The Practice of Structure

INTRO TO SCREENWRITING

The Practice of Structure

Screenwriting is fun and hard. No matter if you’re a beginner or an Oscar winner,  the start of a screenplay can feel daunting. Let’s break down an Oscar-nominated script and consider its approach to structure to help you get started and unstuck when the inevitable block happens. There’s no perfect science, but there’s a history of storytelling to lean on.

Raelyn Munneke

 As the president of the NWA Screenwriters Collective, Raelyn Munneke is honored to lead the growing community of screenwriters, encouraging fellowship and education in the craft. She has been honored two years in a row for her scripts in the Austin Film Festival Script Competition.  She’s in the process of writing a historical drama feature, a science fiction television pilot, and an animation short.

With a career that has spanned both documentary and narrative film, Raelyn has produced series for ESPN and The Golf Channel and earned a Regional Mid-America Emmy nomination for her documentary about Northwest Arkansas, “Hog Town”.

As a freelance filmmaker and owner of Munneke Productions, she manages a business that scales to serve clients from non-profits to Fortune 500’s, including Disney, Johnson & Johnson,  and Walmart International. From filming across the globe to documenting the neighbor next door, these real-life stories have inspired Raelyn in her narrative imagination.

Among her artisic pursuits, she also shares her passions with her three active and creative children, Asher (9), August (7), and Norah (5) alongside her husband, Andrew in the rolling hills of Fayetteville, AR.