Liberal Arts Courses

Screenwriting

Course No. WR 318  Credits: 3.0

A screenwriter's job is to put the spoken word, visual scenes, and a strong narrative on the page, while still leaving room for interpretation by filmmakers. In this course, we will learn about the elements of good storytelling, such as character, narrative, and dialogue, and learn to format and create an industry-standard screenplay. We’ll study short and long screenplays (sometimes while watching the actual films), and review a wide variety of narrative short films, both animated and live action, and from different countries and cultures. Students will also interact with professional independent and Hollywood filmmakers, do writing exercises, collaborate and brainstorm with colleagues, and workshop their screenplays-in-progress. Students will be graded on: attendance, class participation, the midterm, and final â€" a “conventional short,â€� which is a 7-12-page screenplay. Prerequisites: WR 203. 3 credits.