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Unit 7 – Fiction Work

WEEK 7 SCRIPT WORK

MES153 0902 (Tuesdays)  | MES153 1000 (Thursdays)

Viewing & Reading Assignments

 

REMINDER: THE DOC PROJECT IS DUE

Students who have not yet submitted their projects, be sure to read the guidelines and submit it at the links below. This is the semester’s first major assignment, so be sure to re-read everything, make sure you haev revised everything that needed revision, spell and grammar check it, and complete all requirements.

1 – READ the following to prepare for work in our upcoming class:

2 – READ the following short script before the next class:

3 – WATCH the following shorts before class time:

Things to look for – What are the major beats of the story? Who is the main character? What is the goal of the main character? What is the conflict?

“Locks” (6:11) | Written & directed by Ryan Coogler, 2008

“What’s Virgin Mean?” (2:23) | Written & directed by Michael Davies

“The Black Hole” (2:48) | Written & directed by Phil Sampson and Olly Williams

 

4 – READ “8 Helpful Screenwriting Tips From Pixar” Below

1 – CHARACTER BUILDING
You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

2 – PROTAGONIST COMFORT ZONE – SHAKE THEM OUT OF IT
What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

3 – FIGURE OUT THE ENDING SOONER
Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

4 – EXAMINE STORIES THAT MOVE YOU
Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

5 – WRITE IT. NOW.
Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

6 – MAKE SURE THE STAKES ARE PRESENT AND RISING
What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

7 – WORK IS NEVER A WASTE OF TIME.
No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on — it’ll come back around to be useful later

8 – BE ABLE TO EXPRESS YOUR STORY IN A SENTENCE
What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Writing Assignment

 

Complete Assignment FP2 |Note: To complete this assignment, you must have submitted and received a passing grade on Assignment FP1 along with an approved idea for the fiction script.

There are four parts to this assignment. Based on the feedback and approval you received on FP1, write the following:

    1. A (working) title for the script you will be developing – As with all the development drafts of the story, you can change your title along the way, but begin with a short, strong title that helps you the writer focus, and gives the reader an indication of the story and the type of story you aim to tell.
    2. Identify the following essential elements of your story:
      • protagonist, name and short description
      • inciting incident
      • protagonist’s goal/want
      • primary obstacle standing in the way of protagonist’s achieving/attaining his/her/their goal
      • antagonist, main person preventing protagonist from reaching goal
      • stakes of the story — what is the worst thing that can happen if protagonist doesn’t get goal
      • setting
    3. A logline – Review videos and explanations about what a logline is as well as different approaches for how to write one here.
    4. Create a beat sheet identifying the major beats of your screenplay with this beat sheet. In addition to submitting this to Brightspace as part of FP2, bring a print-out of your filled-in beat sheet to class as we will be working with this this upcoming week. (See Beat Sheet Tips for Screenwriting for help.)

Upload to Brightspace: