Basic Screenwriting

Details

Description

Students are required to attend the first day of class and be prepared to discuss the project they want to develop in class. A study of the creativity and the technique of screenwriting for the conventional narrative film and for television. Students will be required to complete writing exercises, a treatment, and master scenes of a full length project. The goal of the class will be to illuminate the history, craft and art of dramatic storytelling. We will develop each writer’s idea into a pitch, a synopsis, a treatment and a first draft. Topics discussed will include: the history of dramatic narrative in the Western canon, the novel vs. the screenplay, genre and tone, themes and motifs, studio story coverage, the one liner, the beat sheet, character bios and arcs, backstory, pitching, discrepant awareness, description and dialogue.

 

Satisfies an Elective Requirement.