Screenwriting for Film Workshop with Peter Straughan (Conclave) London 10-11 October

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FEST FILM LAB

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Jun 30, 2026, 5:51:57 AMJun 30

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399GBP with 35% Discount until the 7th of July

SCREENWRITING FOR FILM: ADAPTATION, STRUCTURE &

COLLABORATION

WORKSHOP WITH PETER STRAUGHAN

10th -11th October | London UK

This workshop offers a wonderful opportunity to deepen your understanding of screenwriting under the guidance of Peter Straughan, one of the most acclaimed screenwriters working today. An Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning writer, Peter has written and adapted some of the most celebrated film and television works of recent years, including Conclave, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Wolf Hall, Frank, The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Debt, and The Goldfinch.

Over the course of two days, Peter will explore how powerful screenplays are shaped through adaptation, structure, rewriting, and collaboration, drawing from his experience working with complex literary, historical, political, and psychological material. For writers and writer-directors developing their own projects, this workshop is especially valuable, as it focuses on the decisions that transform source material, ideas, characters, and dramatic situations into compelling cinema.

This intensive 2-day workshop is limited to 25 participants, so we advise registering quickly to secure your place. The workshop fee is 599 GBP, but we are offering a discount, reducing the cost to only 399 GBP until the 7th of July. The workshop will take place in London, UK, on the 10th and 11th of October 2026

For more information and to register please visit this workshop's page www.filmlab.fest.pt

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Peter Straughan is an Academy Award-winning, BAFTA-winning and Golden Globe-winning screenwriter. Straughan’s recent international acclaim reached a new level with Conclave, his adaptation of Robert Harris’s novel, directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini. For Conclave, Straughan won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 97th Oscars. The film became one of the major awards-season successes of 2025, with Conclave also winning Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay and Editing at the BAFTA Film Awards. His screenplay was also recognised with the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, confirming the breadth of international recognition for his work on the film.

Before Conclave, Straughan was already internationally celebrated for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, co-written with Bridget O’Connor and based on the novel by John le Carré. Directed by Tomas Alfredson, the film starred Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones. Straughan and O’Connor won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the film also won BAFTA Best British Film. Their screenplay was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, placing Straughan firmly among the leading screenwriters of contemporary cinema.

Straughan has also made a major contribution to television drama through his adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall novels. He later returned to Mantel’s world with Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, further consolidating his reputation as a writer capable of handling historical material with dramatic intelligence, restraint and emotional precision.

Across film, Straughan’s credits show an unusually broad range. He co-wrote Frank with Jon Ronson, directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Domhnall Gleeson; adapted The Men Who Stare at Goats, directed by Grant Heslov and starring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey; co-wrote The Debt, directed by John Madden; adapted How to Lose Friends & Alienate People; wrote Our Brand Is Crisis, directed by David Gordon Green and starring Sandra Bullock; and adapted The Goldfinch, directed by John Crowley.

This range is one of the most important aspects of Straughan’s career. He has written political thrillers, historical dramas, literary adaptations, black comedy, satire, psychological drama and character-led work. His writing is not defined by one genre, but by a command of structure, point of view, rhythm and subtext. Whether dealing with espionage, religion, power, grief, performance or institutional life, his screenplays reveal an acute understanding of how characters behave under pressure.

Before becoming internationally known in film and television, Straughan developed his craft in theatre, radio and prose.

For FEST FILM LAB, Peter Straughan represents an exceptional opportunity for participants to engage with a writer whose career sits at the highest level of contemporary screenwriting.

SCREENWRITING FOR FILM: ADAPTATION, STRUCTURE & COLLABORATION

This intensive FEST FILM LAB workshop with screenwriter Peter Straughan is designed for writers and writer-directors who want to deepen their understanding of screenwriting as a craft shaped by adaptation, structure, and collaboration.

Drawing on his extensive experience across film and television, Peter Straughan will explore how screenplays are developed in real professional contexts—from the first encounter with source material to the final shooting draft. The workshop places particular emphasis on adaptation: how to translate novels, historical material, and real events into cinematic form while preserving emotional truth, narrative clarity, and a strong authorial voice.

Rather than focusing on formula or prescriptive rules, the workshop examines how scripts actually evolve. Through discussion, examples, and close analysis, Peter will address how story structure emerges through rewriting, how character is refined through dialogue and action, and how tone is maintained across complex narratives. He will also reflect on the realities of working with directors, producers, and studios, and how collaboration reshapes a screenplay without losing its core intention.

Across the two days, topics explored may include:

Approaching adaptation: from source material to screenplay
Finding cinematic structure in complex or non-linear stories
Writing character through behaviour, subtext, and restraint
Dialogue as rhythm, intention, and conflict
Rewriting as a creative and structural tool
Balancing personal voice with collaborative demands
Working with directors and producers in development
Navigating notes, expectations, and creative compromise

Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own projects and creative processes. Where appropriate, Peter Straughan may draw on examples from his own work to illustrate how specific writing challenges were approached and resolved in practice.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Participant Profile

This workshop is designed for screenwriters, writer-directors, directors, producers, script editors, development executives, and film professionals working in fiction, television, or independent cinema who want to deepen their understanding of screenwriting at a high professional level.

It is particularly suited for participants interested in adaptation, story structure, character development, dialogue, rewriting, collaboration with directors and producers, and the process of transforming complex source material, ideas, and dramatic situations into powerful cinematic narratives.