California Writing Retreat
Location: Motel Inverness, Inverness, California (Point Reyes National Seashore)
Dates: June 25 – July 1, 2023 (residential workshop)
Leader: Heidi Hornbacher

Level up your script!

Join us in lovely, wild Inverness, California for a week of writing growth.

Open to all screenwriters with some training or experience. Scholarships available!

We will bring you a condensed, specialized version of our Writing is Rewriting curriculum, pushing you to examine your script from every angle to identify what’s working and what isn’t. We will also consider motivated writers who already have a working outline and are ready to jump into pages.

This workshop is ideal for any writer to needs time, space, coaching, and accountability to get a handle on their story and create a seamless breakthrough draft. We will review our screenwriting tools, table read pages daily, and give you assignments to accelerate your writing process, peeling back all the layers of your characters and story until you feel confident about every nuance of your narrative.

We will have daily meetings, but leave plenty of unstructured time for writing and exploring the natural beauty of the Point Reyes area.

The support doesn’t end there. When the retreat ends, you have two months to take advantage of a Script Consultation for 50% off. You also become eligible for our affordable Alumni Drop-In sessions, designed especially for those who need a little extra time to finish their draft.

Schedule:

Sunday: Arrival & Welcome Dinner
Monday-Friday: Morning workshops; afternoon writing time and 1-to1 coaching
Friday evening: Closing Dinner (tbc)
Saturday: morning workshop and departure

Price: $3,100

Discount for alumni of Italy retreats, Concept to Pages, or Writing Is Rewriting: $200
Discount for writing retreat survey respondents: $100
Discount for students who wish to share a bedroom: contact us
Discount for commuters: $1,000

Registration covers PageCraft coaching, mentoring, and tuition; 6 nights of lodging at the Motel Inverness (per its terms and conditions), the welcome dinner, and (to be confirmed) the closing dinner.

Participants will be invoiced through PayPal. If you wish to use a credit card, you can do so through PayPal. For PayPal payments originating from outside the United States, we require a surcharge equal to 2% of the total invoice.

Scholarships: Designed and funded by Coven Film Festival, scholarships have been made available to help women, non-binary, and underrepresented writers with financial need. Our application deadline for this year’s retreat has passed, but to learn more about the scholarship please CLICK HERE.

About the Venue: We will be staying in the Point Reyes National Seashore area. The Motel Inverness website contains photo galleries and detailed information about the hotel. All bedrooms are en suite, except for two queen bedrooms (in the Heart’s Desire Suite) that share a bathroom. Rooms will be assigned randomly, but participants wishing to share a bedroom should contact us at the email below.

How to Apply: If you are interested, please write to us at info@pagecraftwriting.com. If you are not a PageCraft alumnus, please include a 5-page writing sample and brief answers to the questions listed below. We will then schedule a conversation with you, so we can discuss your interest and background.

  1. What is your screenwriting or storytelling experience? (max 75 words)
  2. What is a brief description or logline of the script you would like to rewrite? (max 75 words)
  3. Why does this story matter to you? Why do you want to write it? (max 75 words)
  4. What is your favorite piece of writing advice or mentoring that you’ve received? (max 75 words)
  5. What is a writing note you have received that you disagreed with, and how did you handle it? (max 75 words)
  6. How did you hear about PageCraft?
Important Notes:

  • Cancellation Policy: $100 of your registration fee is non refundable. On April 1, 2023, 20% of your total registration cost becomes nonrefundable. On or after June 2, 2023, your registration cost becomes non refundable. We will offer PageCraft credits for any costs we are able to recover, but we cannot guarantee whether or to what extent we will be able to do so.
  • It is our belief that great writing groups make great progress. We endeavor to ensure that each retreat is filled with adaptable, capable writers who can have a positive effect on one another. We therefore reserve the right to refuse any applicant or remove any participant for any reason, including abusive or unkind behavior toward others. Our cancellation policy will apply.
  • Other than the registration fee (per the terms of our cancellation policy), PageCraft is not responsible for costs incurred by participants or prospective participants, including travel costs.
  • For the discounted script consultation, scripts must be submitted within 2 months of the final workshop day, and it must be a version of the script created or rewritten during the retreat. Otherwise normal rates apply.