Horror Feature Writing 1
Online Mar 25, Apr 1, Apr 15, Apr 22, Apr 29 (5 Tuesday Afternoons)5:30pm - 8:30pm Pacific$525Limited Spots
8 Spots Left
In Tinseltown, horror’s king, so if you want to write petrifying pictures, the battle of breaking in is half-won. Low budgets and unknown talent are no barrier to success when it comes to zombies, vampires, cosmic monsters, slashers, ghosts and the supernatural.
In this five-week Online Horror Feature class, you’ll load up on high-concept, subgenre mash-up ideas and head to your imaginary cabin in the woods to pen the next breakout fear fest. Former Padder and scream scribe, Cheryl Meyer (6 films, 9 TV Shows), whose movie CARVED reached #1 on Hulu in October, will take you in a deep dive into this terrifying form, its tropes and structure. You’ll find ways to make your script shockingly producible and she’ll take you behind the scenes in bringing a monstrous creation to life. By the end of the class, you’ll understand the fundamentals of horror screenwriting craft, honed your project’s frightful premise, threatening characters, and even written a spooky spine (beat sheet) on which to rest your feature’s surprising scares & themes. C’mon, what are you afraid of? Serial killer behind you not included.
Cheryl Meyer
6 Movies Sold, 9 TV Shows
Cheryl Meyer is a film and television writer, crafting bold, genre-driven stories that captivate audiences. Over the past four years, she has had three feature films produced, sold another and was commissioned to adapt a children's horror book series, The Popchuck Chronicles, into 2 screenplays for a production company. As the co-writer of the Hulu Original CARVED—which soared to #1 internationally on the Hulu/Disney+ platform following its October 2024 release—Cheryl has solidified her place in the world of horror storytelling. CARVED took home top honors at Nightmares Film Festival and was an Official Selection at Screamfest and the VHS Vancouver Horror Show. Notably, she had two feature films screening at VHS simultaneously, with her dystopian horror ALL THE LOST ONES winning Best Narrative Feature Film and Best Writing. Her debut feature, THE LAST MARK, was a TIFF Industry Select in 2021, while her horror screenplay INVALID—currently in development—was featured on the Wscripted Cannes Screenplay List (2022). She is an alum of prestigious labs including TIFF Talent Lab, Athena Film Festival, SeriesFest Pitch-a-Thon, Stowe Story Lab, and Diversity Showrunner Bootcamp. In 2024, she was named one of Playback’s 10 to Watch. She's written on nine TV shows for Amazon, CBBC, and animated shows for Nickelodeon, Disney and Canadian networks. Cheryl was executive story editor for MY PERFECT LANDING, THE PARKER ANDERSONS/AMELIA PARKER and Co-Producer for Amazon's BEYOND BLACK BEAUTY. MORE