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Screenwriting I
GUIDE TO SCRIPTWRITING COURSES
Scriptwriting Pathways
Foundation
If you’re not sure what kind of script to write...
If you know what kind of script to write...
Somewhat related...
If you want a rather short course...
Screenwriting Intensive
TV Writing Intensive
Playwriting Intensive
Web Series
Documentary Films
Stand-Up Comedy Writing Intensive
Songwriting Intensive
Or...
Next Steps
After completing a Level I ten-week course...
After completing TV Writing II Pilot…
Also Helpful
These essential courses are great for writers of any level.
Screenwriting I is a 10-week workshop, which includes lectures, exercises, and the critiquing of student projects. It’s for beginners or anyone who wants to brush up on the fundamentals. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
Movies are the modern mythology—the stories we all watch for excitement, inspiration, and entertainment. So many genres and types...drama, comedy, action/adventure, science fiction, fantasy, thriller, horror, crime, noir, epic, western, war, romantic comedy, musical. Larger than life blockbusters or down-to-earth depictions of reality. Tales told with emotional verve and visual imagery we never forget.
A movie isn’t great unless it starts with a great blueprint—the screenplay. Here you’ll learn how to write for the movies and how to market your work.
Whether you seek to write shorts or features, Hollywood glamor or indie grit, we’ll show you how to write screenplays that light up the screen.
This was a great opportunity to explore a concept, test your scriptwriting skills and learn from those who are like-minded.
Alden Masonis
strategic consultant
10-Week
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Zoom
Real-time videoconference
Tuition: $439 (returning students: $409)
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Online
Anytime, week-long sessions
Tuition: $439 (returning students: $409)
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One-on-One
Tuition: $1,795
Syllabus
This course gives you a firm grounding in the basics of screenwriting craft and gets you writing a screenplay. Course components:
Lectures
Writing exercises
Workshopping of student projects (each student presenting work two times)
New York City/Zoom classes
The syllabus varies from teacher to teacher, term to term. Many topics will be similar to those covered in the Online classes.
Online classes
Week 1
Introduction to Screenwriting: The visual nature of movies. Screenplays as blueprints. Where to find ideas. Forming a premise. High and low concept. Hollywood vs. indie. Genre. The usefulness of outlines.
Week 2
Plot I: Finding a major dramatic question. The three-act structure. The difference between classic plots and subtle plots. Making a story map.
Week 3
Character: Finding a strong protagonist. Handling other characters. Making characters dimensional through desire and contrasts. Creating character profiles. Showing characters through their actions.
Week 4
Format/Description: How to format a screenplay. Writing effective screenplay description.
Week 5
Scene: Scene defined. Length of scene. Tenets of a good scenes—importance, desire/conflict, structure, compression, visual storytelling. Sequences. Making a step outline.
Week 6
Dialogue: Dialogue’s illusion of reality. Compression. Characterization through dialogue. Subtext. Exposition. Stage directions. Voice over.
Week 7
Subplot: The value of subplots. Romantic subplots. Other kinds of subplots for the protagonist. Non-protagonist subplots. Subplot structure. Finding subplots in your story.
Week 8
Plot II: Creating an effective opening section. Techniques for sustaining Act II. Creating an effective climax. Flashbacks.
Week 9
Tone/Theme/Revision: Developing tone through genre, world, and lightness/darkness. Consistency of tone. Theme defined. Types of theme. Weaving theme into a story. Exploration of the various stages of revision.
Week 10
The Business: Creating pitches. Studios, producers, and representation. How to get your pitch to players in the industry. Query letters. The life of a screenwriter.
Note: Content may vary among individual classes.
Teachers
Doug Katz
Doug Katz wrote and directed the award-winning feature film Life in the Food Chain and the children’s video series Alphabet Factory, hosted by NY Times best-selling author Garth Stein. He is producing The Fabian Waltz, an original limited series about George Bernard Shaw. He has taught at St. John’s University. He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University.
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Jason Greiff
Jason Greiff wrote the feature screenplay The Godparents, which was developed with Universal Studios and Marc Platt Productions. He has produced credits in children’s animation in China and Portugal, and has helped develop shows for Disney Asia and China’s largest media company CCTV. His screenplays have won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the Lew Wasserman Award for Best Comedy, and a national competition sponsored by the Writers Guild of America. He authored the chapter on Tone/Theme in Gotham’s book Writing Movies (Bloomsbury USA). He has taught at NYU. He holds a BA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU/Tisch.
Read moreDoug Katz
Doug Katz
wrote and directed the award-winning feature film Life in the Food Chain and the children’s video series Alphabet Factory, hosted by NY Times best-selling author Garth Stein. He is producing The Fabian Waltz, an original limited series about George Bernard Shaw. He has taught at St. John’s University. He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University.
Jason Greiff
Jason Greiff
wrote the feature screenplay The Godparents, which was developed with Universal Studios and Marc Platt Productions. He has produced credits in children’s animation in China and Portugal, and has helped develop shows for Disney Asia and China’s largest media company CCTV. His screenplays have won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the Lew Wasserman Award for Best Comedy, and a national competition sponsored by the Writers Guild of America. He authored the chapter on Tone/Theme in Gotham’s book Writing Movies (Bloomsbury USA). He has taught at NYU. He holds a BA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU/Tisch.
