Guiding Principles

Big Idea #1: Screenwriting is art.

• What is art?

• What is beauty?

• What is society's constantly changing idea of beauty and art, and should we cater to trends or stick with the classics?

• What does the world really need from it's artists, and how can we contribute to that important legacy?

• How do art and humanity relate, and is there a line between the two?

Big Idea #2: Screenwriting is a study of other screenplays.

• What is a good script?

• Why is it good?

• How do I analyze a script?

• What are the value of precedents, and how to learn from them?

• What can the best screenplays from the past teach me today?

Big Idea #3: Screenwriting is storytelling.

• How do we come up with original, compelling ideas?

• What are the necessary components of a story?

• What makes a good story?

• Conversely, what makes a bad story?

• What is the history and tradition of storytelling, and how it relates to the major epochs of the time?

• What is the value of storytelling in a culture and society, especially today?

Big Idea #4: Screenwriting is structured storytelling.

• What are the integral parts of a good story?

• Why are they integral?

• What is the Hero's Journey story structure, and why is it the current model?

• What are the major differences and similarities between tv and film structures?

• What are we ultimately meant to take away from the story--the message, the impact--and how does structure relate to those outcomes?

Big Idea #5: Screenwriting is structured storytelling meant for a visual medium.

• How can you paint with words?

• How is the kind of visual world and character building different and similar to that of other forms of writing?

• Why is screenplay writing typically focused on action and dialogue, as opposed to description and exposition, and how does that make it more visual?

• How is a script a road map for a director, actor, cinematographer, etc. to follow, and how does this process inform how we write scripts?

• How can we be most effective and imaginative in the way we choose our words in connection to how we want to guide the filmmaker towards creating the world and visual aesthetic of the movie?

• Screenwriting is a form of art.

• Screenwriting is inextricably connected to a process of evaluation and analysis.

• Screenwriting is a type of storytelling.

• Screenwriting is big, unique, gripping ideas.

• Screenwriting is a paired down, but deeply efficient way of writing a story.

• Screenwriting has a clear and effective structure.

• Screenwriting has powerful and complex characters and arcs.

• Screenwriting is both very different and very similar within the formats of tv vs. film.

• Screenwriting is both a creative and a technical process.

• Screenwriting is just one part in a larger process known as filmmaking, and the relationship to that larger system is complex and interesting.

• Screenwriting is visual, and human, and as riveting as you make it.