Film & Media Studies 388 - Screenwriting

(Offered as ENGL 388 and FAMS 240.)

How do screenplays function? What are the elements that combine to engage audiences and convey compelling story information to readers? This course is designed to provide students with the skills necessary to analyze and create narrative feature film scripts, series, and shorts, with attention to mechanics and elegant design. Close readings of screenplays and films will seek to reveal how established writers are able to grip an audience’s attention by building narrative questions, how plots are structured both within scenes and across an entire work, how resonant dialogue can effectively impart information and create subtext, and how characters relate to plot. Classes will combine textual analysis, writing instruction, in-class exercises, and peer review. Students will complete three short scripts (2-3 pages) with extensive revision throughout the semester. These scripts can either be independent scenes, or related scenes of a longer script (no more than ten pages total).

Preference will be given to FAMS majors and English majors concentrating in creative writing; seniors, then juniors, then sophomores. Limited to 20 students. Spring semester. Visiting Assistant Professor E. Sanders.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference will be given to FAMS majors and English majors concentrating in creative writing; seniors, then juniors, then sophomores

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: emphasis on written work, readings, independent research, oral presentations, group work, artistic work, audio-visual analysis, revision, self-evaluation.