Syllabus

Course Description: This course is an introduction to the art and craft of screenwriting. Topics covered range from classical screenplay form and structure to theories surrounding approaches to characterization and dialogue. Most importantly, this course is designed to develop our ability to think and write "visually," as well as our ability to critically analyze our own work and the work of our colleagues. By the end of the semester, each student will write a screenplay for a short (20 - 30 minute) film.

Contact Info:
Who: Prof. Jay McRoy
Office: CART 228
Office Hours: W 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm
mcroy@uwp.edu
www.jaymcroy.com

Required Texts:

• Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting - Syd Field

Highly Recommended Texts:

• Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting - James Mckee
• Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for the Page, Stage, and Screen - James McKee
• Cut to the Chase: Writing Feature Films with the Pros at the UCLA Extension Writer's Program - Linda Venis

Grading:

• Attendance & Participation 20%
• Class Assignments 20%: Script to Screen Analyses, revisions of in-class exercises, script treatment.
• Peer Response and Other In-Class Writings 20%: Peer Responses will be assigned during the series of intensive workshops that close out the semester. Giving and receiving constructive feedback is an essential part of the learning process; we are all learners, and we are all in this together. 
• Screenplay 20%: By the end of the semester, each student will write a screenplay for a short (20 - 30 minute) film. For this assignment, you may either invent a story or adapt a piece of short fiction. If you elect the latter option, you must provide a copy of the short story for your prospective readers. 
• Final Revised (i.e. Post Workshopped) Screenplay - 20%: Remember that final draft? Yeah....your not done... 

Rules and Regulations:

1. Come to class. 
2. Participate Actively (This is a workshop, after all...)
3. Turn your work in on time. NO EXCEPTIONS. You can turn work in as early as you want, but the deadline is the deadline. Period. In the film industry, late = fired.
4. Respect your fellow student.  

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***PLAGIARISM WARNING*** 

There is nothing wrong with using the words and thoughts of others as long as you acknowledge your debt.  In fact, you can frequently strengthen your writing by doing so. However, if you represent the words or ideas of others as if they were your own, then you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism includes:     

1) Paraphrasing or copying (without the use of quotation marks) someone else's words without acknowledgment. 

2) Using someone else's facts or ideas without acknowledgment. 

3) Handing in work for one course that you handed in for credit in another course without the permission of both instructors.

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Semester Schedule:

Week One (2/6): Introduction


Week Two (2/13): Reading/Writing a Screenplay 
In-Class Reading: First Reformed (Schrader, 2016)
Read for Class: Field - "Introduction" & "What is a Screenplay?"


Week Three (2/20): Reading/Writing a Screenplay II
In-Class Viewing and Discussion: First Reformed (Schrader, 2017)
Read for Class: Field - "Screenplay Form"
DUE: Two Page Script to Screen Analysis - Choose a film, read its screenplay, and then watch the completed work. In no more than 500 words, explain how the experience of reading the screenplay compares to the experience of viewing the completed film. In what way(s) does the completed film differ from the immediate imaginative experience you encountered in reading the screenplay?

Week Four (2/27): Reading/Writing a Screenplay III
Read for Class: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Kaufman, 2004)
In-Class Viewing: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)


Week Five 3/6: THE SUBJECT
Read for Class: Field - "The Subject"  
DUE: Two Page Script to Screen Analysis - Choose a film, read its screenplay, and then watch the completed work. In no more than 500 words, explain how the experience of reading the screenplay compares to the experience of viewing the completed film. In what way(s) does the completed film differ from the immediate imaginative experience you encountered in reading the screenplay? 


Week Six (3/13):  STRUCTURE & FORM
Read for Class: Field - "Setting Up the Story" through "Plot Points"


Week Seven (3/20): FORM & STRUCTURE
Read for Class: "Two Incidents" through "Building the Story Line"
DUE - Revise, Rework, or Expand one of our In-Class Exercises


***SPRING BREAK***


Week Eight (4/3): CHARACTER
Read for Class: Field - "The Creation of Character" through "Story and Character"
TREATMENT DUE


Week Nine (4/10): OPENINGS & CLOSINGS
Read for Class: Field - "Endings and Beginnings"



Week Ten (4/17): INTENSIVE WORKSHOP
Read for Class: Field - "Writing the Screenplay" & "Adaptation"



Week Eleven (4/24) : INTENSIVE WORKSHOP
SCREENPLAY DUE



Week Twelve (5/1): INTENSIVE WORKSHOP


Week Thirteen (5/8): INTENSIVE WORKSHOP
FINAL REVISED SCREENPLAY DUE