidence, momentum, and creative flow.
May 7, 2025

How to Determine the Best Medium for Your Story

What medium is the best fit for your story? Is it a play? A screenplay? A TV show? If it’s best told using narrative prose, should it be a short story? A novel? Somewhere in between? We'll go over the specific strengths and weaknesses of each medium, as well as the additions and sacrifices required for adapting a story from one medium to another.
May 13, 2025

Writing for Comics: Finding an Artist and Comic Distribution

Recently nominated by the Chicago Reader as the best comic book writer in Chicago, comic writer and founder of Avina Comics John Aviña will demonstrate how to find an artist, spot common scams, how to be a good collaborator with an illustrator, and also share best ways to distribute your work once your project is complete, whether that be in traditional publishing or as an independent comic creator.

Latest Streaming

April 16, 2025

How to Build Pitch Decks for Development and Inspiration

Maya will walk you through the importance of this document and break down the different components needed for your deck to truly stand out from the rest. No design experience necessary—you’ll get plenty of her best tips and tricks from her many years and expertise as a graphic artist (and no, you do NOT need to use A.I. ...)
April 1, 2025

Spies, Lies, and the Secrets We Keep – Spy fiction, what is it and how do we write it?

In this 2-part event, get a a deeper understanding of what makes a novel fall into the spy fiction genre, as well as how to write stories that possess the basic elements of spy novels. The principles also apply to thriller and mystery genres.
March 18, 2025

Writing for Comics

In this session with comic writer and founder of Avina Comics, John Aviña, you will learn how to tell stories in a sequential manner, and write for not only your audience but also for an artist. John will cover panel layouts, budgeting space for dialogue and telling a character arc across one issue. The goal […]

Symposium, presented by Pipeline Artists, is a year-round virtual conference empowering creatives with honest, no-nonsense guidance across the arts. Through seminars, industry panels, and Town Hall discussions on screenwriting, filmmaking, publishing, and career-building, Symposium offers grounded advice from working professionals to help you forge your own unique path.

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