English 305
CREATIVE WRITING
(Screenwriting emphasis)
Call No. 71625 Christopher P. Jacobs Spring 2005 Semester
Mondays – Wednesdays – Fridays 10 am
Merrifield Hall Room 114
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Syd Field, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting ISBN # 440576474
Syd Field, The Screenwriter’s Problem Solver ISBN # 440504910
John Gardner, The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers ISBN # 679734031
RECOMMENDED TEXTS:
Syd Field, The Screenwriter’s Workbook ISBN # 440582253
Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves
ISBN # 1592400876
This section of Creative Writing will focus primarily on writing screenplays, short or feature-length, either original, or adapted from some other medium. However, for some writing assignments, students may choose to write other types of prose fiction such as short stories, theatrical play scripts, or novellas, or possibly creative nonfiction, essays or poetry. These may then be adapted into a screenplay for a final project. Some topics the class will cover include: standard screenplay format, types of story material especially suited for expression as a screenplay, types of story material difficult to convey in the film medium, effective use of dialogue, how to visualize scenes in words without giving specific camera directions that may alienate potential directors, and simple tricks for increasing the chances for your screenplay to be produced. The class will also watch one or more films and then read the screenplays and/or the original source literature they were based upon.
No final exam. Students will read and evaluate each other’s works-in-progress orally or in writing. By the end of the semester students should have completed either one feature-length screenplay in its second or third draft, or several short screenplays and/or story treatments.
WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA WEBSITE
A couple of
useful pages with more filmmaking and screenwriting links than you’ll ever be
able to explore…
http://www.cyberfilmschool.com/links/screenwriting.htm
http://www.tcnj.edu/~beres/horror.htm
GENERAL SYLLABUS
(may be revised with student input):
WEEKLY:
Mondays read and discuss student writings
Wednesdays discuss textbook readings and/or student writings, or
film screening
Fridays in-class exercises, story conferences, film
discussions
SEMESTER
WEEK:
1 Jan 12-14 Overview/introduction/reading
assignments
2 Jan 19-21 Sample
screenplays and filmed scenes/film form/narrative organization
3 Jan
24-26-28 Chinatown part
1/discussion of writing exercises/assignment (story synopsis/logline)
4 31-Feb
2-4 Chinatown part
2/discussion of story synopses/assignment (scene)
5 Feb
7-9-11 Chinatown part
3/discussion of scenes and of Chinatown
6 Feb
14-16-18 First short screenplay,
treatment, or long screenplay first section/draft due
7 Feb 23-25 in-class
film(s) and discussion
8 28-Mar
2-4 in-class film(s) and discussion
9 Mar
7-9-11 story conferences on student
screenplays
S P R I N G B R E A K
-- WORK ON SCREENPLAYS and/or OUTSIDE VIEWING/READING PROJECT
10 Mar
21-23 story conferences
11 Mar
30-Apr 1 Second short screenplay,
treatment, or long screenplay middle section/revised draft due
12 Apr
4-6-8 story conferences
13 Apr
11-13-15 story conferences
14 Apr
18-20-22 Student reports on outside
viewing/reading project
15 Apr
25-27-29 Student reports on outside
viewing/reading project
16 May
2-4 Third short screenplay,
treatment, or long screenplay final draft due
OUTSIDE VIEWING/READING PROJECT:
View a movie on DVD first without
and then with writer’s or other commentary (if available), read source work (if
any), read screenplay (early and/or final drafts), view movie again with script
handy for reference, report to class comments, observations, analysis,
evaluation. (Discuss structure, character development, motifs, methods of
incorporating themes, pacing, changes from script to screen, etc.) Some DVDs
include copies of the complete script on the disc in .txt or .pdf format, which
can be printed out. A few of them allow you to read the script on one side of
your computer screen while watching the movie on the other side. Many
screenplays can be found on line at places like http://simplyscripts.com/full_movie.html
and downloaded for free (sometimes the shooting script, sometimes an earlier
draft, and sometimes simply a “cutting continuity” prepared from the finished
film). Numerous scripts can be purchased by mail in hard-copy script form at
prices ranging around $10-$30 from places like http://www.scriptcity.net/ and other
dealers (sometimes leftovers from the production, sometimes newer
reproductions), and quite a few screenplays have been published in book form, either
individually or as part of collections.
Each
student should pick a different movie to report on to the class.
Some
recommended DVDs to explore (*asterisked titles include screenplay on some DVD
editions, **double-asterisked screenplays can be found on line):
The
Stunt Man* plus
novel; Sunset Boulevard**; State and Main*; Pirates of the Carribean*;
American Beauty* plus earlier screenplay draft**; The Matrix*;
Pleasantville*; Nurse Betty*; Se7en*; Blast from the Past*; Bloodsucking
Pharaohs in Pittsburgh*; The Road to Morocco*; Taxi Driver*; L’Avventura**;
Blue Velvet**; The Old Dark House (1932** and 1963 versions) plus novel Benighted;
Fight Club** plus novel; Troy** plus Helen of Troy and epic
poem “The Iliad”; The Maltese Falcon (1931, 1936 [Satan Met a Lady], and
1941** versions) plus novel; The Big Sleep (1945, 1946, and 1978
versions) plus novel; The Day of the Locust plus novel; The Last
Picture Show plus novel; Contempt plus novel, The Killers (1946
and 1964 and other versions) plus short story, Rashomon and The
Outrage (1964) plus short stories; Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (1920,
1931, and 1941 versions) plus novella; The Fall of the House of Usher
plus short stories; Yojimbo plus A Fistful of Dollars and Last
Man Standing; Macbeth (various versions) plus stage play and Joe
Macbeth and Throne of Blood and Chronicles of Riddick;
Othello (various versions) plus stage play and ”O” and A
Double Life; The Front Page (1931, 1940 [His Girl Friday], 1974, and
1988 [Switching Channels] versions) plus stage play; Chicago (1927, 1942
[Roxie Hart], and 2002 versions) plus stage play and musical; Sullivan’s
Travels; North By Northwest; On the Waterfront; The Creature From the Black
Lagoon; Independence Day; Dark City; Ravenous
SCREENPLAY
TEMPLATE
for
Microsoft Word
RIGHT CLICK HERE and select “Save As” to
download a free custom-made screenplay template for MS-Word 2000 or later that
automatically formats font, indents, line spacing, and margins as you type, and
numbers scenes automatically with every new slugline. Scene numbers may be
removed manually and/or re-added with MS-Word’s numbering tools or by pressing
ctrl-# over a numbered line (if macros are enabled).
Sluglines and
transitions are automatically all CAPS, but you’ll need to type in caps
manually for character names. Traditionally,
a character’s name is capitalized in the scene description only the first time
that character appears, but is always capitalized when used in its
indented character style before dialogue or a parenthetical.
(NOTE:
Macros must be enabled for keyboard shortcuts to work. If they won’t work,
simply select a different style format from style menu manually when needed.)
Formatted styles
include:
Title (centered) alt-t
Slugline (CAPS left margin edge,
numbered to left of that) alt-n
Scene Description (left margin edge)
alt-s
Character (indented 2.5 inches) alt-c
Dialogue (indented 1.5 inches) alt-d
Parenthetical (indented 2 inches) alt-p
and Transition (CAPS right-justified)
alt-o (for “optical”)
All screenplay
styles are in the standard Courier
12 point screenplay font.
NOTE: Microsoft’s “Courier New” font will usually print too light unless you
make everything boldface, so it’s best to use your printer’s default Courier
font.
After selecting
“Slugline” from the style menu, hitting enter/return will automatically switch
the next line to the Scene Description style. Hitting enter/return from the
Scene Description style automatically switches to the Character style. Hitting
enter/return from Character automatically switches to Dialogue style and
hitting enter/return from Dialogue automatically switches back to Character for
quickest dialogue entry. Changing to Parenthetical or Transition, or back to
Scene Description or Slugline must be done from the style menu (or with
alt+letter shortcut keys if macros are enabled). Hitting enter/return when in
the Transition style automatically switches to Slugline and adds a new scene
number.
SAMPLE SCREENPLAY
FORMAT (bolder for viewability and not to exact scale):
YOUR BIG MOVIE
A screenplay by
You Yourself
and Assorted Friends
1.
INT. DORM ROOM. NIGHT.
A STUDENT leans over a ROOMMATE who sits
cross-legged on the bed, typing furiously on a laptop.
STUDENT
(sarcastically)
So how’s your
screenplay coming along?
ROOMMATE
You don’t wanna know.
DISSOLVE TO
2.
EXT. PARK. DAY.
The roommate sits on the grass, still typing on the
laptop while the student plays with a Frisbee.
STUDENT
I always work better under
pressure.
(beat)
Anyway, I prefer to work from
an
outline and have the actors
improvise
in character.
ROOMMATE
(mumbling, barely
audible)
Mmm. That explains a lot.