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Writing the Modern Drama

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Code Completion Credits Range Language Instruction Semester
300MWMD Z 3 4/D English winter
Subject guarantor:
Pavel JECH
Name of lecturer(s):
Pavel JECH
Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Practical experience in writing for one hour dramatic television

Mode of study:

module

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Personal computer

Recommended optional programme components:

To give students the full experience of television writing, episodes of internationally recognized television dramas will be shown. Elements including basic story structure, world, continuing and guest characters and A & B storylines will be discussed in detail. Students will be assigned scene work from the programs screened, to be accomplished both in class and between sessions. Time permitting the class will, as a group, structure and write a ?spec? first act for one of the shows discussed.

Course contents:

COURSE OBJECTIVE:

To give students practical experience in writing for one hour dramatic television by illustrating the necessity of understanding and emulating a world and characters that are not of one?s own creation.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This is a new age in television drama. Many programs are now built on full season arcs as opposed to stand alone episodes where the good guy catches the bad guy and so forth. This course is designed to help students understand and emulate this increasingly popular form as well as developing an understanding of the basics that apply to all television programs.

Great television dramas are different than films as they are meant for a different purpose. The characters on television are watched in our homes. They are invited guests whom we look forward to greeting from the safety of our living rooms. Likewise the world they live in is a familiar and comfortable world for us to view. We understand the rules of that world. We know the place of most everything and everyone in that world. It?s this familiarity that makes television different than movies. And it is this difference that makes television writing unique.

There are exceptions, but most great television is written collaboratively by a staff of writers who are all intimately familiar with the show. And they all have one thing in common. They are able to emulate the ?voice? of the show. Stories and scripts are written by a number of different people, yet in the end the audience can?t tell the difference between them. For a screenwriter, an entirely new skill is needed to be successful in television. It is the ability to understand and emulate a world and characters that have been established by others.

Recommended or required reading:

Read attached screenplays/they will be distributed by katerina.klaricova?famu.cz

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

Practical exercise

Assessment methods and criteria:

100% attendance

Course web page:
Note:

Harold Apter began working on Broadway at the age of eighteen as an assistant to the legendary producer/director Harold Prince. His career as a writer began on the daytime ma ?Ryan?s Hope? for which he shares an Emmy with the 1982 -1983 writing team. He has been a writer, story editor, and/or producer on over one hundred hours of television including comedy, sci-fi, drama and action. His credits include ?The Golden Girls?, ?Star Trek, The Next Generation? and ?Walker, Texas Ranger?. He has written for every major network and studio and his work continues to be seen around the world. Apter has written and worked as a producer on feature films in Brazil and is currently a consultant for Brazilian and Russian features and television.

Apter is a member of the Writers Guild of America and sits on the Board of Governors of the Television Writers Fund for the Future. He is an emeritus member of the Writers Guild of Canada and Actors Equity Association and holds a degree in Film and Television from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Writing Division of USC School of Cinematic Arts and has also taught classes on screen and television writing in Moscow and Rio de Janeiro.

Schedule for winter semester 2014/2015:
Date Day Time Tutor Location Notes No. of paralel
12.12.2014 10:00–18:00 JECH P. Učebna 7
Lažanský palác 		Lecturer: Harold Apter paralelka 1
13.12.2014 10:00–18:00 JECH P. Učebna 7
Lažanský palác 		paralelka 1
19.12.2014 10:00–18:00 JECH P. Učebna 7
Lažanský palác 		paralelka 1
20.12.2014 10:00–18:00 JECH P. Učebna 7
Lažanský palác 		paralelka 1
Schedule for summer semester 2014/2015:
The schedule has not yet been prepared
The subject is a part of the following study plans:
Generated on 2015-06-16