LIVE WORKSHOP | SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2026 | REPLAY INCLUDED
CONFLICT THAT
CARRIES THE MOVIE
Learn how to layer conflict throughout your screenplay so you can create stronger scenes, deepen your characters, and make Act 2 easier to plot.
$27 early bird through September 7th — $39 after.
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A Better Question to Ask About Conflict
Your protagonist wants something. Something's in the way.
It sounds easy enough.
But then you get to page 30. Or 50. Or 70. And suddenly you're wondering: What happens next? How do I keep this going?
Maybe you've even finished your screenplay, only to get the dreaded “Not enough conflict” note from readers.
The problem is, “Not enough conflict” isn't exactly a useful set of instructions.
The question we need to ask is:
What kinds of conflict can I build into this story?
Conflict isn't just about putting obstacles in your protagonist's path. It can come from the people around them, from what's happening inside them, from the circumstances of the story — and from the foundational conflict that drives the movie in the first place.
Most screenplays rely heavily on only one or two of these sources, leaving so many story opportunities sitting unused.
In this live workshop, we'll break down the four layers of conflict and learn how to weave them together — so you can create stronger scenes, put more pressure on your characters, and make Act 2 a whole lot easier to plot.
This workshop is for you if:
You've gotten notes like "needs more conflict" or "Act 2 feels flat" and aren't sure what to actually change
You're developing a story that doesn't have a traditional villain, but you're not sure where the tension should come from instead
You have an idea, an outline, a draft, or a rewrite in progress — this framework works at any stage
Already know the basics? Good. This isn't a workshop about defining protagonist, goal, and stakes. We'll start there and go deeper into how conflict actually works — and how to use it to generate story.
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Inside Conflict That Carries the Movie, we'll look at:
How to build a central conflict strong enough to carry an entire movie — even when your story doesn't have a traditional villain
How to find conflict in unexpected places — including among the people who are technically on your protagonist's side
How to make your protagonist part of the problem by turning their fears, flaws, and doubts into story-driving opposition
How to choose better obstacles — the kind that complicate the plot, challenge the character, and give the story more meaning
The Difficulty Formula — three factors that make any conflict feel stronger
A 4-Question Conflict Audit — a quick way to test your outline, scenes, or screenplay against all four layers at once
And we'll put it all together using examples from movies like Moneyball, Project Hail Mary, Obsession, Legally Blonde, Finding Nemo, and more — probably even Die Hard — so you can see how this framework flexes across genre.
You'll leave knowing how to look at your own screenplay and see where your conflict is working, where it's thin, and where there's more story waiting to be found.
Workshop Details:
Date: Sunday, September 13, 2026
Time: 9:00 AM Pacific / 12:00 PM Eastern
(Expect 60 minutes for the workshop itself + optional Q&A afterward)
Format: Live on Zoom
(But if you can't make it to the live workshop or just prefer to watch the presentation on your own time, don't worry — you'll receive the replay within 48 hours after the live session and have access to it forever.)
Price: $27 early bird (through Monday, September 7th) — $39 after
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Meet your instructor
Hi, I’m Naomi. For more than a decade, I've helped screenwriters, producers, and directors develop stories that are clear, compelling, and built on a solid foundation.
Earlier in my career, I worked on the development team at Maverick Films, where I contributed to projects including Twilight, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and The Stanford Prison Experiment. I also collaborated with Blake Snyder on his second Save the Cat! book and later taught Save the Cat! workshops in Los Angeles.
These days, I help writers get unstuck and build scripts they're proud of. And at some point in nearly every consultation, conflict comes up — because conflict shows up at every level of a screenplay. Those conversations happen so regularly that this workshop was inevitable.
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Common Questions
I already know what conflict is. Will I actually learn anything?
I hope so! If you've been taught that conflict is simply “your protagonist wants something and something gets in the way,” you already understand the basic definition.
This workshop is about what happens after that definition.
We'll look at the different places conflict can come from, how those layers work together, and how you can use them to generate story in your own screenplay.
What if my screenplay already has a clear villain?
Great. A villain can give you a strong source of external conflict. But your villain doesn't have to be the only source of conflict in the screenplay. We'll look at how the other layers can keep creating pressure even when the villain isn't actively doing anything.
Will this work for my genre?
Conflict works differently from story to story, but the underlying principles apply whether you're writing a drama, comedy, thriller, family movie, sports movie, or something else entirely. And we'll look at examples from several different genres throughout the workshop.
Do I need a finished draft to get value from this?
Not at all! You can use this framework while you're developing an idea, outlining, drafting, or rewriting.
What if I can't make it live?
The replay is included and you’ll have it within about 48 hours of the live session! Of course, if you can make it live you’ll be able to participate in the Q&A, and we’ll spend time discussing the example movies together, which is where some of the most useful conversations tend to happen.
Ready to make conflict work harder for your screenplay?
You already have a protagonist and a story you're trying to tell. Now it's time to make the conflict do more of the heavy lifting.
Join me live and learn how to layer conflict throughout your screenplay — so you're not only making things harder for your protagonist, you're building an engine that will power the whole screenplay.