Action: Teen Scriptwriting
Action: Teen Scriptwriting happens in either a span of 4 weeks (NYC, Zoom), or 6 weeks (NYC, Zoom, Online). The course includes a mixture of lectures and exercises. It’s open to students age 13-17. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
Do you dream of seeing your work performed, up there, somewhere? A spellbinding movie. An addictive TV show. A gripping play. Then go for it, but you’ll go farther if you learn the craft of scriptwriting.
Here you will gain an introduction to screenwriting, TV writing, and playwriting. You’ll learn how these forms are similar and how they’re different. Each class is taught by a teacher adept at helping young writers discover and develop their unique voices..
Better writers produce stronger college applications, and an extracurricular writing class is an impressive addition to any profile. When you know how to express yourself well with words, you’ve got a special power.
I always felt like the teacher was engaging with us and we were engaging with each other. I felt like I could ask questions and offer advice to other writers. I definitely learned a lot and would 100% recommend this course to others.
Eileen Kosnar
student
Notes
For NYC and Zoom, this course is offered as a 6-week class (with 3-hour sessions), and also as a 4-week class in the summer (with two 2-hour sessions per week).
Upcoming Classes
Syllabus
This course lets you explore screenwriting, TV writing, and playwriting, and the techniques that go with them. Course components:
Lectures
Writing exercises
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
The Big Picture: Desire and conflict. Dramatic structure. Character—personality, actions, change.
Week 2
Scenes: Objective/obstacle. Scene pointers—beginning/middle/end, compression, stage directions, Dialogue—illusion of reality, reflecting character and situation, subtext.
Week 3
Playwriting: What makes it a play?—live-ness, theatricality, scene approach. Shaping a play—plot, character, and other considerations. Play scenes analyzed.
Week 4
Screenwriting: What makes it a movie?—Hollywood vs. indie, visual storytelling, scene approach. Shaping a movie—plot, character, and other considerations. Movie scenes analyzed.
Week 5
TV Writing: What makes it a TV show?—stories expanded over time, serial vs. episodic, types and forms. Shaping a TV episode—plot, character, and other considerations. TV scenes analyzed.
Week 6
The Dramatic Life: Getting ideas. Studying and stealing. Doing it—writing and revising, finding production.
Note: Content may vary among individual classes.
Related Courses
Unbound: Teen Creative Writing
Explore creativity in writing, with both fiction and nonfiction.
True Story: Teen Creative Nonfiction
Explore the creative forms of nonfiction— memoir, essay, feature articles, reviews, etc.
Video Game Writing 1: Conception
Writing for video games, and, yes, they need good writers.
