Walks through the process of getting your screenplay idea out of your head and onto the printed page.
Overview
Syllabus
Introduction
- Welcome
- Overview of the course
- Think like a screenwriter
- Figuring out your story's scope
- Understanding suspense, drama, and conflict
- Basic character construction
- Overcoming defensiveness
- The end comes first: Your story's event
- The beginning: What's the status quo?
- The three-act structure
- Locating your plot twists
- Introducing your protagonist
- Superpowers and kryptonite
- Your characters's desires
- Who are your supporting players?
- The routine killer: Your first plot twist
- Should I stay or should I go?
- The act one plot twist: Saying goodbye to the comfort zone
- Why adventure?
- Your plot thickeners: Adding two new twists
- The need for obstacles
- How high are your stakes?
- Status shifts and reversals of fortune
- The first plot thickener: This is getting serious
- The halfway point
- The second plot thickener: The crisis
- Preparing your character for resolution
- The act two plot twist: The great revelation
- How should act three open?
- The decisive confrontation (AKA the climax)
- Your story's event, in all its glory
- Aftermaths, epilogues, and twist endings
- One page = one minute of screen time
- Screenplay page layout
- Advanced formatting tips
- Screen direction: What to include and what not to
- Worry about the legalities now, not later
- Has your movie been made already?
- Adapting existing work
- Public domain, fair use, and parody
- Working with a cowriter
- Being a work for hire
- Registering for a copyright
- Goodbye
Taught by
Mark Tapio Kines