Writing for the Screen: An Introduction

Catalog description

In this workshop class for the novice writer, students will develop the basic skills necessary to help them write stories for the growing variety of visual media: screenplays, sitcoms, one-hour procedurals, limited series, web series, and more. We will examine the storytelling principles that undergird all of them, and the particular demands of each form – the classically structured three-act screenplay; the necessary stasis of the sitcom; the rigorous formal demands and expectations of crime dramas; developing a season arc for streaming seasons. Through a series of writing assignments and exercises, students will learn the basics of screenplay format and elements of scene composition. We will look at specific examples with an eye to noting how they follow or depart from conventional structural elements.