Feature Screenwriting 1

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor

Jan FLEISCHER

Name of lecturer(s)

Jan FLEISCHER

Learning outcomes of the course unit

By the end of the course students will:

-learn how to present and develop the original creative idea

-understand basic elements of dramatic storytelling

-learn to establish character(s), the world of the story and the point of view that allows them to achieve intended outcome of the story

Mode of study

Seminar

Prerequisites and co-requisites

-

Course contents

This small interactive workshop will include students from the 2nd year of the screenwriting program, and the 3rd year of the directing program. Students will present their ideal for the feature screenplay and analyze the possible directions of its development. Guided by teacher, students develop the idea through the continuous process of writing.

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

ARISTOTLE. Poetics. 1st ed. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1967. 124 s.

HOWARD, David, MABLEY, Edward. The tools of screenwriting : a writer's guide to the craft and elements of a screenplay. New York: St. Martin Griffin, 1993. 298 s. ISBN 0-31211908-9.

GOLDMAN, William. Adventures in the screen trade : a personal view of Hollywood. Reprinted. London: Abacus, 2003. 418 s. ISBN 0 349 10705 X.

MCKEE, Robert. Story : substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting. London: Methuen, 1999. xi, 466 s. ISBN 978-0-413-71560-9.

VOGLER, Christopher. The writer's journey : mythic structure for storytellers and screenwriters. 2nd ed. Studio City: Michael Wiese Production, c1998. xxiii, 326 s. ISBN 0-941188-70-1.

SEGER, Linda. Making a good script great. 3rd ed. Beverly Hills: Silman-James Press, 2010. xix, 252 s. ISBN 978-1-935247-01-2.

FLEISCHER, Jan. Of scripts and life: MFI, 2010. 278 s.

Assessment methods and criteria

The minimum attendance for passing the class is 70%. Students will be evaluated on their contribution and efforts to the class and the final text. The pass grade will be calculated as follows:

Attendance of the classes - 30%

Participation in class - 50%

Presentation of the original idea and its continuous development in writing - 20%

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 2020/2021:

• Week view
• List

Schedule for summer semester 2020/2021:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans

• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing_1920 (required subject with the possibility of repeat registration)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing 2020 (required subject with the possibility of repeat registration)