Feature Screenwriting 2

Subject guarantor:

Pavel JECH, Jan FLEISCHER

Name of lecturer(s):

Pavel JECH, Jan FLEISCHER

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Additionally, as a collective of young writers supporting each other in the pursuit of learning how to create effective and functioning screenplays, all students will also be expected to actively participate in the critical and constructive analysis of the work of their peers.

Mode of study:

Workshop

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Feature Screenwriting 1

Recommended optional programme components:

No

Course contents:

This small interactive workshop will include a students from the 1st year of the screenwriting program, and the 2 nd year of the directing program.

Screenwriters will embark on the creation and writing of the first draft of a feature-length screenplay. Following a strict writing plan that will be based upon the inherent structural demands of feature-length dramatic scriptwriting, each student will submit at least five installments of their project to be read and reviewed in class.

The instructor will also introduce students to various components of the craft and process of screenwriting, and propose pragmatic approaches as have been employed by experienced writers.

Recommended or required reading:

READINGS:

To supplement lectures and informal class discussions, students are recommended to read the following during the semester:

Strongly recommended readings:

The Poetics by Aristotle - Analysis and definition of the dramatic form, as well as proscriptive, practical advice for the dramatic writer. The eternal discussion between scriptwriters and the critics who strive to help them all starts here.

The Tools of Screenwriting by David Howard and Edward Mabley. Short and simple. Deceptively easy to read yet loaded with practical advice derived from the Frank Daniel method.

Recommended readings:

Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman ? Fun to read, the ultimate insider?s look at the life of a Hollywood screenwriter.

Story by Robert McKee - An impassioned polemic for scriptwriters and filmmakers to focus on classic dramatic principles in the service of - what else - a telling a story.

The Writer?s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters by Chris Vogler. Before Story, The Writer?s Journey was the must-read book for writers and development people in the US film industry. Inspired by the influential ideas of Joseph Campbell.

Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seeger, PhD. Another articulate and illuminating perspective on screenwriting from a highly regarded Hollywood script consultant.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

WRITING SCHEDULE GUIDELINES:

In writing the second draft of a feature screenplay (about 60 pages of formatted text), students will follow a writing plan designed to correspond with the organic structurally beats - or sequences - of the screenplay´s story.

In order for everyone to create their individual writing schedule, during the second class, three groups will be created - groups A, B, and C.

Assignments will be as follows:

Assignment one: writing sequence 5

Assignment two: writing sequence 6

Assignment three: writing sequence 7

Assignment four: writing sequence 8.

Assignment five: selected rewrites

Assignment six: rewrites

Assignment seven: selected rewrites

Assignment eight:selected rewrites

However, given that the writing process cannot be completely standardized, and that each individual project often dictates its own path of development, following assignment three, students will have the opportunity to alter their writing plan. Tthe following alternative form:

Alternate assignment one: writing sequence 1

Alternate assignment two: writing sequence 2

Alternate assignment three: writing sequence 3

Alternate assignment four: writing sequence 4

Alternate assignment five: writing sequence 5

Alternate assignment six: writing sequence 6

Alternate assignment seven: writing sequence 7

Alternate assignment eight: writing sequence 8

Assessment methods and criteria:

GRADING PARAMETERS:

1) assignment 1 - 20%

2) assignment 2 - 20%

3) assignment 3 - 20%

4) assigment 4 - 20%

5) Attendance and class participation - 20%

Course web page:

Note:

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE:

reading work from last semester

create groups and schedule, A, B, C

WEEK TWO:

reading and commenting on work from last semester

due: assignment one

WEEK THREE:

due: assignment two - group A

WEEK FOUR:

due: assignment two - group B

WEEK FIVE:

due: assignment two - group C

reading and discussion of assignments

WEEK SIX:

due: assignment three - group A

reading and discussion of assignments

WEEK SEVEN:

NO CLASS - instead, instructor will hold 20-30 minute individual mid-term

sessions with each student, at times to be announced.

WEEK EIGHT:

due: assignment three - group B

reading and discussion of assignments

recommended readings: Howard, p.81-90

WEEK NINE:

due: assignment three - group C

reading and discussion of assignments

WEEK TEN:

due: assignment four - group A

WEEK ELEVEN:

due: assignment four - group B

WEEK TWELVE:

due: assignment four - group C

WEEK THIRTEEN:

final assessment

Schedule for winter semester 2013/2014:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2013/2014:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting (qualification subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (qualification subject)