Course Code
Academic Year
This course focuses on feature film and Movies of the Week. Students study and look at both the art and commerce of the film and television business and learn how to write and sell both genres of writing in Canada and the United States. Students study overall structure of a feature film and MOW including story, theme, plot, characters etc., in both writing and development. The course also delves into the life of a screenwriter in today s world. The course is designed to study film development and outcome for success by using a writers' room environment. It provides a hands-on approach to story analysis and development for film - from writing industry-standard screenplays, to coverage, to formulating development analysis that helps the project from its genesis to successful completion. The course provides a framework for understanding the storytelling elements that writers use to sell their ideas and scripts. Class discussions and guest speakers also focus on how the development process works, whether the finished product is a studio feature, indie film or festival short film. Students learn how to evaluate material and write professional quality scripts, as well as how a writers' room functions and what expectations a TV and screen writer has to meet in order to complete a screenplay or obtain and maintain employment at a film or TV production company. Students write a short film as their primary writing assignment. Students are encouraged to write and complete a feature script or treatment.An examination is given at the end of the first semester to ascertain whether or not the student has full understanding of film structure.