Everything You Need To Know About Musicals* You Can Learn from Star Wars

*and everything else

What do Mrs. Lovett and Darth Vader have in common?

How is Rose’s Turn like the rebels’ attack on the Death Star?

Who’s your “Fun-tagonist”?

Wait – what IS a fun-tagonist?

Whether you write musicals, screenplays or novels, the how and why of story is at the heart of all writing. Join award-winning bookwriter/lyricist Sammy Buck to get your story started, and learn how classic screenplay structure from a variety of movies (especially a certain space saga) translates across stage, screen and page.

Workshop Packages

  • The Five Stories

    One-hour overview

    The five essential sub-stories at the heart of every story

    The BONES technique for structuring story and the internal dynamics of scenes.

    Exercises for character development and how to populate your story

  • The How, Why and What

    A three-hour deep dive

    Everything in “The Five Stories” package

    Identifying the “why” of your story with an examination of “base stories”

    In-workshop exercises for partcipants to emerge with a premise for their story

  • The Premise and The Outline

    A full-day session

    Morning: Everything covered in “The How, Why and What” package

    Afternoon: An examination of how to build an outline based on the premise, with in-workshop feedback

  • Make a scene

    A two-day immersion

    Day One: Everything covered in “The Premise and The Outline” package

    Day Two: Techniques and exercises for writing scenes.

    Participants will choose a scene from their outline to develop.

  • On Your Way

    A three-day interactive workshop

    Everything covered in the “Make a Scene” package

    The third day will be a read through of each participant’s scene, with in-workshop feedback

  • A la carte

    Choose your own adventure

    Based on your needs and your timing, let’s craft a workshop that you want

    Other topics to choose from include:

    Using Subtext

    Crafting songs

    Brainstorming techniques

    Using the rules of improv in your writing

For more information and to inquire about pricing:
book below

Sammy’s Articles on dramatics.org

What Star Wars Teaches About Musical Theatre: The Five Journeys of Story Structure

In film school, I learned that stories, especially movies, follow a three-act structure. Three acts … with a vast, intimidating middle to fill.

But, as a writer, I couldn’t help but wonder about other story templates I’d encountered. What about the five stages of Gustav Freytag’s pyramid? Freytag said all good plots have five parts.

What about the five acts in Shakespeare’s plays? The Five Books of Moses? The five seasons of Breaking Bad? I’m good at math, but I couldn’t figure out the difference between three and five.

Then, I learned the second act contains three parts within itself. So, a character’s story is really that of five journeys.

The journey you think you’re on
The unexpected journey you’re forced on
The journey you choose
The journey you surrender
The final exam journey
read more

Survival of Our Species: Understanding Base Stories

In 1977, after seeing Star Wars tons of times, I asked everyone, “What’s it about?” Sure, I knew: Rebels, Death Star, Luke Skywalker. But I pleaded to know: “What was the base of the story?” As I grew and learned as a writer, I discovered what “base” means: a story’s core beyond its specifics. In 1977, after seeing Star Wars tons of times, I asked everyone, “What’s it about?” Sure, I knew: Rebels, Death Star, Luke Skywalker. But I pleaded to know: “What was the base of the story?” As I grew and learned as a writer, I discovered what “base” means: a story’s core beyond its specifics.
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    **This seminar is not endorsed by or affiliated with Star Wars, Lucasfilm, The Walt Disney Company or the Galactic Empire.