Masterclass: A bargain Replacement for Writing Conferences

Due to the craziness that is 2020, face-to-face or in-person conferences have become a difficult thing to enjoy. Travel restrictions, limited capacities, masks, zoom malfunctions, etc. have all made attending writer's conferences more difficult this year - if not downright impossible in many circumstances.

However, there is a highly prestigious and worthwhile alternative to these. This popular and affordable option is MASTERCLASS.

According to the website, it’s “an American online education platform on which students can access tutorials and lectures pre-recorded by experts in various fields’.

Anyone can access a multitude of courses for the same price (or cheaper) than the cost of a single day of conference attendance. If you're not familiar with this company, they offer courses by well-known professionals considered the best in their field.

A typical MasterClass runs between 15 and 25 sessions. The segments range in time from 3-minute intros to more than 20-minute lessons. That makes for a class series of blocks at around 3 to 5 hours of total film time. It depends on the subject and the presenter.

There are three parts to a MasterClass production. One is the on-camera time where the presenter lectures and/or demonstrates. Two is a PDF workbook that acts as a script guide and notebook. Three is behind-the-scene access to material that adds value to your purchase.

The MasterClass purchase offers two options. One is $90 for a single class. Two is $180 annually for an “All Pass”. For under two hundred bucks, you can buy an unlimited subscription that gives you access to all classes. Given there are well over 50 classes, that’s an exceptional value.

I joined this year. I'm on my second class now, and I can't wait to access more.  There are more than a dozen courses under just the topic of "writing". Some of those include :

James Patterson — Thriller Writing
Dan Brown — Thriller Writing
David Baldacci — Thriller Writing
Neil Gaiman — Storytelling
Malcolm Gladwell — General Writing
Joyce Carol Oates — Fiction Writing
Margaret Atwood — Fiction Writing
R.L. Stine — Children’s Writing
Judy Blume — Fiction Writing
David Mamet — Plot Writing
Aaron Sorkin — Screen Writing
Shondra Rimes — TV Writing
Ron Howard — Film Directing
Martin Scorsese — Film Producing
Bob Woodward — Journalism

If you buy a membership, in addition to writing, you get access to professionals in art, cooking, business, science, lifestyle, design, music, sports, gaming, government, technology, and more.

Curious what other writers think of the classes? Check out What Masterclass Can do for a Writer

Interested in checking them out directly? Here is the link: https://www.masterclass.com/

Have you tried MasterClass? Have you attended a conference with any of the writers listed above? Have you attended any conferences in 2020?