Creative Writing: Focus on the Screenplay

This course is an introduction to the elements of theme, plot, character, and dialogue in dramatic writing for film. Emphasis is placed on telling a story through action and character development. The difference between the literary and visual medium is explored through individual writing projects and group analysis. The course helps students develop a synopsis, film treatment, and drafts for a short theatrical screenplay including: theme, plot, character, mise-en-scene and utilization of cinematic elements. Each student should, by the end of the term, have at short screenplay that they can turn into a film. Films and their corresponding screenplays are required reading for every class, and students also become acquainted with how the business of selling and producing one’s screenplay actually happens in Hollywood and independently.

Min-Max Credit Hours: 1.0-1.0