Feature Screenwriting 1

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Subject guarantor:

Jan FLEISCHER, Pavel JECH

Name of lecturer(s):

Jan FLEISCHER, Pavel JECH

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

By the end of the workshop students should reach several tangible benchmarks that will allow them to successfully complete their scripts in the future. Aside from writing the first half of their scripts, students should gain an intimate familiarity with their story, as well as a realistic understanding of the work and process needed to complete their first drafts.

In general terms, the course goal is also for students to achieve a better understanding of feature-length story structure, as well as with plotting and the needs of character, and to become acquainted with the standard tools of the scriptwriting craft, as well as with the means with which to engage their readers.

Mode of study:

Workshop

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

No

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.

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.

Recommended or required reading:

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 inside´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“ - 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 first half 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 of 4 or 5 students - groups A, B, and C.

As scheduled by group in this syllabus, each student will be responsible for a total five assignments: first a short outline and pitching, followed by the first four „sequences“ of the feature screenplay.

Assignments will be as follows:

Assignment one: pitching and story outline

Assignment two: the opening 10-15 pages of the screenplay

Assignment three: the next 12-20 pages of the screenplay (to the end of Act One).

Assignment four: the following 12-20 pages of the screenplay (the beginning of Act Two).

Assignment five: the next 12-20 pages of the screenplay (to the first culmination.)

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. Instead of writing the final two sequences, students may opt to rewrite their previous work, and to create a step-outline for the remainder of the script. Thus, assignment four and five may also take the following alternative form:

Alternate assignment four: rewriting Act I (assignments 2 and 3.)

Alternate assignment five: step out-line of remaining story, with one or two sentences per scene; and the identification of turning points.

Assessment methods and criteria:

1) Pitch and outline - 5%

2) first sequence - 15%

3) second sequence - 20%

4) third sequence or first act rewrite - 20%

5) fourth sequence or final step-outline - 25%

6) Attendance and class participation - 15%

bonus: best class critics - 5%

bonus: extra pages - 5%

Course web page:

Note:

POSSIBLE WRITING SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE:

Lecture topics:

1) Why we tell stories

2) Intro to dramatic form

3) three-act structure, sequence structure

Recommended readings: Aristotle, Howard, introduction, pages 21-27

WEEK TWO:

Lecture topics:

1) Character and conflict

2) Character desire / needs

3) Arc of the protagonist

4) Role of antagonist

create groups and schedule, A, B, C

due: assignment one

all students pitching projects

recommended readings: Howard: p.28-31; p.43-49; p63-65

WEEK THREE:

Lecture topics:

1) scene-by-scene construction within the dramatic curve

2) crisis decision

3) character vs. plot

4) empathy and identification

5) Developing subplots and supporting characters

due: assignment two - group A

reading and discussion of assignments

recommended readings: Howard, p.32-33, p. 78-81

WEEK FOUR:

Lecture topics:

screenplay format: philosophy and rationale

due: assignment two - group B

reading and discussion of assignments

recommended readings: Howard p.52-54, p.66-68, p.76-78

WEEK FIVE:

Lecture topics:

narrative techniques

due: assignment two ? group C

reading and discussion of assignments

recommended readings: Howard p. 37-39; p.68-70

WEEK SIX:

Lecture topics:

dramatic strategies

due: assignment three - group A

reading and discussion of assignments

recommended readings: Howard, p.60-62, p.72-73

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:

Lecture topics:

1)Dialogue: the three levels of dialogue

2)Text and subtext

due: assignment three - group B

reading and discussion of assignments

recommended readings: Howard, p.81-90

WEEK NINE:

Lecture topics:

Internal Scene Construction

1)Whose scene is it?

2)What's at stake?

3)Advancing the plot

4)Trimming

due: assignment three - group C

reading and discussion of assignments

recommended readings: Howard, p 91-94

WEEK TEN:

Lecture topics:

Genre

due: assignment four - group A

reading and discussion of assignments

recommended readings: Howard, p.95 - 97

WEEK ELEVEN:

due: assignment four - group B

reading and discussion of assignments

WEEK TWELVE:

due: assignment four - group C

reading and discussion of assignments

WEEK THIRTEEN:

due: assignment five - group A, B

reading and discussion of assignments

WEEK FOURTEEN:

due: assignment five - group B, C

reading and discussion of assignments

Schedule for winter semester 2014/2015:

	06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon	místnost 307 Učebna 6 (Lažanský palác) FLEISCHER J. 13:10–15:35 (přednášková par. 1)
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Mon	13:10–15:35	FLEISCHER J.	Učebna 6 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

Schedule for summer semester 2014/2015:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting-2014 (qualification subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (qualification subject)