WRITING Department
#firecrackerWRITINGdept
Where Firecrackers come together to encourage, collaborate, and inspire one another as they write their stories.
Firecracker Writing Department
We welcome creators at all levels to tell their stories. We encourage supportive spaces with like-minded individuals. We offer workshops, book clubs, and more! Want us to host a script reading for you? Shoot us an email.
Scriptwriting Workshops – 2024
All levels of writers are welcome. The benefits of the workshop setting await you!
“Liesl’s Scriptwriting Workshop is a must for any writer with a project to finish. Hearing your work read aloud is a transformative experience. The high quality of feedback from the group is helpful and immediately actionable. Liesl’s experience and insights are worth the investment in yourself and your work.” - Yvonne Shieck, Screenwriter
How is your script coming along? Do you have a draft collecting dust, a ripe idea ready to harvest, or a blank page staring back at you? Come and join us for a Scriptwriting Workshop. We meet once a week for ten weeks on Zoom. You submit up to twenty pages every second week and receive facilitated feedback from associate writers. With your five turns, for example, you can complete a full-length draft, a pilot and pitch deck, a podcast, or web series during our Scriptwriting Workshop.
What makes our Scriptwriting Workshops unique?
Finish a draft… You work on your own script the whole time. Over the ten weeks, you submit pages for professionally facilitated peer feedback, which can result in a complete draft of a feature film, a pilot and pitch deck, a web series or a podcast. You set your own goals with an emphasis on accountability. Artists respond to deadlines!
Attention to details… our Scriptwriting Workshops provide a consistent opportunity to listen to your pages read aloud. This practice allows you to hear whether or not your jokes are landing, your rhythms are building, or if you have too much exposition. Over the ten weeks, your script is broken into sections allowing for a keen focus on the dramatic action and comedic impact of every beat. We look at the big picture and the details!
Professional Facilitation… With several sets of eyes on your work, the peer feedback is diverse and varied, which is a bonus for you, and this is also where professional facilitating becomes key. We guide the notes to you in a supportive and palatable way. Bonus, on Zoom you can record your notes sessions - very handy!
Learn by doing… Many similar products on the market are pitched as ‘courses’, where they teach ‘the basics’. In our workshops there is no curriculum, you learn through group discussions, access to our library of resources, Craft Talks and spending a bunch of time writing your own script!
What are Craft Talks? When a writer identifies a need for knowledge about a topic related to their process, such as pitching, formatting or how to write a logline, we provide the essentials and lead the discussion. Essentially, we cover ‘script basics’ in an organic way.
Fall 2024
Sunday – Sep 22 to Dec 15 (except Sep 29, Oct 13 and Nov 10)
Time - 1:00pm to 4:05pm ET/ 10:00am to 1:05pm PT
Cost - $500
Click here to apply…
Story Editing with Liesl Lafferty
In an effort to direct writers to generate a script that is viable, Liesl will read your piece, prepare notes and give feedback over Zoom or the phone. After the meeting, she will send your script with notes, and then follow up on your progress as requested.
Some things that will be considered;
What is meaningful, compelling or impactful?
What questions, bumps or confusion come up?
Is anything unclear in the story?
Notes come on three levels;
Primary notes reflecting gut impressions and overall structure
Deeper notes on things like action, character and scene structure
Finishing notes pertaining to details like punctuation and formatting
In addition to providing accessible feedback throughout the entire creation process, Liesl will provide resources on log lines, story spines, pitching and more, from her stack of extremely well organized notes.
$75 per hour - For a script with standard formatting approximately 2hrs per 30 pages.
To set up an introductory meeting, please fill out this form…
Facilitated by the Head of the Firecracker Writing Department, Liesl Lafferty. Liesl is a scriptwriter, story editor, and Jessie award-winning director, focusing mainly on creating and developing new works. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. www.liesllafferty.com
Log Line Factory - Free Consultations - Ongoing
“Thank you for your advice and encouragement. I think it worked! I wouldn't have submitted without the feedback.” - Janet Munsil – Writer, Instructor
In these 20-minute sessions with Liesl Lafferty, writers practice their pitches, review their log lines, or talk through their blockages. Plus, Liesl has lots of resources to share.
Date - Every Monday
Time - 12:00pm to 1:00pm PT/ 3:00pm to 4:00pm ET
Cost - Free!
To sign up for a free consultation, click here…
Writing Department Team
Liesl Lafferty
Department Head
Liesl Lafferty (she/her) is a scriptwriter, story editor, facilitator, and Jessie award-winning director, focusing on creating and developing new works. She is the Head of the Firecracker Writing Department, where she runs Scriptwriting Workshops, Script Readings, and Industry-related Book Clubs. With colleague Olesia Shewchuck, Liesl runs a writer’s accountability room called Write on the Clock. Liesl has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. There, she also created a limited series podcast, interviewing artists from around the world about how to make a living in the arts!
Together. Creatively.