Dusty hand-written movie scripts, screenplays and daydreamed film plots are the key building blocks for the Screenwriters Boot Camp.

“One of the main things it’s for is for the people who come out of the movie theaters and say, `I could do better than that,'” says Shirley Long, screenwriter and event organizer.

This year the boot camp will be at the Best Western Inn in Ankeny, and its organizers are calling all potential screenwriters to try their hands Saturday and Sunday. An extended seminar also continues throughout the week.

“It’s a different type of writing; it uses a special language to tell a different story that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats,” Long says.

Robert Jordan, hailing from New York City, will be the instructor for this intensive seminar. His screenwriting students have received awards such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship and some have sold screenplays for more than $100,000. He is the author of the book “The Language of Screenwriting.”

“He developed the name `script doctor’ because he can fix scripts so well,” Long says.

Jordan began his academic career focusing on engineering and biomedical research.

Before entering a prestigious research institute he wrote his first screenplay and fell in love with the idea of writing movies, thus causing him to abandon his engineering and medical studies and focus on screenwriting, Long says.

At the boot camp, the participants will learn skills and tactics in idea formulation and development, as well as strategies for getting screenplays sold.

The first section, called the Streamlined Boot Camp, is an intense lecture by Jordan who lays out the rules, methods and regulations of screenwriting.

After the Streamlined Boot Camp, if the writer chooses, he or she may continue with the second part of the seminar. In this section, writers have daily meetings with experienced screenwriters who offer suggestions and challenges.

At night, during this second session, the writers meet in a group to discuss and critique each other’s works.

The final part of the camp occurs after the writers leave, and they are free to call their mentors and discuss their screenplays until completion.

The mentors will then help them pitch their ideas to movie companies and producers, Long says.

Writers who attend the camp do not need a partial or completed screenplay. Some people come with a full draft, while others develop an idea throughout the course of the workshop.

“If they love movies, and if they want to branch out to an exciting adventure in life, or if they just want to `look under the hood’ and see how movies are put together” they should attend she explains.

Michael Dahlstrom, senior in biophysics and journalism, is an alumnus of the Screenwriters Boot Camp.

One of his screenplays is currently being looked at by DreamWorks. He says the seminar was instrumental in his development as a screenwriter.

“I think it’s a wonderful experience,” he says. “It focuses everything and helps you out in every different way.”

Anyone interested can find more information on times and applications at www.screenwritersbootcamp.com.