Quote of the Day

"Don't worry about me, Gettys! Don't worry about me! I'm Charles Foster Kane! I'm no cheap, crooked politician, trying to save himself from the consequences of his crimes!"

Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane
Citizen Kane
Screenplay written by Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz

Movie of the Week

Movie of the Week

Fourth Interview Questions

1. What makes a good screenplay?
2. What makes a bad screenplay?
3. How important is the screenplay to a film?
4. How important is research for a screenplay?
5. In books and novels the author is able to reveal the thoughts of the characters - which help to develop those characters - how does a screenwriter develop characters?
6. Writers always have voices, but screenplays have a set structure and are almost entirely action and dialogue, does this mean the screenwriter loses their voice?
7. Do you have a favorite screenwriter or screenplay? If so, why?
8. Why are screenplays based on novels and other published works easier to write and sell than original screenplays?
9. When screenplays are sold is it crucial for the screenwriter to have connections or are they sold based on the potential of the screenplay?
10. What is a successful screenwriter?

11. What prompted you to become a screenwriter?

12. When you are writing, what do you focus on (i.e. character, theme, plot)? What is your process?

13. How do you know when you have written something compelling?

14. Can the master scene format be broken?

15. What sort of elements in a screenplay make an impression on you?

16. Can you describe the average day in the life of a screenwriter?

17. What do you dislike about being a screenwriter? Or writing screenplays?

18. I think this question applies to writing in general, but do your protagonists often characterize yourself? If so, why do you think that is?

19. What is the key element, the most essential component, the joie de vivre of a good screenplay?

20. What advice would you give to aspiring screenwriters?

Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

1. I will continue my study of screenwriting by studying its form, history, essential components, and skills in writing one. I plan on reading more screenplays, reading more about how they are written and spending more time on trying to write them.
2. 10 hourse reading screenplays, 10 hours reading how to write them, and 10 hours writing one.
3. In the first Independent Component I familiarized myself with the lingo, the structure, etc. This time in every screenplay I read I will search for the most essential component in the written text- as with learning about how to write them. And by searching for this answer in my research I will interpret it into my EQ answers and then apply it to my original screenplay.

Quote of the Day

“We are languishing in a period without much direction and no shared body of ideas about what we and our society are all about. Now, as never before, we need people who have stories to tell that make sense and order out of the daily avalanche of sensation, news, events; the function of the artist in society is to reveal the order of the universe, to trace the grand design that others cannot see. That is what story is.”
Oscar-winning screenwriter Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon)

Independent Component 1 (extra)

Click here to view my logged hours.
Here are Mr. Miller's signature for those hours:

Evidence:

 - notes

 - screenplay

Literal:



I, Inez Franco, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 43.8 hours of work. 16.5 hours working on my own screenplay, 14.5 learning how to write one, and 12.8 hours reading them.

I have read Shakespeare in Love, Annie Hall, Manhattan, A Knight's Tale, and It's a Wonderful Life. I have also read Screenwriting for Teens, written by a screenplay consultant. And have written my own screenplay for a 15 page short.

Interpretive:

I didn't JUST read those screenplays - I analyzed them, broke them down, took notes, and learned from them. That is why it took my more than 2 hours to complete any given screenplay. When I calculated that I did 43 hours I honestly felt like that was such an understatement. 48 hours isn't even two full days. I feel like I have been studying this Independent Component for a month now. The Book I read on how to write a screenplay was perfect because it was written in terms of how a teenager would understand it. There were 100 concepts of basic skills in that book and I noted every single one of them! Reading Screenwriting for Teens really helped me build my story. You would think that making up stories was easy, kids do it all the time. But it is NOT EASY! I have a new found respect for all forms of storytelling. And lastly wrting my own script was super difficult. It was the hardest part of the whole deal. Everything I read before I started helped out tremendously though.

Applied:

This did not straight out answer my EQ, I feel like it presented 100 million more possible answers to me though... like: character, themes, style, strategic word choice, economic writing, element of surprise... just to name a few possible answers. I do feel more comfortable about speaking about my topic though. The biggest leasson I learned is that you can't read 5 screenplays and a book about how to write a screenplay and expect that you can do it. I need like 10,000 hours of practice. I am so far from good! But that doesn't discourage me, the difference between talent and mastery is 10,000 hours of practice. I have a long way to go.



Independent Component 1

For my logged hours click here.

Here are some of the videos we have made so far.

Literal:

I, Inez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 111 hours of work.

I have completed a full semester of ROP videography, where I have made several short films.

Interpretive:

It isn't easy filming, it takes a lot of work, hours, and collaboration. At the beginning of the year my topic was filmmaking which is why I am in ROP. Now my topic is screenwriting but staying in ROP is still relevant - we do write scripts for our films.

Applied:

How did it help you answer your EQ?

Writing a screenplay for no other reason than for the fun of it is much different than writing one that you are going to have to make! For my extra Independent Component I wrote about cartoon spiders... I would have never done that for ROP. Writing for ROP kept me practical. I think being practicality is an essential part to a script - especially when you don't have CGI or computer graphics to make up the thousands of extras you cannot cast. I think an economical screenplay has an advantage when producers are choosing which films they'd like to produce. After all, how seriously would you take a screenplay that asked for ridiculous things?

Quote of the Day

“Writing should be an adventure, shrouded in mystery and uncertainty, blessed with amazing grace. In theory. of course”
Syd Field
The Screenwriter’s Workbook

Movie of the Week

Movie of the Week

Movie of the Week

Movie of the Week

Presentation 2

20 Minute Lesson Plan

Prepared By:

Inez Franco

House:

South House

　
　

Essential Question What is the best way to write a successful screenplay? 　:

Objective:Students will learn how to disect a screenplay for production. The assignment is a boring and tedious one, but I believe it highlights the importance of the screenplay. While students are doing the activity I will briefly distinguish the differences between screenplays and stageplays (which is the history of the screenplay) and give a debrief on the processes that screenplays go through to get bought.

　
　

	Teacher Guide	Time
Introduction	Hey South House, my name is Inez and my senior project is on screenwriting. My Essential Question is: what is the best way to write a successful screenplay? So just to clarify my question for you guys, what i mean by successful is a screenplay that people want to buy, not successful in terms of money. If the laater were the case my answers would sound like marketing strategies and would clash with what I believe a successful screenwriter is.	1 min	Three Important Sources1. Bernardo Solano: playwright and my interviewee 2. Screenwriting for Teens (book) by Christina Hamlett: professional script coverage consultant 3. Philip Miller: service learning contact/ ROP instructor
Verification(Steps to check for student understanding)	● So what do you guys know about screenplays? Or if you don’t know what it is what do you think a screenplay is?● And; Who was William Shakespeare and what did he do? So what is the difference between a playwright and a screenwriter, or what do you think the difference – if there is one- is?● And; How important is a screenplay to a film?● End: Check for understanding by…asking: So what is the difference between a stage play and a screenplay?● And; How important is the screenplay to the film?	4 min

　

Body(Give and/or demonstrate necessary information)

Break down what you plan on talking about into manageable sections.● Literal● Interpretive● Applied: Why are the things I explained in interpretive important to my EQ? Understanding the difference between the two mediums – film and stage – really helps me understand how screenwriting works in advantage to certain stories and the disadvantages of it as well. The reasons why the expensive spec scripts are worth mentioning is because it is the anti-thesis to what I believe success in screenwriting is. It is great to make money off of doing what you love – but it shouldn’t be the pursuit. Filmmakers should not be con men, they should be artists. : After explaining the history I can talk about the differences between the screenplay and the stageplay and give examples. The give some records of the most money spent on buying a spec script and explain how rare these occurences really are and how they are misleading. Also I can talk about why so much money was spent on those scripts.: History of The Screenplay. How they are sold. - is the stage play- Many famous playwrights like Shakespeare- act as an outline for the movie, and is like the skeleton of the film- Talkies are introduced and reshapes the way screenplays are written- One greeat screenwriter that I admire is Orson Welles, he was black listed... if i have time I could tell the story...- speculative scripts are written and then sold- when a spec script is sold it is either- optioned: bought outright for a period of time- guaranteed: aka the front end, just guaranteed money- bonus: aka the back end, its a bonus if the film goes into production.- Or a deal that sounds like 300,000 against 500,000 which means 300,000 now and 200,000 more if it gets produced- Screenwriters can also be paid to rewrite other people’s scripts.- Or they work on feature assignment (which only happens if they have a contract with a studio, company, or producer)

● Literal: 6 min● Interp: 2 min● Applied: 2 min

Visuals A prezi presentation with figures for when I am describing the prices in how screenplays are sold, and examples of how screenplays look, and maybe some prominent screenwriters and playwrights as well.

　

Activity(Describe the independent activity to reinforce this lesson)

● What is the activity: disecting the script for production notes● 　How it will be done: I will give all the students a sample script and a guide on how to disect it. Walk them through everything and then ask them to disect it.

4 min

Materials - sample script - guide - crayons - script breakdown sheets

　
　

Conclusion

I will ask a random person for something they learned today that they didn’t know before – about screenplays. Then just say that the screenplay is the center, and if the center doesn’t hold then nothing else will an in my opinion the screenplay is the most essential component of the filmmaking process. It has to be solid! Then ask for any more questions. And thank the class for their time of course.

1 min

　
　

I will upload as a google doc later... my computer won't let me right now.