From November 27 to December 1, 2023, Ellis Freeman's creative scriptwriting workshop Writer's gym took place at FAMU, which was invited by associate professor Tereza Brdeckova. The seminar took place under the auspices of the mentoring program and offered hands-on creative exercises and an inspiring practice for students who write film scripts and other artistic texts.  

The workshop was intended for the students at the Departments of Directing, Animated Film, and Documentary Film as well as FAMU International and the Centre for Audiovisual Studies, but students at other departments were not excluded either. 

In the first part of the workshop, students had a look at creativity and inspiration. How to get into a creative state of mind? How to put thoughts on paper? The second part focused on characters. How to create vibrant characters and how to transform from a character to a story? The third and fourth parts focused on the plot. They had a look at various story mechanisms and make them into action. The fifth part will be a summary of the preceding parts. 

Students obtained practical tools for creating projects, life-like characters and dynamic stories and collaborative techniques, the opportunity to refresh their approach to writing, get rid of bad habits and boredom from overwork, and stretch their mental muscles. Screenwriting is a matter of creative problem solving. In the seminar, Ellis offered possible solutions using fun games and tricks. At the same time, working with the subconscious draws on the techniques of improvised drama.

The project AMU, Creative Scriptwriting Workshop - Ellis Freeman, the registration number of the project 0311000023, is implemented with the financial support from the European Union through the National Recovery Plan and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.