From: web-form@Oswego.EDU
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 2:13 PM
To: ucc@oswego.edu
Subject: Web Form: Course_Submission

Department_Chair: Bennet Schaber
Department_Chair_Email: schaber@oswego.edu
Additional_Contact: Leigh Wilson, Interim Director, Creative Writing
Additional_Contact_Email: wilson@oswego.edu

Course_Number: CRW 401
Course_Type: New Course
Course_Title: Screenwriting: Advanced

Catalog_Description: 
This advanced level writing course builds upon the intermediate skills and techniques of CRW 301.  Students will focus on completing a full-length screenplay, polishing it, readying it for production.   Particular attention will be given the business of screenwriting.

Prerequisites: CRW 301
Fl_irregular basis: Yes
Semester_Hours: 3

Justification: 
This course will complete a Screenwriting sequence in Creative Writing.  Currently all genres--Fiction, Nonfiction, Playwriting and Poetry--have three levels of offerings: beginning, intermediate and advanced.  Screenwriting at this time has offerings only at the introductory and intermediate levels.  The course will satisfy requirements in the Creative Writing major and minor, as well as the Cinema and Screen Studies major.  Non-majors and minors, with the appropriate prerequisites, may also take the course.  Class size will be equal to other writing courses in English & Creative Writing (currently 22).  

Course_Objectives: 

1. To move students' knowledge of the elements, traditions and techniques of a particular genre to an advanced professional level 

2.  To give students fluency in the best work of contemporary and historical practitioners of the screenwriting genre, including American and international film 

3. To provide opportunities for students to move full-length original work in screenwriting to a production-ready level 

4. To provide business and development skills for students in pursuit of screenplay productin 

5. To enhance and elevate the students' critical skills and aesthetic to the level of a professional working in the field. 

Course_Description: 
This course provides a continuation and culmination of previously acquired screenwriting skills.  Students will view and critique a number of film sequences and screenplays with an eye toward development of their own work toward professional production. Students will complete and polish a full-length  screenplay. Full-class workshops will be employed to aid in the development of student works.  Students will be required to write approximately 150 manuscript pages.

Resources: 
No additional resources are needed for the course, although further strengthening of the holdings at Penfield and the Learning Resource Center in Cinema Studies and Screenwriting would be an ongoing process handled through the standard procedures for placing orders.  The department must continue to expand its video library.  The department has the faculty resources and expertise to offer this course.

Bibliography: 
Adams, Max.  (2001)  The Screenwriter’s Survival Guide.  New York: Warner Books.

Axelrod, Mark.  (2001) Aspects of the Screenplay: Techniques of Screenwriting.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Blum, Rick.  (2005) Television and Screen Writing: From Concept to Contract.  San Francisco: Focal Press.

Caldwell, Sara & Marie-Eve Kielson.  (2000) So You Want to Be a Screenwriter.  New York: Allworth.

Engel, Joel.  (2002) Oscar-Winning Screenwriters on Screenwriting.  New York: Hyperion.

Field, Syd.  (1994) Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplay.  New York: Dell.

Froug, William.  (1999) Zen and the Art of Screenwriting.  Los Angeles: Silman-James Press.

Goldman, William.  (1983) Adventures in the Screen Trade.  New York: Warner Books.

Halperin, Michael.  Writing the Second Act: Building Conflict and Tension in Film Scripts.  Hollywood: Michael Wiese Productions.

Lewinski, John.  (2001) The Screenwriter’s Guide to Agents and Managers.  New York: Allworth Press.

Reichman, Rick.  (2000) Formatting Your Screenplay.  New York: Paragon House.

Seger, Linda.  (1992) The Art of Adaptation: Turning Fact and Fiction into Film.  New York: Holt.

Vogler, Christopher.  (2003) The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters.  Hollywood: Michael Wiese Productions.

Wolitzer, Meg.  (1999) The Writer’s Guide to Mastering the Screenplay.  New York: Penguin.

Other_Comments: 
IP_Adress: 129.3.36.206