ENGL 204-01, Introduction to Screenwriting, Spring 2011

Abstract

In this screenwriting workshop, you will read and analyze several mostly contemporary screenplays; you will review one current film; you will write a variety of scenes exercises, to be discussed in class; and you will workshop three one-act screenplays. At the end of the semester, you will revise and compile these three individual acts and turn in a final screenplay portfolio. In our workshop critique and screenplay analysis, we will be most keenly concerned with narrative structure, how different screenwriters do the same essential task of conveying a narrative dramatically and visually within the confines of cinema. We will ask less the questions of what a film means and more the questions of how a film was written—the kinds of narrative decisions an author made and how they could be made differently and what the consequences might be. We will also read a practical text to guide our efforts, as well as a handful of essays related to screenplay craft.