Screenwriting
Total study hours: 240, Staff contact:15, Student directed: 225
Level: 6
Credit rating: 24
Aims
To familiarise students with the structural principles behind the writing of screenplays. To give students the conceptual tools to examine critically their own creative practice. To give students skills and knowledge of the industry to help them work towards professional scriptwriting
Module description
This module will introduce students to various structural paradigms which have been applied to screenwriting (e.g. 3-act structure, Hero’s Journey), and will encourage them to analyse dramatic construction in terms of character function, motivation and genre. Students will be asked to critically analyse extracts from film and TV in order to identify dramatic concepts such as ‘plot points’, ‘inner and outer motivations and conflicts’ and 'character archetypes' which form part of an overall narrative approach. They will also be introduced to methods of presentation and pitching of projects.
Rationale
This is one of three genre modules, of which NAW students are required to pick two as focus for their studies. These modules allow students to produce a significant body of work in a specific genre and learn to develop potentially publishable skills and understand industry standards.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this module, students should be able to:
- Produce and plan a marketable screenplay
- Write convincing action sequences and dialogue
- Understand professional expectations of the film industry for pitching and presentation of work
- Lay out work in manner expected by production industry
- Critically evaluate the contemporary filmmaking industry and where their work would fit within this
- Comment analytically on their work
Learning and Teaching Strategy
Workshop sessions focus on discussion of extracts from films. Moodle sessions.
Assessment Strategy
1. Either: Two or three short scripts of around thirty minutes in total, with a One-Page Pitch document for each, OR a thirty minute extract for a feature-length script with an outline of the entire movie, OR a 40-page pilot for a TV series with a two-page outline document for the whole series (80%)
2. A commentary on the work and creative process of around 1,500 words, including a brief description of how this would be pitched to the industry (20%)
(Total = 9000 words equivalent)
Assessment Criteria
- Production of a marketable working script(s)
- Production of work that is laid out as appropriate to form and industry standards
- Understanding of how work might be situated in relation to contemporary film-making or TV
- An awareness of how the work would need to be pitched for production
- Commentary shows an awareness of strengths and weaknesses of work, and its dramatic structure
Assessment dates
Six weeks from last taught session
Related Modules
Qualifying module, Fiction, Final Project
Method of Feedback to students
Informal feedback throughout the course and written feedback on assessments
Learning Resources
Examples from TV and film which may include:
Thelma and Louise; An Officer and a Gentleman; Adaptation; Amelie; This Life; Ultraviolet; Casablanca; Battlestar Galactica; Pleasantville;
Field, S Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting Delta 2005
Hauge, M Writng Screenplays That Sell McGraw-Hill 1988
Vogler, C The Writer’s Journey Pan 1999
McKee, R Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting Methuen 1999
Blum. R.A. Television and Screen Writing – From Concept to Contract Focal Press 2000
Grove, E Write and Sell the Hot Screenplay Focal Press 2001
Egri, L The Art of Dramatic Writing Simon & Schuster Inc 2004