Daytime Drama Writing Workshop
In person, at The Poetic Research Bureau, 2220 Arts + Archives
Saturdays, March 1 to March 22
2pm - 4pm
$150 to $250, ask about scholarships
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Everyone loves drama. When Lucas Lorenzo Spencer and Laura Baldwin finally married on General Hospital in 1981, 30 million people skipped work to watch. Why do people love soap operas, teleplays, and drama so much that they are willing to strike just to watch?
In this four-week writer’s workshop hosted by the Poetic Research Bureau and taught by Chloe, we will learn the rules of daytime drama by writing a teleplay. In the second hour of each workshop we will workshop participants’ pieces with exercises tailored for the genre of the submission. Literally any piece of writing (other than poetry—I’m not a poet so I can’t help you, but poets are very encouraged to join with non-poetry projects) can be submitted: book chapters, book proposals, short stories, ideas for a not-yet-written pieces, cover letters, pitches, new journalism essays, anything. If you have any questions, if you want to know if this is the right workshop for you, just ask Chloe.
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Chloe Watlington lives, writes, and edits in Los Angeles. She has taught at La Escuelita, the LARB publishing workshop, and runs programming for communist summer camps. She was the managing editor of the LARB, co-founded Commune Magazine, and ran a collective print shop for many years.
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Chloe Watlington is one of the best editors I’ve had the pleasure of working with. An astute and empathetic reader, she examined my work so closely and with the sort of depth of engagement that writers dream of. My writing only strengthened with her hand and I hope that others have the chance to work with her as well. I can’t recommend her enough!
—Ricky Varghese, Ph.D, Psychoanalyst, Writer
My experience with Chloe was one of incisive critique and warm support. She was able to juggle the different experience levels in the workshop and kept things generative. Even though my writing itself was not workshopped, I have been able to utilize several prompts and comments that arose through our discussion of other participants’ pieces. To me, that is a sign of a successful workshop.
—Mia Beach, Artist and Writer
Chloe shaped my meandering personal essay into a resonant non-fiction piece, ready for publication. She has an understanding of where to cut, where to push, and how to form connective threads that I couldn’t have found on my own. She saw where I was holding back, and she opened a pathway for me to say what I needed to say. She’s not only a talented editor but a thoughtful one, who takes the time to give notes with both care and precision.
—Sarah Yanni, Poet
Chloe is an excellent and thoughtful editor, thorough and generous, with a keen ear for the flow of language. Working with her is a privilege, one everyone should clamor for.
—Grace Byron, Novelist and Critic
I absolutely loved working with Chloe at LARB. She was totally game for all my wild ideas and incredibly supportive and sharp in her editing.
—Kate Durbin, Poet