Don’t just be someone with a story, be someone with a screenplay.
Start your writing journey today.
Who am I?
I’m a professional writer, story liner and screenwriting coach with more than 30 years’ experience writing for television, film, theatre and radio. I’ve written for award winning dramas in Welsh and English, for BBC and HTV. I was the lead writer on the HTV Drama Nuts and Bolts and the S4C drama Caerdydd and written hundreds of hours of radio drama and numerous other screenplay credits and stage productions.
I don’t just teach screenwriting theory, I teach you practical steps that will get your story down on paper. I know how difficult it is to turn an idea into a great script—and how to solve the problems that inevitably arise along the way. My coaching gives you the practical tools, honest feedback and professional insight you need to develop your story, strengthen your script and, most importantly, finish it.
Alongside my professional writing career, I led the MA Screenwriting program at the University of South Wales and taught screenwriting at The Lir in Dublin. I’m also a graduate of the EAVE and Arista, European filmmaker programmes.
From Fuzz to Focus
The complete course offers you a strategy that will get you from your initial idea to a finished draft.
It comes in three parts and all three parts can be followed separately or consecutively.
Part 1 - Find your story
Your story forms the back bone of this ten week course. That spark in your head can become an industry formatted short script. We’ll cover Ideas, Character, Dialogue, Theme, Beginnings, Middles, Endings, Show Don’t Tell and Readability.
More details here
Start date -Sept 28th 2026
Cost £250
Part 2 - Write your story
Now you’ve got a story let’s focus on making it stronger with a deeper dive into why stories work. By looking at scenes, beats, sequences and acts you’ll discover how to build your story from the ground up into a compelling feature-length screenplay.
More details here
Start date -Jan 2027
Cost £250
Part 3 - Pitch your story
Take your story from a great idea to an industry-ready proposition. Learn how to create compelling loglines, pitches and treatments. Gaining the skills, materials and confidence to present your story professionally giving it the best possible chance of getting noticed.
More details here
Start date -Apr 2027
Cost £250
Testimonials
Part 1 - Find your story - (Mondays - 1900-2100 GMT) Starting Sept 28th 2026
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Every story begins with a spark — but every idea needs developing before it becomes a story. This week, you’ll explore how simple concepts can shape into a screenplay and how to instil drama into your initial ideas as well as starting to develop the foundations of your short script.
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Great stories are driven by characters we care about. This week, you’ll focus on getting to know your hero, exploring their wants, their needs, their flaws and fears. You’ll discover how character creates conflict and drives the story forward, giving your screenplay emotional depth and ensuring your characters feel like people rather than simply vehicles for the plot.
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Dialogue isn't just typing words on a page. It’s crafted language that reveals character, creates conflict, delivers information and keeps the story moving. This week, you’ll explore what makes screen dialogue engaging and authentic, how to make your characters sound real and believable.
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This week, you’ll explore the principle of show, don't tell, because film is a visual medium, and screenwriting works best when audiences we experience the story rather than simply being told about it. Show don't tell is about action, behaviour, imagery and visual detail that communicates character and emotion. Learn how to write economically and visually; asking the audience to fill in the gaps.
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What’s your story “really” about? This week, you’ll explore theme and find how your screenplay can communicate complex ideas without being preachy. You’ll learn how theme emerges naturally through character conflicts and choices. Helping your story develop greater meaning and giving your screenplay something for audiences to think about after the end credits.
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The opening pages your screenplay will be the toughest to write: they need to establish the world and introduce characters while making us want to keep reading. This week, you’ll explore what makes for a great beginning, from opening images and character introductions to establishing conflict and creating a strong dramatic question.
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Great endings don't simply stop the story — they complete it. Explore what makes an ending feel earned, emotionally satisfying as well as being connected to everything that’s happened before. You’ll focus on your character’s transformation and learn how your final pages deliver the impact your story deserves.
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Your story will need more than great characters and ideas — it’ll need shape. This week, you’ll explore the three-act structure, how turning points and narrative beats give your story pace. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to use structure as a tool rather than a formula, giving you the confidence to shape your story in a way that works for you.
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This week focuses on making your screenplay clear, engaging and easy to move through on the page. You’ll discover screenplay style, formatting, description, pacing and economy, so your script will feel effortless to read whilst creating vivid pictures in the reader's imagination.
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After submitting your screenplay before class, you’ll get valuable feedback from both tutors and your peers. You’ll discover what’s working, what needs to change and where your next draft should go. You’ll finish the course with a completed industry-formatted short screenplay and a clear plan for taking it further.
Part 2 - Write your story - Start date TBC - (Tuesdays - 1900-2100 GMT)
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Your story starts with someone who wants something — but they don’t necessarily know what they need. We’ll explore who your main character is at the beginning of the story, what they believe, what they want and what is missing from their life. Through practical exercises, you’ll establish the character’s journey of change that will drive your screenplay.
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Characters only change when something challenges them. We’ll explore how conflict exposes character, tests beliefs and forces difficult choices. You’ll create scenes that put your protagonist under pressure and discover how conflict can reveal character while simultaneously moving your story forward.
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Every scene should leave your character — and your story — somewhere different. We’ll look at objectives, obstacles, choices and turning points, then put them into practice. You’ll examine your own scenes and ask the crucial question: “What changes here?” If nothing changes, why does the scene need to exist?
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Individual scenes become sequences: a series of events that put increasing pressure on your protagonist. We’ll explore how sequences can challenge a character’s assumptions, create setbacks and force new choices. You’ll build sequences from your own story and begin to see how each one is meant to move your character closer to change.
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Let’s zoom out. By connecting sequences together, we start to see the shape of an act — and the stages of your character’s journey within it. You’ll map your protagonist’s changing circumstances, choices and understanding how an act takes your character from one emotional and dramatic state to another.
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Stories are built around big moments of change. We’ll look at inciting incidents, act turning points, midpoints, crises and climaxes, defining what each moment means for your protagonist and why they’re so vital. Working through the moments when your character is forced to make choices they couldn’t have made at the beginning of the story.
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Now you’ve got a story, let’s explore the structures that make stories stronger. We’ll look at the principles behind the three-act structure, and discover how they could give your screenplay momentum, direction and purpose without taking away from your creativity.
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Continuing our exploration of story structures, we’ll take a deeper look, the five-act and other narrative structures and you’ll begin to see how a feature-length story can be shaped into a whole dramatic arc that leaves you and your reader feeling satisfied.
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Change rarely comes easily. We’ll explore how to continually increase the pressure on your protagonist, raising the emotional and dramatic stakes as the story progresses. Through practical exercises, you’ll discover how obstacles can become progressively harder and how each challenge demands that your character adapt themselves and change.
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Now we put everything together. You’ll map your character’s journey from beginning to end, seeing their transformation in your scenes, sequences, acts and story beats. Together, we’ll identify where the change is convincing, where it needs more pressure and where opportunities exist to make the emotional journey more powerful. You’ll leave with a clearer, stronger story — and a structure built around a character journey your audience can invest in.
Part 3 - Pitch your story - Start date TBC -(Wednesdays - 1900-2100 GMT)
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Now you have a script; what’s next? Being a writer is only part of working professionally. This week introduces the idea of becoming industry ready: understanding how writers communicate and present their ideas to producers, commissioners and other industry professionals. You’ll explore the journey from raw idea to pitchable concept and learn how professional development documents help communicate the potential of your story.
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Your logline is usually the first impression your story makes. You’ll learn how to distil your screenplay into a focused sentence that communicates the protagonist, goal, their central conflict and how they chagne. Through examples and practical exercises, you’ll develop, test and refine your own logline until it makes someone want to know more.
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How do you tell someone your entire story in just one page? Let’s focus on writing an engaging, concise one-pager that manages to communicate your entire story, from beginning to end. You’ll learn how to identify the essential elements of your narrative, communicate character journeys and reveal the ending while maintaining the reader’s interest.
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A treatment takes your story beyond the logline and outline, allowing you to demonstrate how the screenplay will actually work. You’ll learn how to structure and write a professional treatment, using your story’s major beats, characters, conflicts and turning points. You’ll begin transposing your idea into a captivating narrative document that lets others to see the film in cinema of their mind.
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A vital step to realising your script. When done correctly it offers a complete overview of the screenplay, from start to finish and allows the reader to scan the film quickly. For you as a writer it’s an essential document before drafting your script.
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Great television concepts are about stories that can keep developing. This week you’ll explore series arcs, character development and episodic storytelling, learning how to create a series grid that demonstrates progression and escalation. You’ll develop the wider shape of your series and consider how individual episodes contribute to a compelling overall narrative.
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Building on last week’s session you’ll translate the grid into your bible. If you want to write a television or streaming series, you need to demonstrate that your idea can sustain more than one episode. This week you’ll work the series bible: a document that covers premise, world, characters, tone, themes and the story engine that drives the series. You’ll learn how to communicate not just your pilot ep, but the bigger world and ongoing potential of your concept.
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A great written idea still needs to come alive in the room. This week is all about transforming your logline, synopsis and treatment into a confident, engaging spoken pitch. You’ll explore pitch structure, storytelling, vocal delivery, timing and audience engagement, while developing a pitch that communicates not only what your project is about, but why people should care about it.
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This week is your opportunity to put your pitch under pressure. You’ll deliver your project to others, receive constructive feedback and identify where your story, structure or delivery can be strengthened. Through repeated practice, you’ll learn to communicate your ideas clearly, handle questions and develop the confidence needed to present your work professionally.
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The course culminates in a professional-style pitch presentation. You’ll present your project, supported by the development materials you’ve created throughout the course, and respond to questions about your story and its potential.