Introductory description

EN2C0-30 Screenwriting

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Autumn Term - The Craft of Screenwriting
Week 1: Introduction – Screenwriting basics and treatments
Week 2: Dramatic structure for short films
Week 3: Developing characters
Week 4: The fine art of dialogue
Week 5: Screenings of short films
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: The Scene I
Week 8: Editing and Sound
Week 9: Conflict and Resolution
Week 10: Student multimedia presentation of short film script (non-assessed)
Spring Term: Elements of Film Making
Week 1: The Scene II
Week 2: Dramatic structure for feature films – Hollywood 3-Act structure and alternatives
Week 3: Tricks of the trade: Mystery, surprise, dramatic irony and suspense.
Week 4: Managing the story: exposition, activity, dialogue, ellipses, planting set-up and pay-off
Week 5: Novel adaptations and writing for television
Week 6: Reading week
Week 7: Guest lecture by professional screenwriter / producer
Week 8: Script development and the film industry
Week 9: Visit to BFI archive and workshop session with BFI Raw Shorts
Week 10: Finding your voice

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• They will also be provided with a foundation network of film industry contacts, via visiting lecturers and workshops with the BFI Raw Shorts scheme.
• By the end of this course, students will be able to craft short and feature scripts for film.
• By the end of this course, students will have an awareness of the differences between writing for television and film.
• By the end of this course, students will have an improved understanding of the process of film production.
• By the end of this course, students will have learnt new technical skills (or enhanced existing ones) relating to shooting and editing video.
• By the end of this course, students will have sharpened their understanding of their own voice, and where that sits in the current UK film climate.
• Their critical understanding of filmmaking, screenwriting and film theory will have been enhanced.

Indicative reading list

The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer’s Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay, David Howard and Edward Mabley
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, Syd Field (Third Edition), Bantam Doubleday Bell, 1998.
On Directing, David Mamet

Secondary Reading:
Poetics, Aristotle, Penguin Classics, 1996
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000
Adventures In The Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood, William Goldman, 1983
In the Blink of an Eye Revised 2nd Edition, Walter Murch, 2001
Hitchcock: A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut. Simon & Schuster, 1986. (NB: This is a revised edition of the original 'Hitchcock', 1967, which may be cheaper.)
On Film-making, Alexander Mackendrick. Faber & Faber, 2006.
Ronald Harwood's Adaptations: From Other Works into Films, Ronald Harwood. Guerilla Books, 2007.
Scorsese on Scorsese Ed. David Thompson and Ian Christie. Faber & Faber,1989.
Story, Robert McKee. Methuen,1999.

Subject specific skills

No subject specific skills defined for this module.

Transferable skills

No transferable skills defined for this module.