Attend a Meeting
The Tennessee Screenwriting Association (TSA) holds weekly educational meetings and special events, both via Zoom and in person. We meet every Wednesday except for Thanksgiving week, Christmas week, and the week of the Nashville Film Festival. You do not have to be a member of the TSA to attend, and you do not have to live in Tennessee to be a member. Of course, we would like you to join as a member – you can do so at any time from this website using Paypal:
https://tennscreen.com/membership/
In the Nashville area? You are welcome to attend the live meeting held on the NECAT campus on White Bridge Road, the last Wednesday of every month (except in November and December, due to the holidays). Click here for more information on Page 2 Screen.
Attending a TSA Zoom Meeting:
As a non-member, you are welcome to join the Zoom meeting and listen to the presentations, ask questions and offer suggestions. We ask all participants to mute your microphone during the meeting and only activate the mic when called on by the meeting host or presenter. You can raise and wave your hand on camera or click on the Zoom “raise hand” option to let the host and presenter know you would like to speak.
If you are a TSA member, in addition to the above, you have the opportunity to schedule a presentation of your logline or premise sheet, or a table read. At the close of our regular meetings, we usually invite members to reserve the next available spot for a logline, premise sheet, or synopsis presentation.
Our Zoom meetings are comprised of three half-hour segments where members can present a:
• Logline
• Premise Sheet
• 1 or 2-Page Synopsis, or
• Table Read of 10 – 12 Pages of a Script.
TSA Premise Sheet
The TSA premise sheet is a powerful tool to help you define the major elements of your story. As you work through the different prompts, the elements of your logline should become clear. The premise sheet also helps you clearly define your story and your primary characters.
You can download the PDF version here and complete it on your own computer.
If you need help with the worksheet or would like feedback from our meeting participants, send Jeff an email to reserve the next available spot at a future meeting and the group will be happy to help: jc1111@aol.com.
We also offer the opportunity for table reads of a work in progress after you have presented the logline to the group. After your presentation, you may ask for feedback and suggestions from those in attendance. The host usually allows about 20 minutes for discussion. If you are a member and would like to have a table read, you may either email your screenplay (in advance) to the meeting host for him to display on the Zoom screen, or you can keep the screenplay on your own computer and use the Zoom “screen share” feature for members to see their lines.
When Jeff Chase, TSA President, is hosting the meeting, you can email the screenplay (or just the 10-12 pages you’d like to present – it doesn’t have to be the entire script) to him in advance at: jc1111@aol.com.
If a different Board member is hosting on Jeff’s behalf, there will be an email address provided at the start of the meeting.
Never used the Zoom “share screen” option before? Our host can walk you through it if you don’t want to send the screenplay via email.
To prepare for the reading, please (1) have already presented the logline and premise sheet, and (2) make a list of the characters that will have speaking parts in the 10-12 pages being read (as time allows). You will assign the roles, plus the narrator, from the Zoom participants in attendance. The meeting host will ask you for the title, genre and logline. If you present 10 pages, one minute per page, you will typically have 10-15 minutes after the read for feedback and discussion.
Remember that our Zoom meetings are Wednesday nights except the last Wednesday of the month, when we host the live “Page 2 Screen” show at NECAT. Login and password details for Zoom are emailed every Sunday night – be sure Jeff has your email address if you want to be included in the next Zoom meeting: jc1111@aol.com.
Note that any work shared at TSA events is completely voluntary and you retain the IP rights to it.
As part of our weekly meetings, we offer educational sessions about the nuts-and-bolts of screenwriting, special guest interviews and more. We also manage to have some fun and a few laughs. We hope you’ll join us!