FIND YOUR FILM
A 6-week course to turn your personal passions into a powerful film.
Dates: 12 JAN 2026 – 22 FEB 2026
Duration: 6 WEEKS
MONDAYS 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM GMT or SUNDAYS 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
Format: WEEKLY ONLINE SESSIONS WITH SMALL GROUPS
Tutor: SIMON RYNINKS – WRITER / DIRECTOR
About the Course
Find Your Film is a six-week online workshop for filmmakers who know they have a film in them but don’t yet know exactly what it is. Across weekly live sessions and short, focused tasks, you’ll mine your own experiences, obsessions and niche interests to uncover a story that feels genuinely yours, then begin shaping it into the foundations of a short film script or feature treatment. The emphasis is on discovery, development and accountability, giving you a supportive structure to move from an idea to a concrete, next-step-ready project.
Together, we’re going to find the film you’re meant to make - the one that could have a real impact on you and your career.
Why This Course Exists
Find Your Film starts from the simple belief that every filmmaker has a story only they can tell – a film only they can make.
Instead of beginning with abstract rules of structure and asking you to squeeze an idea into them, this course begins with you: your memories, obsessions, niche interests, and the small, specific details you carry around. When a project grows out of that material, it gains an energy you can’t fake: the world and characters start to arrive, and the story begins to tell you what it wants to be.
Over six weeks, Find Your Film is designed to take you from discovery to development: uncovering the story that’s already inside you, then shaping it into something you can actually make - a short film script or a feature treatment - plus a clear, practical sense of the next steps to take with it.
Who This Course Is For
YOU KNOW THERE’S A FILM IN YOU, BUT NOT WHAT IT IS
You feel a pull towards filmmaking, you’ve got fragments of ideas, images or scenes in your head; but nothing has quite solidified into the project yet. This course gives you a clear, supportive way to turn that instinct into a focused, personal film idea.
YOU WANT TO BRING YOUR EXISTING PRACTICE INTO FILM
You might be a writer, actor, theatre-maker, artist or creative in another medium who’s ready to move into film but needs a structured way to find “your” story on screen. Find Your Film will help you translate your existing skills into cinematic thinking and discover what kind of story only you can tell.
YOU’RE DROWNING IN IDEAS AND STRUGGLING TO COMMIT
You have too many ideas, keep hopping between projects, or abandon scripts before they’re ready. Find Your Film helps you sort through the noise, identify the idea with real emotional weight for you, and commit to developing it into a short script or feature treatment.
YOU SUSPECT THERE’S A FILM IN YOU, BUT IT’S STILL A BLUR
Maybe you don’t have “an idea” yet; just a feeling, a theme, a set of obsessions you keep circling. That’s enough. This course is designed to help you mine those instincts and turn them into something concrete you can actually write and eventually make.
You don’t need previous professional credits; emerging filmmakers, experienced filmmakers or total beginners are all welcome. The only things you do need is a willingness to share and explore.
How This Course Works
FROM DISCOVERY TO DRAFT
Find Your Film is deliberately built as a two-phase journey:
Discovery phase - mining your obsessions, memories and niche interests, uncovering your personal themes, and distilling them into the core idea that will guide your story.
Development phase - taking that core idea and shaping it into a film: exploring beats, structure, tone and character, and building towards either a short film script or a feature treatment.
The through-line is simple: we’ll take something deeply personal and carry it all the way to a viable, next-step-ready project.
GUIDED BY A WORKING WRITER–DIRECTOR
This isn’t a purely theoretical course. Simon is a writer–director who has actually shepherded a personal film from first spark to production and release. He understands real-world pressures: limited budgets, collaborators, development schemes, festivals, and the emotional fatigue of carrying a project for years.
That experience feeds directly into the course. We’ll talk honestly about what’s practical, not just what’s ideal on paper, and we’ll finish with concrete next steps: funding routes, pitching, and how to position your project for labs, development or production. The aim is that you don’t just leave with pages, but with a film project that feels ready to move towards the real world.
A SUPPORTIVE SPACE FOR BRAVE WORK
Because this course asks you to work from very personal material, the environment matters. You’ll be working within a small, supportive peer group - not a gladiatorial notes session. The mentoring is playful but focused: serious about the work, gentle with the person. The braver, bolder and more specific you are, the more your film comes alive - and this course is designed to create a space where that feels possible.
What You’ll Get
01. A CORE FILM PROJECT
Across the six weeks, everything you do is geared towards one core outcome: a film project that feels unmistakably yours. Through guided exercises and step-by-step development, you’ll shape your material into either a short film script or a feature film treatment; something you can share with collaborators, submit to schemes, or use as the basis for your next production.
02. WEEKLY CREATIVE TASKS
Each week you’ll get short, focused tasks that build directly on the session’s work. These are designed to help you mine your memories, obsessions and niche interests, and then turn that discovery into concrete story decisions: premise, designing principle, character, world and key beats. The aim is steady, sustainable progress – no more circling the idea without moving it forward.
03. SUPPORTIVE PEER GROUP & WORKSHOPS
You’ll be working within a small, supportive peer group that helps you stay motivated and accountable. Most sessions include a workshop element with discussion, gentle feedback and space to develop ideas together. You’ll share work-in-progress, test your story out loud and practise talking about your film in a low-pressure environment, building confidence as you go. Each group can setup an external WhatsApp group - so you’ll always have your writing pals on-hand.
04. 1:1 MENTORING FROM A WORKING WRITER–DIRECTOR
Alongside group work, you’ll receive focused guidance from Simon as a working writer–director who has taken a personal film from first spark to production. He’ll help you refine your project, stress-test its foundations and understand how to position it for the next stage of its life; whether that’s funding, labs, collaborators or self-producing.
Your Instructor
SIMON RYNINKS
Writer & Director of OUT THERE
Writer–director of the feature film Out There, a coming-of-age comedy-drama about UFOs and grief, supported by the BFI and Ffilm Cymru Wales and due for release in 2026.
Has taken personal projects from first spark through development, funding and production, working with some of the best film executives in the country.
Experienced workshop leader and teacher, having helped hundreds of emerging creatives shape their ideas.
Combines a strong grounding in story craft and structure with an understanding of the emotional and logistical realities of independent filmmaking.
What Simon has learned through his career - from having his own work developed, and from supporting other filmmakers, is that the best work begins with the creative potential of personal experience: something weirdly specific to you. Find Your Film is built to help you uncover that and turn it into a story you can actually make.