Maggie Greenwald

Picture this: Your favorite novel has never been made into a movie, a little-known historical figure is your personal role model, or a relative’s journey of survival fascinates you. These are some of the preexisting sources that inspire creatives to write movies. Students will develop feature-length screenplays working from preexisting materials, including novels, biographies, historical incident, and true crime. From pitching ideas, detailed outlining, and creating mood boards in order to develop cinematic storytelling skills, this course will take students through the process of distilling the preexisting material into a three-act narrative structure. We will explore elements of screenwriting—including story structure, character development, visual storytelling, and point of view—in order to expand and deepen the writer’s craft. Students will develop their screenplays in an intimate workshop, where work will be shared and critiqued in a safe and constructive atmosphere. Conference work will include customized instruction, such as preparatory writing assignments, watching films, and assigned readings.

This course will focus on acquiring the skills a writer-director needs in order to prepare a short screenplay for production. As students develop their screenplays in class, we will focus on the craft of narrative three act structure, character development, and dialogue. This will be followed by filmed exercises from, and based on, the screenplay that will further help the writer-director develop their vision for the screenplay, ultimately developing a grasp of cinematic storytelling along with concepts of staging, camera, lenses, and editing. For conference, students will continue to work on their screenplays. They will also have the opportunity to direct several scenes from pre-existing screenplays that will be assigned by the instructor, focusing on the craft of directing exclusively.

Your favorite novel has never been made into a movie, a little-known historical figure is your personal role model, or a relative’s journey of survival fascinates you. These are some of the preexisting sources that inspire us to write movies. Working from novels, biographies, historical events, true crime, etc., students will develop feature-length screenplays. From pitching ideas, outlining, and building mood boards in order to develop cinematic storytelling skills, this course will take the student through the process of distilling the preexisting material into a three-act narrative structure. Students will develop their screenplays in an intimate workshop, where all work will be shared and critiqued in a safe and constructive atmosphere. The goal: Acts I & 2, completed; Act 3, outlined.

Your favorite novel has never been made into a movie, a little-known historical figure is your personal role model, or a relative’s journey of survival fascinates you. These are some of the preexisting sources that inspire us to write movies. Working from novels, biographies, historical incident, true crime, etc., students will develop feature-length screenplays. From pitching ideas, detailed outlining, and creating mood boards in order to develop cinematic storytelling skills, this course will take the student through the process of distilling the preexisting material into a three-act narrative structure. We will explore elements of screenwriting that include story structure, character development, visual storytelling, and point of view in order to expand and deepen the writer’s craft. Students will develop their screenplays in an intimate workshop, where work will be shared and critiqued in a safe and constructive atmosphere. Conference work will include customized instruction, such as preparatory writing assignments, watching films, and assigned readings.

From pitching ideas, developing detailed outlines, and creating mood boards in order to develop cinematic storytelling skills, this course will take the student through the process of writing a feature-length screenplay. The screenplay may be based on an original idea or preexisting source, including historical incident, biography, true crime, etc. In an intimate workshop setting, the writing will be shared and critiqued in a safe and constructive atmosphere as students develop their craft. By the end of the semester, each student will have completed a first-draft feature screenplay. Participation is essential to the process, and attendance is mandatory.

The goal of this course will be to develop, workshop, and write a short screenplay—approximately 15 pages. Students will pitch stories in an open roundtable process that will provide an opportunity for them to understand the potential and feasibility of their ideas. The course will explore the elements of screenwriting—including dramatic story structure, character development through action (behavior), dialogue, visual storytelling, and point of view—in order to expand and deepen the writer's narrative craft. We will schedule table readings of the work in progress, followed by critiques and discussions of the work. The course will culminate in a table read of the completed screenplay with classmates as actors in each role, leading to a final production-ready draft. For conference, students may choose to develop another idea for a short script or begin work on a feature screenplay. Those who need extra attention on their in-class projects may also work towards its completion as part of their conference work.