Topics in English:SCREENWRITING - 13756 - ENGL 4050 - 001

Topics in English: SCREENWRITING - 13759 - ENGL 5050 - 001

ajhartle@email.uncc.edu

Office: Robinson 371

Office hours: M/W 9-11, T/Th 9-11 and by appointment

NOTE: THIS SYLLABUS WILL BE MAINTAINED ONLINE THROUGH MY SCHOOL WEBSITE:  http://www.dancetheatre.uncc.edu/ajhartle/ The syllabus is subject to change. The definitive schedule and policies will be maintained on-line and through notifications sent to your 49Express e-mail addresses (see “Communication,” below).

Moving Pictures
In this class we will learn the basics of screenwriting for the mainstream cinema. Feature film screenwriting is unlike any other form of creative writing, partly because movies are primarily a visual medium. More than any other performative form of creative writing (writing for the stage or for television), films rely on what the audience sees. In learning to write for the big screen, then, we must veer away from many of the concerns of other forms such as poetry or short fiction, never forgetting that a movie script on the page is always partial, a gesture towards an art object which is only fully realized on the screen. This requires discipline on the part of the writer and an eye for the visually dramatic. While you will not (necessarily) produce a complete script in this class, you will produce approximately one third of the complete script, with a series of guidelines (treatments) that will outline the rest of the project in its entirety. We will begin by analyzing the basic structural elements of filmic story telling (constantly applying them to extant films), then moving to the application of those elements to your own movie ideas. One of these will turn into the script which will be the focus of your subsequent written work.

Class policies:

What follows is a detailed description of the policies for this class. These rules are designed to give as clear a statement as I can manage about my expectations of your behavior, professionalism and diligence, and the consequences of failure in these areas. Most of you will not need such rules spelled out and I regret the need to do so because of those who do. Please do not expect the rules to be bent or broken except in the most extraordinary and tragic of circumstances (in which category, temperamental cars, damaged or capricious computer equipment, belligerent room mates, non-life threatening ailments, over indulgence of any kind, or being busy or “stressed out” because of other classes/activities, do not qualify).

Required texts and reading:

Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey (2nd edition)
David Trottier, The Screenwriter’s Bible (4^th Edition).

You should bring both books to every class.
Both books have been ordered through the school book store in specific editions.

We will not be assigning class time to the discussion of every page of each book assigned but you should read all of them and keep them to hand as references.

Be sure to HAVE READ any text assigned for class PRIOR to our meeting. Failure to stay up with the reading (and that means having read it thoughtfully, attentively and critically so that you have things to say about it) renders you present only in body and I will thus mark you absent. You cannot possibly grasp the material effectively if you rely on other people’s discussion of it in the classroom.

You will also be required to watch several films. Most of them you will probably have seen before. You will need to watch them AGAIN in order to annotate how they work in terms of structure. Failure to watch an assigned film (and they are all easily available) will be treated as coming to class unprepared and you will thus be marked ABSENT for that day.

The films you will need access to are:

THE WIZARD OF OZ

STAR WARS

CHINA TOWN

TAXI DRIVER

MEMENTO

JAWS

THE FULL MONTY

NOTTINGHILL

SHAKEPSEARE IN LOVE

Attendance, tardiness and participation:

Attendance is mandatory. A class like this depends on active participation for its success. Non attendance thus has a negative impact on everyone involved. You are permitted two excused absences after which you will merely be considered absent regardless of the validity of your excuse unless the circumstances are extraordinary (e.g. a documented death in the family). You should thus save your absences for genuine emergencies. For each absence beyond the two allowed, you will lose one letter of your participation grade. You can fail the participation portion by any combination of absences, tardiness (see below) unpreparedness (see above), and failing to be actively engaged in class discussion and activities. Mere attendance is not enough to pass this portion of your grade.

Tardiness is defined as not being present when class begins. You will be considered tardy if you arrive up to 10 minutes late unless a valid excuse has been submitted in advance of the class. Three tardies equal one absence. If you are more than 10 minutes late you will be considered absent.

If your absences (including tardies and unpreparedness) totals 20% or more of the total class time for the semester, you will automatically fail the course. Since presence in class is vital to a course like this, even legitimate excuses can not compensate for your not being present.

I will conduct this class in an atmosphere of mutual respect. I encourage your active participation in class discussions. Each of us may have strongly differing opinions on the various topics of class discussions. The conflict of ideas is encouraged and welcome. The orderly questioning of the ideas of others, including mine, is similarly welcome. However, I will exercise my responsibility to manage the discussions so that ideas and argument can proceed in an orderly fashion. You should expect that if your conduct during class discussions seriously disrupts the atmosphere of mutual respect I expect in this class, you will not be permitted to participate further.

If I am late in arriving to class, you must wait a full 20 minutes after the start of class before you may leave without being counted absent, or you must follow any written instructions I may give you about my anticipated tardiness.  

Students in this course seeking accommodations to disabilities must first consult with the Office of Disability Services and follow the instructions of that office for obtaining accommodations

All students are required to abide by the UNC Charlotte Sexual Harassment Policy (http://www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-61.html) and the policy on Responsible Use of University Computing and Electronic Communication Resources (http://www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-66.html). Sexual harassment, as defined in the UNC Charlotte Sexual Harassment Policy, is prohibited, even when carried out through computers or other electronic communications systems, including course-based chat rooms or message boards.

Students are also required to abide by the school’s policies on academic integrity which can be accessed here: http://www.uncc.edu/policystate/ps-105.html

A note on plagiarism: if you attempt to pass off work as yours which you have taken from elsewhere without adequate citation, you will be punished. The punishment will vary according to the severity of the plagiarism ranging from the most minimal (docking a grade for inaccurate or accidentally inadequate citation in footnotes) to the most severe (copying papers from the web, other students, books etc. cheating on exams etc. all of which will result in your failing the entire course and having the matter turned over to an academic tribunal for possible further punishment). Please bear this in mind. Plagiarism is intellectual theft and I take it very seriously.

Communication:

I will maintain the syllabus on my own web site: http://www.dancetheatre.uncc.edu/ajhartle

My e-mail address is: ajhartle@email.uncc.edu

I will also make use of the e-mail lists provided through 49 Express and web CT. It is imperative that you check this e-mail address regularly (at least once a day) in order to stay up to date with announcements, instructions etc. Failure to complete required work according to guidelines, deadlines etc. which were sent to you but you did not receive until too late will be considered your responsibility. If you don’t use the e-mail address the school has on file for you, you need to start doing so. Changing the address to one you do use will only solve the problem if the school can make those changes to its records immediately.

As with regular checking of your e-mail account, you are responsible for communicating directly with me if you have problems or issues which cause you to be behind, delayed or in any way unprepared for class or related assignments. E-mail is the best way of reaching me. That said, e-mail can be temperamental, so you should always check back with me to ensure I received what you sent if you have not had some kind of receipt from me within 12 hours of sending. This is particularly important where late papers are concerned. You will not be given credit for papers you thought you had sent but which never reached me.

Assignments:

All assignments must be typed (manually or on a computer) and presented in the class they are due as hard copy, suitably formatted. Unless there are extraordinary extenuating circumstances, late papers will be penalized at the rate of one entire letter grade per day of lateness. I will accept late papers up to 5 days late (that 5 days includes weekends, holidays, and the day the paper was due). Papers reduced to a failing grade which are turned in within those 5 days will receive an F like any other failing work, thus getting partial (but not passing) credit. Papers turned in after the late period is over will receive a zero.

Late papers should be e-mailed to me as Word attachments so I have a clear sense of exactly when they came in, with hard copies left in my Theatre dept mail box as soon after as is possible. See above (‘Communication’) for further details about electronic submissions.

Undergraduate Course Evaluation
20% Class participation (regular class attendance, active participation in class discussions and activities)
10% original 4 page treatment
10% 3 pages of sample script from JAWS (assessed according to formatting)
15% 10 page movie treatment
10% First ten pages of script
15% 10 Sample pages from Act 2
20% Whole of Act 1

Graduate Course evaluation

20% Class participation

10% 3 pages of sample script from JAWS (assessed according to formatting)

10% Ten page treatment

60% Complete script

Schedule
Note: Attendance at all classes is mandatory. Most of these classes have assigned reading and/or assigned movies. Even if you have already seen the movies (most are deliberately mainstream), you should watch them again with a view to the concerns of the class. While we may look at specific scenes or examples from movies in class we will not devote large amounts of time to watching films. You must do this on your own time in advance of the scheduled discussion.
 
Note: If nothing is written beside the date that means either that we will be continuing to work on the last reading/film named or that I have reserved some breathing room so that we can adjust the schedule depending on our progress.

Module 1. Filmic structure
 M Aug 21

Introduction to class. Syllabus distribution.
 

W Aug 23
 What movie scripts are (and aren’t). Kipper and the Rainbow (to be shown in class)

Visual Story-telling.
Revising the Write What You Know mantra.
A note on collaboration.
High Concept films and the twenty six word summary (to be followed up in first pitching session (Sept 18-20)
Instructions for archetypes session next week re. assigned movies.

Script examples for consideration.

 

M Aug 28

Mythic archetypes (Vogler 1-80) THE WIZARD OF OZ

W Aug 30

STAR WARS (the original)

M Sep 4 Labor Day. No Class.

W Sep 6

Stages of the Journey (Vogler 81-236) TAXI DRIVER

M Sept 11.

The Three Act Structure. (Trottier 1-80)
Students must be ready to discuss THE FULL MONTY in detail with regard to the 3 act structure. You should time the movies and make notes as to what happens at each stage.

W Sept 13

3 act structure concluded. CHINA TOWN

Module 2. Developing the Concept and Formatting Mechanics

M Sept 18

Trottier 83-111 

W Sept 20

Pitching Session 1. Each student should have 3-5 movie ideas ready to pitch (2 minutes per idea). Each idea should be written out as a 26 word or less statement to be handed in (the idea can be expanded in the pitch).

M Sept 25

Pitching session concluded

W Wed 27 (Day before Bouchercon)

4 page movie treatment due for first round notes to be given out by e-mail.
Unusual takes on structure:  MEMENTO

M Oct 2 (Last day to withdraw with W and stay in other classes)

Screenplay Format: Trottier 113-200

W Oct 4

In class formatting exercises.

M Oct 9 NO CLASS (Student recess)

W Oct 11.

3 pages of sample script from JAWS due
Discussion of treatments and peer review of revised treatments.
JAWS

M Oct 16

Sample script pages returned. 
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. Developing complex sub-plots

W Oct 18

Revised 4 page treatment due for grading. Thinking about Dialogue: 
NOTTING HILL

M Oct 23

Sample scene(s) from your script due (3-4 pages) for consideration in class. Lead into larger discussion of each film project in preparation for extended treatments.

W Oct 25

Final discussion of treatments in detail. Bring your most current version of the treatment for peer review and general class analysis. Beyond basic structure, character arc etc. you should have a DETAILED sense of how the story will unfold, particularly the second act. This session will serve as notes for the preparation of your extended (10 page) treatment, due Nov 1 for peer review and due for grading Nov 13th. First round of individual conferences.

M Oct 30

Treatment discussion concluded. Individual teacher conferences concluded.

Module 3. Writing (and Rewriting) the Script

W Nov 1.   

10 page Treatment due for peer review
Trottier 201-55

M Nov 6

First ten pages of script due for peer critique

W Nov 8 NO CLASS (Michigan)

M Nov 13

Final version of 10 page treatment due for grading.

W Nov 15

Act One group work session.

M Nov 20

First ten pages due for grading. Act two scene group work session

W Nov 22 (Last day to withdraw with W) NO CLASS (Thanksgiving break)

M Nov 27

Peer review session. Whole of Act 1 due for revision and polishing.

W Nov 29

M Dec 4

Revised 4 page treatment due with 10 sample pages (keyed to treatment) from Act 2.

Dec 6 last day of classes. Act 1 final version due for grading.

Dec 7 Reading Day

 
 Final exam MON         DEC 11            12:00 -   3:00 pm

Resources:

You may consider investing in some screenwriting software such as Final Draft, though these are expensive and I would wait to see how interested you are in pursuing screenwriting before purchasing one.

Other resources to consider are the trade publications Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. There are also several magazines and newsgroups devoted specifically to screenwriting. The best known magazine is probably Scr(i)pt. It contains articles about screenwriting craft, interviews with writers, producers etc. and publishes announcements of screenwriting contests. Some of theses contests are listed at the back of The Screenwriter’s Bible, though you should check on-line to ensure that the entry dates, prizes etc. are still correct. The major screenwriting contests are The Nicholl Fellowship (run by the Academy of Motion Pictures) and the Austin Film Festival contest. Others such as Disney and Chesterfield result in studio internships, while others like Sundance are geared to people who want to actually make their movie themselves.

Other resources can be found at the Writer’s Guild of America site (www.wga.org) which includes information on script registration, agencies etc.. Other resources for writers dealing with agents, publishers etc. can be found through Writer’s Market (www.WritersMarket.com) and The Hollywood Creative Directory.

There are various on-line sources for scripts which are very useful. Notice that some of these have non-standard formatting issues.

A note on writing:
Despite the oddities of screenwriting, any agent or producer will tell you that pristine, grammatically correct copy is essential to the craft. Yes, dialogue can break rules of grammar, but it must do so knowingly. If your writing is merely flawed, your credibility and professionalism are irrevocably harmed. This is why issues of grammar, spelling etc. will be rigorously policed in ways having a direct impact on your grade.

Conferences and Outside Assistance:

I will be glad to meet with you outside of class to discuss your work in this class, the writing assignments or the texts we are studying. If you are having trouble with the material in this class or have questions and/or concerns you would like to discuss, please set up a time a meet with me.