John Yorke - Into the woods

-How stories work and why we tell them

Alma Manusutbildning, Lindholmen science park, YRGO Manusförfattareutbildning, Filmkontoret Göteborg stad, Region Värmland

Description

In his bestselling book Into the Woods, John Yorke argues that story structure is hardwired into human perception: all stories are essentially the same because they reflect the way in which we make sense of the world.

What is this deep-rooted story DNA? Put simply, a hero meets their opposite, assimilates it and is changed. Every story, at some level, follows this pattern – whether in a video game, novel or brand story. It’s the natural way that the human brain interprets and organises information.

In Into the Woods, John uses examples gathered over his 30-year career studying and teaching five-act story structure while making film and TV drama watched by millions of people around the globe.

Into the Woods is just not a how-to book for scriptwriters. It is a philosophical approach to communicating more effectively, in a way that resonates with the deepest part of the human psyche – through story.

The lecture includes

Structure and Writers Rooms
How structural theory works in the real world.  The mechanics of Writers Rooms and how they fit into a larger chain of production.Touching on how giving notes, feedback and best behaviours.

Television Structure
The rules of television structure how technology has transformed the way we tell stories and how television has learned to manipulate structure for both economic and artistic end. From old fashioned series and serials, to modern Closed Season arcs – we explore just how modern television drama works – includes brief practical exercise.

OBS: NY LOKAL TILL FÖRELÄSNINGEN - ALLA FÅR PLATS!
Alla som har anmält sig får nu precis plats i den nya lokalen som tar 150 personer, lokalen är Lindholmen Conference Center, strax innanför entrén på Lindholmen Science Park. Lokal: Pascal.

Story consultant: John Yorke

John Yorke is Managing Director of Angel Station where he works as a drama producer, consultant and lecturer on all forms of storytelling. A former MD of Company Pictures where he Exec Produced Wolf Hall, he’s worked as both Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production. As a commissioning Editor/Executive Producer, he championed huge British hits such as  Life On Mars, The Street, Shameless and Bodies and in 2005 he created the BBC Writers Academy, a year-long in-depth training scheme which has produced a generation of successful television writers – many who have gone on to have their own shows.  

John is a BAFTA winner and Visiting Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  He lives in London but works as a story consultant worldwide.

https://www.johnyorkestory.com/

Photographer: Sara MacKey

INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS – the biggest selling screenwriting book in the UK for the last six years, about how and why we tell stories. Into the Woods is just not a how-to book for scriptwriters. It is a philosophical approach to communicating more effectively, in a way that resonates with the deepest part of the human psyche – through story.