Writing Matters

Writing Matters kicks off winter quarter on Tuesday, January 5th, at 1:00pm in SEM 2 B1107.

Bring everything you need for writing in class.

See you there!

Assignment_5: Refine Your Scene Analysis.
Due: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Copies: One for faculty, one for you, and enough additional copies to be easily read in peer groups.

Please organize your refined analysis according to the McKee’s 5 steps (see Story, page 257) listing each step number and heading. Papers should include your name, the name of the assignment, the due date, page numbers, and the title of your project.  Please type or word-process your papers, use a 12-point font, and staple pages.

Assignment_4: Scene Analysis
Due: Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Copies: One—for you

Analyze a key scene from your screenplay using the five-step process described by McKee beginning on page 257 in Story.

Step 1. Define the Conflict.
Step 2. Note the Opening Value.
Step 3. Break the Scene into Beats.  (exchange of action/reaction)
Step 4. Note the Closing Value and Compare with Opening Value.
Step 5. Survey Beats and Locate Turning Point.

As a guide, refer to McKee’s sample scene analysis from Casablanca, pages 260-271.

Please organize your analysis according to the five steps, listing each step number and heading. Papers should include your name, the name of the assignment, the due date, page numbers, and the title of your project.  Please type or word-process your papers, use a 12-point font, and staple pages.

See you Wednesday at 6pm in SEM 2 A1107.

Crafting a controlling idea for your film story is challenging. Don’t get too hung up trying to articulate it at the premise stage. As with modern writing theory, in screenwriting we often need to work our way into our idea to see what we’re really writing about. So, revisit your controlling idea again and again. After you do your scene cards/step outline, reconsider your controlling idea. Try to refine it. Try again during and after writing your treatment. Refine it during and after writing the first draft of your script. Even when you think you’ve nailed your controlling idea, you may find yourself refining it. It’s amazing how hard it is for us to discern what our own stories are about. Keep at it! Try to put it into one sentence – ending value of your story plus the chief cause for arriving there. Punch-Drunk Love might be – Barry Eagan becomes the man he dreams of being when true love finds him. Or, manhood is realized through true love. You see? You can articulate it a number of ways. McKee gives many examples of controlling ideas in Story.

This has to be said sooner or later – write on.

Due: Thursday, October 1, 2009

Copies:  Please make a copy for each character plus one for yourself and one for faculty. So, if your scene has three characters, bring 5 copies.  Typed or word-processed.

Rewrite & Shorten Your Scene

For this assignment, use the following guidelines:

Cut the length of your scene by half.

Clarify your protagonist and what he/she wants. 

Make sure the protagonist goes through a value shift. By the end of the scene make certain the protagonist is either closer to or further from what he/she wants.

Must include some action.

Must include some dialogue.

In any case, write no more than a page and a half.

Use the same general formatting provided for Assignment 1.

As a student enrolled in Writing Matters you are required to prepare and submit a short piece of writing for admittance to each seminar. You are expected to write about concepts presented in weekly reading assignments, elaborating on those of greatest interest to you.  You should express why the ideas stand out for you and how you imagine the ideas informing your own work as a writer. What ideas do you want to take away from the week’s reading?  Be prepared to discuss the reading assignments and your written reflections in seminar.

Seminars passes must include your name, the program title, the academic week number, the date of the seminar as well as the title and author’s name of the book. Passes must be typed.  Please bring two copies to seminar—one submitted to faculty at the beginning of seminar and one for you to refer to during class.

Hey All,

Our first day of class is Tuesday, September 29th.

Start time: 1:00pm.

Location for our first day: Lecture Hall 4

Remember: Bring paper/notebooks and a pen (every day).  This is a writing class after all….