Write. Belong. Be Read.

Screenplay: Cinematic Narrative

Format

In-person Or Online

Duration

36 Hours, 12 Weeks

Current Cohort

Jan-March 2026

Next Enrolment

April-July 2026

Inperson Schedule

10am, Saturdays

Online Schedule

7pm, Fridays

from idea to publication

About Screenplay

Writing Screenplay aims to transform your original ideas into a professionally crafted, cinematic narrative with clarity and intention. Across three months of focused, seminar-style training, you will begin by channelling your voice, and build a script from one sentence to short film, feature length, show pilot, or your preferred length and format. Regardless, you will enrich your knowledge, and create characters from the ground up, use structure to explore your script’s inner workings, shape images to aid your storyline, and refine your unique gaze to articulate your artistic vision. Drawing on reception theory, screenplay fundamentals, and inter-cultural media thinking, you will learn how meaning is co-created between writer, and viewer, and how your ethical stance as a storyteller will guide every creative choice you make.

The approach of this program is built on practising a three-tiered loop of Watching, Reading, and Writing each week, integrating theory with practical craft. Weekly table-reads will mirror a professional writers’ room, helping you refine your artistic intent, individualise your characters’ conflicts, and form rhythm on the page. Short, analytical readings will reveal how gaze shapes power, representation, and how the medium shapes your message.


Whether you have an idea for a film, a series pilot, or want to find your authentic voice within today’s shifting media spectatorship, this course offers structured accountability, rigorous collaboration, and a vocabulary to professionally develop your ideas and scripts.


This pathway develops your ability to craft narrative for screen, using media theory, screenplay craft, and a deep understanding of how audiences read image and action today. You will work toward a major mid-program milestone: A 25-Page Treatment that reads like a compelling story in its own right, and clearly outlines the full cinematic logic of your script. By the end of twelve sessions, you will complete your final program milestone: A well-honed First 25 Pages of Your Script — shaped with purpose, alive with human conflict, thoughtful dialogue, and ready for further development into film, or series.

Outcomes

What You Will Achieve

  • By the end of the pathway, you will learn to craft a story in screenplay that communicates clear intention through your character’s desire, story structure, and your gaze.
  • You will create scenes that propel story forward, balance image, action, and subtext, to reveal conflict and meaning without relying on exposition — whether for film or episodic storytelling.
  • You will articulate your narrative stance and cultural positioning, conscious of how medium and audience shape interpretation.
  • You will complete a 20-Page Treatment that reads like a compelling narrative, reflecting your full vision.
  • You will produce a polished 25-pages of your feature screenplay, or pilot + series bible, demonstrating control of structure, dialogue, scene progression, and audience engagement.
  • You will ultimately demonstrate the ability to give and receive thoughtful feedback, integrating peer and instructor insight, and contribute to a supportive, collaborative writers’ room practice.
Writers

Who Screenplay is for

This pathway is designed for adults who want to craft cinematic or episodic stories with your unique vision, with clarity, and an understanding of how viewers emotionally and cognitively engage with visual storytelling. You may have a fragment of an idea, or fully formed characters and scenes that lack structural shape, or you may be writing across cultural contexts seeking the tools to handle gaze, representation, and audience expectation responsibly. If you are ready to explore narrative craft and spectatorship, this pathway offers close analysis, collaborative table-reads, and structured guidance to help you write purposefully for real audiences.

You might:
  • have story ideas that need shaping into a coherent idea for a film, or series with clear character wants, conflicts, and escalations.
  • want to understand how to create images, use structure, and develop subtext to guide viewer emotion and interpretation.
  • be open to narrative theory that clarifies how gaze, cultural positioning, and representation work.
  • seek a writers’ room community that offers engaging feedback on intention, clarity, and the responsibilities of crafting stories for diverse audiences across multiple mediums.

Name of Programme

Screenplay

Tuition Time

12 weekly seminars of three hours

Mode of Learning

Weekly seminars with close reading, guided critique and generative exercises. Independent drafting and revision continue between sessions

Venues

Dubai Public Libraries: Al Safa Art & Design Library and Al Mankhool Library

Start Date

January 10th 2026

Finish Date

March 28th 2026

Portfolio Development

Feedback and developmental meetings support manuscript progression, with revision continuing between seminars at the Manuscript Circle

What you will Produce

A polished creative portfolio of up to 25 pages, and publication in the Sahab Collective Journal

Format

Inperson or online

Cohort Size

Limited to 12 writers

Entry Requirements

A willingness to share work, receive feedback and revise across drafts with attention to how pages are experienced by real readers

Fees

AED 3,600 for courses held online
AED 4,500 for courses held in person
Instalment options available

Download Programme Brochure

Explore our brochure to discover our community, structure and the pathways available through our programme. Enquire and enrol today.

Pathway Progression

Aditya Basu

Screenwriter and Creative Instructor
About
Aditya Basu is a Screenwriter, Creative Instructor, and personal mentor. Writer of Bloody Daddy (Filmfare OTT nominee), bringing nineteen years of experience in documentary, indies and mainstream. Developed scripts for Netflix and SonyLiv. Loves culturally grounded stories.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need prior study or a writing portfolio to join?

No. Curiosity, discipline and a willingness to be read are central. This programme supports both beginners shaping early pages and experienced writers refining longer manuscripts. You will encounter literary theory in accessible extracts, learning how ideas from thinkers such as Kristeva, Gusdorf or de Mann can refine intention and reader experience. The communal nature of critique means you learn as much from reading others as from having your own pages read. You do not need polished work to begin, only a readiness to draft, listen, revise and pursue clarity in language.

How much time should I expect to commit between seminars?

Weekly seminars provide the foundation for learning, but momentum is sustained between sessions. Most writers spend several hours across the week drafting new material, revising existing pages and completing short reflective prompts that prepare discussion. Reading selections are concise and chosen to sharpen craft, not overwhelm. The developmental meetings toward the end of the pathway provide personalised guidance, ensuring your independent work is purposeful. The expectation is not constant labour, but steady attention. This rhythm builds pages with intention and prevents projects from stalling in isolation.

What kind of feedback will I receive on my work?

Feedback comes through a combination of communal critique, close reading and one-to-one developmental meetings. You will learn to listen for how real readers experience tension, clarity, voice and structural movement. Comments focus on intention rather than taste, and emphasise revision across drafts rather than quick fixes. Communal critique cultivates an editorial eye that becomes transferable to your own pages; what you learn by responding to others often illuminates your own decisions. Developmental meetings guide portfolio cohesion and support the critical commentary, helping you articulate why your narrative choices matter.

Will my work be published?

Selected work from each pathway is published in the Sahab Collective Journal, a curated print and digital publication that brings emerging voices into conversation. Publication is accompanied by a public reading, which shifts your writing from private ambition into communal reception. Your final portfolio may include short stories, memoir fragments or chapters from longer projects, supported by a 2,000-word critical commentary that reflects on cultural positioning and reader response. These outcomes form a tangible artefact for approaching agents, editors and writing competitions, demonstrating disciplined revision and an awareness of audience.

Can I take more than one pathway?

Yes. Pathways may be taken sequentially to deepen craft and extend a manuscript over time. Many writers begin in fiction or nonfiction and later pursue Author’s Craft and Voice, or Genre and Form, to strengthen narrative stance and reader awareness. Because each pathway focuses on different experiential effects of storytelling—psychological interiority, cultural positioning, or structural clarity—returning writers encounter new tools rather than repetition. Continuing within the academy also strengthens community ties, expanding your network of attentive readers and sustaining accountability beyond a single semester.
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