Screenwriting Course Overview

Introduction

 

The programme has been designed to give you an intensive and practical education in professional screenwriting. You will see from your timetable that by the end of the fourth week you will have had scenes staged by professional actors and a working director.  This very much characterizes the spirit of the course, in which you learn by doing and receiving

on-going feedback.

 

 

Term 1

 

During the first term of the course you will have classes from 10am-1pm, five days per week for most weeks.  Additional classes are scheduled on some afternoons, but on the whole you are required to use this time to complete exercises, read scripts and to screen particular films.

 

Term One is designed to provide a solid grounding in professional screenwriting and can broadly be divided into the following four key areas:

 

 

1. Writing scenes and short films

2. Feature film script analysis & the role of the Script Reader
   
3. Fundamentals of screenwriting

4. Genre work

 

Term 2

 

During the second term of the course you will have classes from

10am-1pm, for 3-4 days per week. Additional classes and tutorials will be scheduled for afternoon sessions, but as the term progresses the onus is more and more on you to develop a regular pattern to developing your feature film idea.

 

The main focus of Term Two is development of your first feature film script. The term covers the following five key areas:

 

1. Ideas generation

2. Feature film structure

3. Pitching

4. Industry overview

5. Enhanced work on character

 

By the end of the term you will have pitched feature ideas to a panel and will receive the green-light to start working on your first feature.

 

At this point the tuition necessarily decreases as you spend more and more time developing your first feature and getting a rhythm going in terms of your writing routine.

 

 

Term 3

 

During the third term of the course you are expected to complete the following four pieces of work:

1. The first draft of your first feature film script

2. To develop a second feature idea to treatment stage

3. To develop a third feature idea to story outline stage

4. To generate at least one television idea

 

This means that most of the time you will be writing rather than being in class.  Tuition in the first part of the third term comes mainly in the form of group script development sessions and individual tutorials as you complete the first draft of your first feature script.

 

In the latter part of the term you will pitch further ideas for your second and third feature films and then go through development sessions for both projects.

 

The course culminates with a series of individual meetings with working Literary Agents who will listen to your pitches, give advice and feedback and may invite you to submit work to them directly.

 

 

Further Notes

 

Each exercise will be explained in detail at the time but the following notes are designed to give a brief description of course content:

 

 

The Staged Exercises

 

You will be given three practical writing assignments during the first term of the course that will then be workshopped in the studio with a film director and professional actors. 

 

These exercises are designed to give you the opportunity to see some of your work come to life and to receive constructive feedback on your writing in terms of dramatic strengths and weaknesses.

 

For many students this provides an accelerated learning opportunity by allowing them to experience their work rather than just read it back to themselves.

 

The three sessions are staggered throughout the term to give you the opportunity to learn and grow in your writing then be able to apply the skills on subsequent exercises.

 

 

The Location Films in Term One

 

Early on in the first term you will travel to the south coast of England to devise and write a short film script with a number of creative parameters. You will travel on the Monday morning and spend the afternoon and evening generating ideas and then spend the evening discussing and developing initial ideas. You will then have a further day to explore the location and develop ides before traveling home on the Tuesday evening.

 

Each writing students will then be trained how to pitch their ideas and will then pitch to a panel made of school faculty. Two of the scripts will be selected to go into production and will be shot on location by the Industry Filmmaking Diploma students the following month.

 

 

Genre Study

 

During the first term you will receive classes that focus on screenwriting by genre.  These classes are vital in developing your commercial understanding of films and film script are bought and sold.  A selection of films will be screened in class but as always the onus is on you to watch as many films as possible to help support your understanding of genres and the expectations their audiences have.

 

 

Reader Reports

 

Early on in the course you will be introduced to the industry role of script readers. This will give you a practical opportunity to learn what a script reader does and also to develop your awareness of how your own feature scripts will be handled when they are sent to production companies, agents or alternative funding bodies.

 

Once you have been taught the process of reading a script and writing coverage notes then there is nothing stripping from you from doing this on a weekly basis with published scripts just to build up your familiarity with the process and ability to provide meaningful analysis of feature scripts.

 

On leaving film school, working as a script reader is often the first option and so the more you can do whilst still a student with active connections, the better.

 

 

The Essential Nature of Preparation and Development

 

The Faculty at Central are of the shared view that beginning to write a script too soon is nearly always fatal to a project.  Think of it as akin to beginning laying bricks for a building before completing the architectural plans.

 

For this reason we encourage you to read as many professional feature scripts as possible. You will be provided with a memory key containing 1000 scripts - meaning there is nothing stopping you from reading professional script after script, which is an invaluable element of the learning process.

 

 

Collaboration with filmmakers

 

We strongly encourage our screenwriting students to network with filmmakers at the school (and outside) and collaborate on curricular and extra-curricular projects.

 

The students who have made the most progress during their time at the school have almost been the ones who have been highly proactive. Filmmakers need scripts – you need to get your scripts produced. Make it happen!

 

 

Successful filmmakers show great initiative. They understand that success will not be handed to them, but rather that they have to pursue it with their whole being.

 

Be proactive!