The course combines lectures on the basics of feature length screenwriting with the development of the student’s own writing work. Students are required to complete 50-70 pages of a full length screenplay with an outline of the rest. The students study story structure, conflict, and character, in conjunction with the screening and study of several classic films and screenplays. The writing process starts in the first month with a focus on exercises to help students develop five story ideas with the complexity and depth to sustain a full-length screenplay. One of these ideas will serve as the basis for the required work. Each idea can be described in one or two paragraphs. Special instructions: All students must come to the first class with three ideas for full-length screenplays.

Formerly Fundamentals of Film: A Digital Workshop

This practical workshop is designed to introduce students to the techniques and theory of developing and producing short film ideas that are shot on digital video and edited digitally on computer using Adobe Premiere Pro software. The course centers on learning elements of visual storytelling through a spectrum of aesthetic approaches. Working in crews of four, students learn directing, shooting, and editing skills as they each direct three short videos (three to five minutes in length).   

This course is specifically designed to fulfill the major requirements in production of students not majoring in film and therefore, students who need to fulfill this requirement are given registration priority. Students should add themselves to the waitlist for this class    

Formerly Intermediate Digital Filmmaking Workshop

Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Filmmaking I: The Art of Visual Storytelling

In this course, students will build upon the visual storytelling skills learned in the prerequisite course, Fundamentals of Filmmaking. Students will be introduced to color cinematography, aesthetics, sound recording, casting and directing actors, production logistics, and editing. This course is aimed at the film enthusiast who would like to further explore digital filmmaking.

Students will shoot on Sony FS100 HD digital video cameras, and edit with Adobe Premiere Pro software on Apple computers. Students will have access to a compact lighting and mini mic kit for use on their productions. Students are required to purchase their own portable hard drive to use during the editing process.

At the complete of this course, students will be able to:

• Direct and produce a short, digital video project, this includes:
  • Write a 5-minute short screenplay with minimal dialog
  • Cast and direct actors
  • Storyboard
  • Light a scene with a compact lighting kit
  • Record clean dialog with a mini mic kit
  • Edit on Final Cut Pro

This course has a nonrefundable lab fee of $650. 

(can be cross-listed with Film Story Analysis classes in Dramatic Writing, Cinema Studies, or Film Department) 

Offered in Spring

(Only Section 002 is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are non-film TSOA majors. Section 001 is for film TSOA majors only.)

This class is designed to help the students analyze a film script. Plot and character development, dialogue, foreground, background, and story will all be examined. Using feature films, we will highlight these script elements rather than the integrated experience of the script, performance, directing, and editing elements of the film. Assignments will include two script analyses.

A continuation of the training presented in Fundamentals of Developing the Screenplay. Required work in the class includes extensive scene work. Guided by their screenwriting instructor, students will complete the screenplay begun in Fundamentals of Developing the Screenplay and then do a rewrite or they may begin, complete, and rewrite a new full-length screenplay. The focus in this class will be on story structure and development and the completion of a full-length screenplay. If you plan to do a new work, you must come to the first class with three ideas for full-length screenplays. Each idea can be described in one or two paragraphs. Prerequisites: Fundamentals of Developing the Screenplay (OART-UT 35).

Adapted from the Dramatic Writing Program’s popular “Introduction to the Sitcom” course, this intensive scriptwriting class answers the question, “What do I need to break into TV writing?” – the student will be guided through the step-by-step development of an episode for an ongoing TV sitcom, from premise line to one-page outline, to pages and revisions. The course will require the completion of a polished draft while introducing students to the rigors of professional standards through weekly story goals. Prerequisites: Must be sophomore and above. Otherwise: None.

This practical workshop is designed to introduce students to the techniques and theory of developing and producing short film ideas that are shot on digital video and edited digitally on computer using Adobe Premiere Pro software. The course centers on learning elements of visual storytelling through a spectrum of aesthetic approaches. Working in crews of four, students learn directing, shooting, and editing skills as they each direct three short videos (three to five minutes in length).   

This course is specifically designed to fulfill the major requirements in production of students not majoring in film and therefore, students who need to fulfill this requirement are given registration priority. Students should add themselves to the waitlist for this class    

Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Filmmaking I: The Art of Visual Storytelling

In this course, students will build upon the visual storytelling skills learned in the prerequisite course, Fundamentals of Filmmaking. Students will be introduced to color cinematography, aesthetics, sound recording, casting and directing actors, production logistics, and editing. This course is aimed at the film enthusiast who would like to further explore digital filmmaking.

Students will shoot on Sony FS100 HD digital video cameras, and edit with Adobe Premiere Pro software on Apple computers. Students will have access to a compact lighting and mini mic kit for use on their productions. Students are required to purchase their own portable hard drive to use during the editing process.

At the complete of this course, students will be able to:

• Direct and produce a short, digital video project, this includes:
  • Write a 5-minute short screenplay with minimal dialog
  • Cast and direct actors
  • Storyboard
  • Light a scene with a compact lighting kit
  • Record clean dialog with a mini mic kit
  • Edit on Final Cut Pro

This course has a nonrefundable lab fee of $650. 

An examination of the creative, organizational, and managerial roles of the producer in narrative motion pictures. Topics include how a production company is formed, creating and obtaining properties, financing, budgeting, cost control, and distribution. The course gives specific attention to the problems in these areas that will be faced by students as future professional directors, production managers, or writers. Each student is expected to breakdown, schedule, and budget a feature film (90 minutes or longer) of their choosing.  Students must be junior or senior status. 

Please note there is a non-refundable $16.00 per credit fee for this course. If you are a non-major, please make sure to register for the section for non-majors, generally considered section .002.

This course provides fundamental and practical instruction in the step-by-step realization of a television program. While productions will not be implemented through the class, students will individually serve as executive producers on projects of their own choosing, based on assignments by the instructor (based on student submissions which include news and cultural documentaries, performance and variety shows, and dramatic works). Student producers will engage in a detailed pre-production phase, which covers research, concept, format development, securing of rights and permissions, pitching to networks and studios, contracts and agreements, formation of the production plan, budget development, assembling staff and crew, identifying on-air talent, determining locations, photo and film archive research, refining the shooting schedule and budget plan. Analysis of why some projects succeed and others fail, an overview.  

Course offered as part of the core curriculum for the summer study abroad program Writing Florence or on campus during the academic year.

The purpose of this course is to give students important tools for developing and producing an independent film. The course focuses on independent narrative features, and recognizes the fundamental nature of film as art and commerce. It examines the marketplace for independent feature film and its workings, including the mechanics and economics of distribution, festival strategies, and funding strategies, including grant funding. Students construct a production plan for a feature project of their choice, incorporating a creative package, production strategy, and a financing strategy. There will be guest speakers and occasional screenings.

TV Nation: Inside and Out of the Box gives students the opportunity to experience, first hand, how the world of network television works from two points of view: business and creative.  Students will gain an understanding of the business aspect through the vantage point of the network executives and programmers.  They will also learn the creative process from development to pitching, from the vantage point of writers and producers in the industry.  In TV Nation, student will role-play the entire process as the key players who put together a season of broadcast and cable networks.

Please note there is a non-refundable $16.00 per credit fee for this course. If you are a non-major, please make sure to register for the section for non-majors, generally considered section .002.