Thematic workshop
If you love history and you dream of writing a historical film, this workshop is aimed at you.
Portfolio
Getting to know specifics of the format
Intensive workshop
One 10-hour meeting
Small workshop groups
6–10 people
Historical film – thematic workshop
Polish cinema is more and more willingly looking back into the past. Film and TV producers are intensively searching for projects which are based on real events and historical characters. That was the reason behind adding new one-day class devoted to a broad understanding of historic cinema at BAHAMA FILMS.
How does the workshop look?
An all-day class devoted to historical, costume and biography movies, which is 10 hours of intensive watching, analysing and discussing the most successful movies in the genre. At the meeting, we will think about what the success of historical or costume blockbusters is really based on, such as: Ben Hur, Gladiator, Titanic and Dunkirk, and intimate biographical dramas such as A Beautiful Mind, How To Be King and Gods. The past is a treasure trove of ideas that are just waiting to be discovered and written down as scripts.
During this class we don’t work on participants’ projects but analyse in depth the specifics of historical cinema, referring to the examples of at least a dozen films.
Workshop programme
- Introduction to the cinema genre.
- Differences between historical, costume and biographical films. An overview of what alternative history is.
- Analysis of one of the selected films.
- Discussion of the success factors behind historical films, based on specific examples.
- Analysis of the structural model.
- How contemporary should a historical film hero be?
- How to translate historical facts into the language of film.
- Dialogue and linguistic stylization in historical cinema.
- Joint preparation of the list of elements necessary to make your future film appealing not only to people interested in the story.
Workshop trainers and mentors
Wiktor Piątkowski
Screenwriter, producer, lecturer and owner of Bahama Films.
Wiktor Piątkowski created and co-wrote HBO’s first original series produced in Poland (Wataha) and the first Polish romantic comedy produced by Netflix (Squared Love). Over the last 11 years he has worked as showrunner, head writer, screenwriter and producer on various shows (crime series, soap operas, scripted reality, period dramas, sitcom), with more than 1000 hours of TV produced). A sitcom he co-created and co-wrote, Just Push Abuba, premiered in 2018 on ZDF. Wiktor is the head writer of the first Polish TV series produced by Viaplay (Murderesses), the first co-production between Canal+ and Polsat (Sortownia) and the first political thriller series produced by Polsat (Vote of no Confidence). Wiktor’s filmography includes, among others, the feature films Heart Parade (Netflix) and Holidays Backwards (which he also produced), and the TV series War Girls.
Wiktor graduated from the Polish National Film School in Łódź, the Warsaw School of Economics, and Warsaw University (psychology), and is an alumnus of Serial Eyes (organized by the Deutsche Film and Fernsehakademie Berlin, and the London Film School), European TV Drama Series Lab, European Showrunner Training, and Racconti and Berlinale Talents. He has participated in many screenwriting courses, led by, among others Syd Field, John Truby, Robert McKee, Linda Seger, Dov Simens, Glen Benest and Sammy Montana. The list of his mentors includes James V. Hart (Dracula, Hook, Contact), Frank Spotnitz (The X Files, The Man in the High Castle), Graham Yost (Speed, Justified) and Jeff Melvoin (Northern Exposure, Designated Survivor, Killing Eve).
Wiktor Piątkowski is also a member of SEAN, the Dirty Dozen Collective, the Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP) and the Polish Screenwriters’ Guild. He has a PhD in television marketing, runs screenwriting workshops in Poland and abroad, and manages Bahama Films, an independent production company based in Warsaw.
Joanna Kozłowska
Screenwriter
A graduate of the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw and Bahama Films screenwriting workshops. Winner of the Script Pro 2018 competition (Canal+ Special Award for the script of the costumed film Boscy Szaleńcy). She worked as an editor and promotion specialist at the RM Publishing House, specializing in historical books. Screenwriter on the series Wojenne Dziewczyny, Wotum Nieufności, Morderczynie and Sortownia. Screenwriter and head author of daily series (including Gliniarze). Currently, together with Wiktor Piątkowski, she is working on two international historical series projects.
Place of the meeting:
Historical film
Thematic workshop
600 pln
- 10 hours in a small group (6–10 people)
- course materials
- getting to know the specifics of historical cinema