Join author and screenwriter Shahrukh Husain and storyteller Shonaleigh for three months of exploring how to turn stories into screenplays. We welcome storytellers, authors, puppeteers, krankie makers, and creative artists of all types to this course. Develop your writing skills to create robust plots, compelling characters and excellent dialogue.
Sessions will happen on Zoom on Wednesday nights 7.30-9.30pm on March 11th, 18th, 25th, April 1st, 8th, (15th no session), 22nd, 29th, May 6th, 13th, 20th. Bring along a story you want to turn into a screenplay.
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Shahrukh Husain is a screenwriter, author, and mentor whose work spans film, television, and literature. Her screenwriting credits include the feature film In Custody, produced by Merchant Ivory Productions, which won the President of India’s Gold Award and submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She also wrote Lyla for Buena Vista, establishing her reputation in character-driven storytelling for major studios.
She is the creator of the acclaimed television drama series Beecham House, bringing complex South Asian narratives to a global audience, which was aired on ITV, PBS and Netflix. Alongside her professional writing career, Shahrukh has worked for many years as a screenwriting mentor, supporting both emerging and established writers. In addition to her screen work, she is the author of more than thirty books for children and adults and much of her writing is rooted in folklore and mythology.
Shonaleigh is one of Europe’s leading storytellers. Having learned the Drut’syla tradition from the age of four, she carries thousands of oral stories from the Jewish tradition and shares their magic, mystery and wisdom with audiences around the world. She is an experienced and highly skilled performer, and a passionate advocate for the development of storytelling as a cultural and educational tool.
She is probably the last carrier of the Drut’syla Midrash: a powerful set of tools and techniques for developing and telling stories. For many years, Shonaleigh has shared the techniques of this tradition with students from across the globe both in-person and online through the House of the West Wind: College of Storytelling. She has also taught as associate lecturer in the University of Derby’s Creative Writing programme.