FILMMAKING: Screenwriting
Age group: Teens/Seniors (Grades 7-12)
Class Size: 14 max
Every great screenplay begins with a story worth telling.
In this two-day Screenwriting Workshop, award-winning writer, actor and director Ra Chapman will guide students through the process of transforming simple ideas into compelling stories for the screen. Through a series of practical writing exercises and creative prompts, students will discover where story ideas come from and learn how professional writers develop them into engaging characters, scenes and screenplays.
Across the two days, students will explore how to create authentic characters, build engaging scenes, develop conflict, and write visually for film and television. They'll learn the foundations of screenplay structure, the screenwriting principle of show, don't tell, and experience how professional writers shape, rewrite and refine their work.
Along the way, Ra will also share insights into her own writing process and what it's like to develop stories for the screen professionally.
By the end of the workshop, each student will leave with an original short story or scene script, along with the tools and confidence to continue developing their own creative voice as a screenwriter.
Teacher: Ra Chapman
Ra Chapman is a multidisciplinary writer, actor and filmmaker whose work spans film, television, documentary and theatre. Informed by her Korean adoptee background, she creates cross-cultural work that challenges existing narratives around identity and explores underrepresented perspectives.
Having recently been selected for Screen Australia’s Talent USA: NY and recognised as one of IF Magazine’s 2024 Rising Talents, Ra garnered a 2025 Australian Writers’ Guild (AWGIE) Award nomination and was shortlisted for the prestigious Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting for her TV comedy series White Fever, which she created, wrote and starred in. Ra was Artist in Residence at Malthouse Theatre, and her play K-Box debuted on the main stage in 2022 to critical acclaim.
Ra’s other notable work includes the SBS digital horror anthology Night Bloomers and the documentary series Adoptee Voices: Women of Melbourne. She recently secured a Director’s Attachment with Nina Buxton on the ABC Series Separated at Birth.
Ra’s acting career began on stage in London, playing Celia in the Jacobean classic Volpone. Since then, she has won Best Actress at the 2011 Newport Beach Film Festival for her role as Therese in David Williamson’s film adaptation of Face to Face, and was nominated for an IF Award for the same performance. Ra has filmed five seasons of Wentworth as prisoner Kim Chang, stars alongside D’Arcy Carden and Will Forte in the recent Stan series Sunny Nights (Stan), and can also be seen in Dear Life (Stan).
Dates: Wednesday 23 & Thursday 24 September (2-day workshop)
Time: 10am-3pm both days
Age Group: Teens/Seniors (Grades 7-12)
Cost: $300 (incl GST)
What to bring: Please bring some lunch, snacks, a water bottle, as well as a notebook and laptop/tablet to write (if you have one).