SCREEN 714

Advanced Screenwriting: Drama


Please note: this is archived course information from 2021 for SCREEN 714.

Description

This class is an introduction to feature film writing. With a combination of lectures and workshops, it builds on the foundations of SCREEN 705 or SCREEN 700. As you work on your own original feature and analyse each other’s work, a better sense of structure, plot, characters, dialogue, genre and nuance must emerge. This course will also enable you to understand and explore the dynamics of constructive feedback and rewriting, also known in the film industry as the "development process". If your focus is feature development, please see SCREEN 715.

Each writer will be assigned one or more script developers. Developers will read writers' work at various assigned stages and profess honest feedback. This symbiotic relationship between writer and developer almost always leads to improved writing. Developers also get better at identifying and articulating problems with the screenplay. The writer and developer are both learning their craft so while writers can lean on developers to give them feedback, they cannot hold the developer responsible for not pointing out all the issues with their story.  

Course Objectives

  • Principles of dramatic feature writing
  • Focus on story structure
  • Collaboration with script developer

Class limits for 2020: Enrolment is limited to 18 students, with selection based on eligibility for admission to a postgraduate programme in Screen Production and the qualitative evaluation of Portfolio submitted.

Availability 2021

Semester 2

Lecturer(s)

Lecturer(s) Dr Shuchi Kothari

Reading/Texts


Recommended Reading


Points

SCREEN 714: 30 points

Prerequisites

SCREEN 705 or equivalent

Corequisites


Restrictions

FTVMS 759, SCREEN 706