Module overview
This module is an introduction to the basic skills and contexts of script writing. It is not aimed at any one specific medium but will offer introductions to the requirements of theatre and film. You will be expected to engage in some practical drama workshops script. Assessment will be based on the submission of a written script and accompanying critical reflection at the end of the module.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- manage deadlines and make effective use of your time
- translate text into performance
- present ideas effectively in a script
- revise and edit creative writing to a professional standard
- write fluently in a range of styles
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- how to achieve originality, linguistic versatility, and form in the handling of dialogue, action, visual effect and overall structural control in your script writing
- the process of development and revision involved in creating scripts
- how to write a script
- how scripts are developed into performance for different media
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- interact effectively with audiences via the performance of a script
- make literary judgements of scripts in an informed way
- handle complex demands of script composition in an analytic manner
- demonstrate originality through your writing
- independently evaluate and apply compositional methods
Subject Specific Practical Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- distinguish your aims as a scriptwriter
- create the key structures needed for a script
- explore ways of realising your script in performance
- revise and edit your work effectively
Syllabus
Classroom activity will be aimed at exploring the interaction of script and performance, as well as devoted to the basic analysis of how scripts work. Differences between the media of various types of theatre, television and cinema will be addressed both in set reading and through exploratory investigation in the seminars.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include analysis of cinematic material for group discussion, practical drama work with student works-in-progress alongside exemplar scripts from cinema, television and modern theatre, and seminar discussion of scriptwriting techniques. Learning activities include responding in detail to student scripts and readings, studying published scripts, and writing drafts for performance and seminar discussion. Seminar writing tasks with provide informal, on-module feedback, supported tutorial discussion of works-in- progress.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Teaching | 20 |
| Independent Study | 130 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
Desperate Housewives by Marc Cherry. television script
Dirty Pretty Things by Steven Knight. screenplay
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Charlie Kaufman. screenplay
The Hour by Abi Morgan. television script
Mother of Him by Evan Placey. script
Banana Boys or Holloway Jones by Evan Placey. plays for young people
Misfits by Howard Overman. television script
Textbooks
David Mamet. Glengarry Glen Ross.
Mark Ravenhill. Shopping and F**king.
Martin McDonagh. The Beauty Queen of Leenane.
(2001). The Methuen Book of Modern Drama. London: Methuen.
Jane Bodie. A Single Act.
Story.
Sarah Kane. Blasted.
Caryl Churchill. Top Girls.
Edward Albee. The Goat (or Who is Sylvia.
Alternative Scriptwriting.
debbie tucker green. Random.
Marius von Mayenburg. The Ugly One.
Laura Wade. Breathing Corpses.
Tony Kushner. Angels in America (parts 1 & 2).
Joan MacLeod. The Shape of a Girl.
David Harrower. Blackbird.
Jez Butterworth. Jerusalem.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 40% |
| Critical commentary | 25% |
| Written assignment | 35% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Resubmit assessments | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Assessed written tasks | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal