The elements of screenwriting by Syd Field. This course available as an instructional DVD from the FinalDraft.com website.
Part I – Getting Started
Forming the idea into a dramatic entity with beginning, middle and end:
• Isolating the idea
• Creating the subject
• Breaking it down into action and character
• The nature of screenplay structure
• Structuring your story line
• Writing the four-page treatment
Part II – Creating Character
The heart, soul and nervous system of your screenplay:
• What makes a good character
• The essence of dramatic need
• Creating the character biography
• The tools of character
• The circle of being
Part III – Writing The Screenplay
Here’s what we do and how we do it:
• Set up the story
• Write the story
• Structure the screenplay into acts
• Stress the importance of the first ten pages
• Determine the plot points
• Set up and prepare Act II
• Establish Pinch I and Pinch II
• Establish the sub-dramatic context
Part IV – Rewriting the Screenplay
All writing is rewriting:
• Approaching the rewrite
• Rethinking what you have written
• Redefining and re-establishing the theme, premise, and dramatic action
• The tools of rewriting
• Discovering character through action
• Sharpening and focusing character
• Setting up and paying off the elements of the story line