Screenwriting

Screenwriting

Diane Howard, Ph.D., IMDb

Tell a Good Story!
On-line News- '09 , '10

Textbook:
Real Screenwriting: Strategies and Stories from the Trenches
by Ron Suppa, Thompson Publishing

Additional Readings:
Handouts in class

Course Goal and Purpose:
Students will write a short screenplay.

Student Learning Objectives and Outcomes:

Students will demonstrate effective screenwriting techniques.
Students will demonstrate effective collaboration techniques.
Student will demonstrate effective research techniques.

Student Responsibilities:

Students will complete assigned readings.
Students will come to class with prepared assignments.
Students will collaborate on the online My Campus class site.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will demonstrate effective screenwriting techniques.
Students will demonstrate effective collaboration techniques.
Student will demonstrate effective research techniques.
Students will write a skillful, short screenplay.

Course Topics Outline: Specific Criteria on LMS (My Campus) & In Class

Writing Notebook
Screenwriter’s Life
Collaborating, Giving Feedback
Concept to Script
Narrative Films for Different Purposes- Entertainment, Training, Education…
Premise
Illusion of Reality/Believability
Genres
Research
Dynamic Openings
Hooks
Characters We Care About
Backstory
Clear Goals
Conflict in the Story
Protagonist
Antagonist
Supporting Characters
Structure
Scenes & Sequences
Dialogue
Subtext
Ending
Audience
Narrative
Format
Rewriting/Revising
Theme/Major Ideas for Your Screenplay
Action Outline for Your Screenplay
Description of Characters for Your Screenplay
Description of Your Characters' Development
Description of Your Characters’ Interactions/Conflicts/Resolutions
1st Draft
2nd Draft
3rd Draft
Final Draft
Final Reading of Final Draft

Evaluation: One third of the final grade is based assignments and tests.
One third of the final grade is to be based on the following: responsibility,
dependability, effort, academic integrity, time invested, and class
attendance/participation. One third of the final grade is to be based on the
final screenplay. See specific grading rubrics on My Campus.

Academic Integrity- Students will produce their own work and will not plagiarize.

Online Samples- Screenplays

Daily Script
Provides a collection of movie scripts and screenplays.
www.dailyscript.com

· Drew's Script-O-Rama
Index of movie scripts available on the Internet.
www.script-o-rama.com

· Simply Scripts
Screenplays, transcripts, and partial scripts of old, current and soon to be release movies.

www.simplyscripts.com

· ScriptCrawler
Offers movie and TV transcripts.
www.scriptcrawler.net

· Movie-Page.com: Scripts
Large archive of movie screenplays in plain text or PDF format.
www.movie-page.com/movie_scripts.htm

· Awesome Scripts and Screenplays
Read dozens of film scripts online.
www.awesomefilm.com

· Screenplays-Online.de
Read over a hundred scripts online or join a screenplay-related discussion group.
www.screenplays-online.de

· iScriptdb.com: Movie Review & Screenplay Database
Provides links to hundreds of screenplays.
www.iscriptdb.com

Weekly Script
Formerly The Daily Script.
Listing of movie & tv screenplays, transcripts available on the Internet
www.weeklyscript.com

· All Movie Scripts
Offers movie scripts and screenplays in PDF format.
www.allmoviescripts.com

· Hollywood Script Readers' Digest
Showcases synopses of unproduced screenplays and TV series proposals.
www.screenscripts.com

· Colin's Movie Monologue Page
Multitude of movie monologues.
www.whysanity.net/monos

· Screenplays for You
Read hundreds of movie scripts online.
www.sfy.ru