Jill Chamberlain of The Screenplay Workshop offers her tried and true method: The Nutshell Technique. Just break it down and find the guts of your story.

Nutshell Your Screenplay for Success: Austin Film Society partners with the Screenplay Workshop for Seminar - Screens Blog - The Austin Chronicle

If, like many of us, you're still reeling after attending a full week of story-centric film festivals, your idea mill is either churning at record speed or it has ground to a halt from sheer exhaustion.

Perhaps today's undead sightings and sexy apples will trigger new characters and plots; maybe you have finally collected all those scribbled-on bar napkins. No matter the reason, it is essential to jot the story down, dig in, and determine whether the mystery of grandma's lost necklace is a workable script. But, how? Jill Chamberlain of The Screenplay Workshop offers her tried and true method: The Nutshell Technique. Just break it down and find the guts of your story.

When a friend signed up for a five-week Screenwriting Fundamentals class taught by The Screenplay Workshop’s founding director, Jill Chamberlain, I subscribed to the email blasts. "Someday," I thought, "I’ll get crackin’ on these ideas free-floating in my brain." Scraps here, busted story arcs there – but not much came of my half-assed efforts … until I learned to Nutshell last month.