|
UGA BASIC DRAMATIC WRITING SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS
ALL CLASSES IN ROOM 303 –
Week 1 – 8/18 – Assignment #1 - Intros… Do a paragraph long critique of a
screenplay and a stageplay… Then, do a page long character bio for an
antagonist and a protagonist.
Week 2 – 8/24 – Assignment #2 – GENRES:
Do a one-page writing exercise three times. Each
time, use the same locale and the same characters and props, but each one needs
to be different as a result of the genre.
Week 2 – 9/1 (11:30-2:30) – Assignment #3 – SEQUENCES:
See the Dr. Grader Exercise in Screenwriting From
The Soul.
Writing Exercise #3:
Please write three scenes:
A) In the first scene, your main
character arrives to meet someone and the environment feels strange,
mysterious, awkward.
B) In the second scene, your main
character re-enters this same environment (it could be the next day or ten
years later). He or she is greeted by the same person from the first scene, but
this time, the environment and the greeting feel warm, happy, positive.
C) In the third scene, as your main
character re-enters this same environment, the person they are hoping to see is
not there. The environment reflects a feeling of desolation, sadness, and
alienation.
Don't use dialogue. Instead, use
visual imagery and action (the basis of the filmic lexicon) to dictate mood and
story. And yes, I want you to create a compelling narrative, most of which
takes place offstage and must be deduced from what is given in the three
distinct, disparate scenes. Good luck, and don't make easy choices -- make
daring ones.
D) Also write a one-page character
biography of the protagonist which includes aspects of backstory, physical
characteristics, and personality traits. Once this is written, see how many of
these aspects you can incorporate into the story in subtle and artful ways.
Writing Exercise #3
A) FADE IN:
INT. LABORATORY -- NIGHT
The room stands dark,
silent...
Suddenly, the symmetrical
rows of fluorescent lights flash to life like stale lightning.
Each flicker gives a brief
glimpse of the laboratory. The walls are
a bright white, clean, unused. At every
few intervals stand stainless steel plating, signifying the entrance to a
walk-in freezer or cabinet holding a myriad of medical supplies and scientific
instruments.
A counter top which
encircles the entire room is forged of the same cold steel. Rows of beakers and graduated cylinders line
the walls like glass soldiers.
The flickering stops, as
dull fluorescent light fills the room in an anesthetized bath, highlighting a
large table in the middle of the laboratory.
Roughly three feet off the
floor, held by a huge steel column at its center, the slick metal table
resembles an autopsy counter, only at each end are placed several steel
shackles. The room is cold, sterile, and empty.
A MAN, early 30's, stands
at the door. Wire-rimmed glasses
encircle his dark eyes which dart around the room. The black frames of his
glasses serve as a stark contrast to his red hair, the color of cooling molten
rock, which highlights his granite features.
His young eyes slowly pan
the room until they focus on the center table.
Walking forward, he runs
his finely manicured hand across the cold gray surface. He presses down lightly, as if testing its
strength.
Kneeling, he presses the side
of his face against the steel, looking across the smooth surface.
Rising to his feet, he
walks and sits down at a nearby steel alloy desk. The desk stands bare, except for a note which
reads, “Welcome Dr. Grader. Good luck.”
The doctor now sits silently
at the desk. He simply stares. We sense
his troubling thoughts.
Finally, he stands again,
and slowly makes his way to a huge metal door at the rear of the room. A complicated series of locks and latches
line the perimeter of the massive door; they all click open in unison as he
presses a sequence of numbers on a digital keypad.
The door opens, allowing a
sea of liquid nitrogen vapor to escape onto the floor, encircling the doctor’s
face and body in a ghostly mist.
Cool green lights within
the massive freezer paint a lime shimmer across his glass lenses.
INSIDE OF THE FREEZER --
We see a large glass
cylinder, roughly two feet in diameter and four feet tall. Liquid nitrogen bubbles and percolates inside
the glass, cooling the brain and spinal cord which reside within.
Dr. Grader offers a
cunning smile as the lights flicker and MUSIC RISES...
FADE TO BLACK.
B) FADE IN:
INT. LABORATORY -- NIGHT -
MANY YEARS LATER
The laboratory stands in
disarray. Various diagrams and mathematical
equations hang from every wall, covering the cold steel in a collage of ink and
paper.
Plastic champagne glasses
and an assortment of bottles are scattered throughout the room, as are paper
hats, streamers and other signs of celebration.
The door opens, and the
fluorescent lights instantly spring to life as Dr. Grader stumbles in, an empty
bottle of Jack Daniels clutched in his paw.
His brilliant red hair has
dulled to a crimson rust, with streaks of gray.
His eyes, though tired and old, move like a child’s at Christmas as he
staggers across the room toward his desk.
Dr. Grader brushes an
assortment of trash from his chair and collapses into it, the liquor acting as
though it added fifty pounds to his weight.
Opening one of the many
drawers, the doctor removes a stack of texts and notebooks, tossing them around
the cluttered room as if he has no more use for them.
CLOSE UP -- At the bottom
of the drawer lies the faded WELCOME note, now grown sickly yellow.
Dr. Grader holds the note
up to his face attempting to focus his drunken eyes upon the words. He finally
recognizes it, and laughs hysterically.
Taking the note in one
hand, he crumples it into a small ball, throws it amidst the other debris
around the room and takes another swig from his bottle.
Smiling, he attempts to
stand up again, fails, and finally manages to stagger over to the main table.
ON THE STEEL TABLE --
Is the striking figure of
a young MAN. He is over six feet tall,
his pale skin pulled taut over a muscular frame. Long needles protrude from his
arms and legs, leading back up into a complex series of chemicals and
electrodes above the table.
The red hair
and features of the man slightly resemble the doctor, though certain parts have
been... exaggerated.
With a gleeful, childlike
giggle, Dr. Grader kneels next to his creation, brushing his fingers through
the man’s red hair. He looks upon the silent figure as he would upon his son.
In the freezer in the
background, the glass cylinder stands empty...
FADE TO BLACK.
C) FADE IN:
INT. LABORATORY -- DAY --
A FEW WEEKS LATER
The scattered bottles and
spilt champagne have now been replaced with blood. The once uniform fluorescent lights dangle
from their sockets, swinging silently like glowing pendulums.
The doctor, a massive,
still fresh scar across the right side of his face, partially hidden beneath an
eye patch, wearily walks across the room.
An occasional silent
explosion of sparks showers the laboratory, highlighting the dented steel doors
and frayed, exposed electrical wiring.
Slowly, and with a somber
mask, the doctor walks to the center table.
His hands run over the steel shackles, now reduced to twisted scrap
metal.
A small puddle of dried
blood paints a sickening picture across the steel platform, as the doctor runs
his hand over his scar, remembering the massacre.
Taking his glasses off,
placing them on his overturned desk, the doctor walks to a far corner of the
room.
On the distant counter lay
two severed arms, at their stumps extend a massive series of digital wires and
titanium skeleton. The hands are covered
in the dull crimson of dried blood, as a row of black bullet holes line the
forearms and biceps.
Unable to bear looking at
the severed limbs, Grader grabs them and throws them across the floor, causing
another flash of sparks to fall to the ground.
Making his way around the
hanging fluorescent lights and scattered debris, the doctor approaches the
large freezer.
The door is now dented,
the locks hang broken and worthless, as a flow of liquid nitrogen mist streams
freely from the cracked steel.
Yielding to creaking
hinges and the dull roar of steel against steel, Grader opens the door to
reveal the glass cylinder.
INSIDE THE FREEZER --
The doctor stares at the
contents of the glass cylinder: the same brain and spinal cord as before. Only
now, a section of the right hemisphere of the brain is missing, the serrated
edges scarred with black powder burns and riddled with bullets.
The sad eyes of the doctor
look at the motionless organ. Grader inhales and then exhales loudly.
BACK TO THE LAB --
Closing the door, the
doctor turns around and begins the long walk to the exit.
In the dark cylinder, the
spinal cord twitches with a small spasm, its base brushing up against the
glass.
Hearing the slight noise,
the doctor stops, and turns around. Dr. Grader scurries back towards the
freezer, lifts up the cylinder, embraces it passionately and holds his dying
child in his arms...
FADE TO WHITE.
THE END?
CHARACTER BIO OF DR. ALEXANDER GRADER
Raised
during the height of the “free love” movement in the late 1960’s, Dr. Alexander
Grader had always believed in serving the public good. However, Dr. Grader’s view of the public good
often differed vastly from popular consensus.
A genius medical student at the University
of California, Berkeley, Dr. Grader failed to graduate when
he was expelled for punching the head professor in the face, following an
argument about genetic manipulation.
Unable to obtain a job at any hospital due to this incident, Dr. Grader
plunged into depression and despair, while his skills died away in a flood of
cheap alcohol.
At the
bottom of his life, and only a few years out of medical school, Dr. Grader met
the chairman of a high-tech commercial research company in the Bay area through
a bizarre accident. Saving the
chairman’s life from a runaway trolley, Dr. Grader was offered a debt of thanks
and a warm meal. However, the chairman
soon realized that his life wasn’t saved by some bum, but a medical and scientific
genius. Immediately offering his savior a job, the chairman gave Dr. Grader a
position in the company doing genetic and cloning research, and experiments
dedicated to preserving and prolonging human life.
Though
raised in a moral family and taught the virtues of freedom and love in college,
Dr. Grader has always been a highly competitive and steadfast man. Once setting his mind on a goal, Dr. Grader
never strays from it or allows anything to get in his way. Though this is an
admirable quality, it is also a personal shortcoming, as Dr. Grader never has
had the time to find a wife or raise a family. The fleeting relationships he
did have revolved around purely sexual needs, as he was always dedicated to his
first and only love -- hard science.
A powerful man, resembling someone who would
be more at home in the Alaskan tundra than in a research lab, Dr. Grader often
uses his obvious strength to “influence” the opinions of co-workers who might
not agree with his point of view...
Week #4 – 9/6 (11:30 – 2:30) – Assignment #4 – MONOLOGUES:
READ ANOTHER STAGE PLAY SCRIPT AND MOVIE
SCREENPLAY. Find your favorite monologue in each and bring it into class. Be
prepared to present it in class.
Week #5 – 9/13 (11:30 – 2:30) – Assignment #5 – MONOLOGUES:
Write a first draft of a 5 minute revelatory
monologue and be prepared to present it. (Make sure that the monologue tells a
story and in telling a story, the character changes over the course of the
monologue.)
Example...
"THE 12 DAZE OF X-MAS"
By
Richard Krevolin
TIME: Present Day
PLACE: The X-mas season
SETTING: A Swam's House near a pond.
(The SWAN -- 30's, flamboyant, exotic -- walks
around the stage set with a big rocking chair.)
THE
SWAN
Hi, I want to tell you a sweet egg nog for the soul story
which I think best exemplifies what I think X-mas is really all about...
Hopefully,
this tale will wipe out all the raunchy, ribald vulgarity delivered this
evening in the guise of so-called legitimate X-mas monologues...
Mothers,
trust me, this will surely be a heartwarming tale which will redeem this
show...
In
and of itself, it will be worth the money you spent on tickets which you are
probably now thinking -- might have been better spent on a small latte at
Starbucks...
(Looks down at watch.)
Ooh,
ooh, oooh... Guess what time it is?
(Looks around the audience.)
Guess?
Guess? Guess? Anybody?
(Interacts with audience.)
Nope,
nope, nope... It's STORYTIME...
And
storytime is the bestest time of all...
(Clears her throat, finds a SPECIAL
LIGHT
sits in a rocking chair and pulls out a
large children's picture book.)
Once
upon a time, there was a chubby young girl named Duckie.
Duckie
was, well, heavier and different looking than the rest of the youngsters...
She
even had cottage cheese cellulite in her thighs...
To
make matters worse, she wasn't as good at water sports as the other girls and
she had no fashion sense at all.
All
she ever wanted to do was to sit at the edge of the lake at the exact place where
the water bubbled up from an underground spring and got all hot and foamy
against her tender young loins...
The
other girls at her school could tell that Duckie was more sensitive than most
girls and they'd ride her about it...
Kinda
like the same way she would ride that foamy jet...
Every
day, they'd say, "Duckie sucks newt-private-parts."
And
"Duckie licks froggie-nasty-bits"...
And
other mean things like that.
Molly
Mallard, a skinny and friendly youngster would watch Duckie and always feel bad
for her, but she never did anything until one day when she was going home and
she noticed Duckie sitting in a pool of foamy water, moaning and wailing as her
rump gyrated up and down...
Molly
waddled over and asked, "Duckie, are you alright?"
Duckie
moaned back, "Yeah. Wanna come over and play with me?"
"Sure,"
Molly answered. "You bet."
Soon,
Duckie and Molly were the bestest of friends and they played together everyday
in the lake, frolicking in the foam, and sometimes Molly even slept over...
It
was fun and soon, she become incredibly thin and the other girls stopped being
mean to Duckie and Duckie started doing better in school and she started
dressing better and before she knew it, Duckie became a successful and
well-known entertainer...
On
a talk show one day, Duckie said that the day she sat all alone, moaning and
crying in her spot in the lake, she was going to kill herself, but then, she
made a friend and that's why she didn't kill herself and instead, became an
incredibly thin entertainer...
(BEAT. She closes the BOOK and gets out
of
her chair and stands center-stage.)
Isn't
that a beautiful story?
I
think that's what X-mas is really all about...
Transformation...
Celebrating
growth...
Celebrating
change...
Celebrating
being incredibly thin...
Yes,
we can appreciate the beauty of our world, and still, there's always room to
make it just a wee bit better.
Take
the classic X-mas tree...
We
start with this gorgeous piece of nature, whack it off at its base, and then
all that's left is a stump...
A
teeny, weenie, ugly little stump that no one wants to decorate with beautiful
long strings of popcorn...
Oh
well... Que Sera, Sera...
It's
X-mas time... So, deck the hall with boughs of holly,
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la...
Yes,
I can admit it now...
Because,
Duckie, well yes, I was Duckie...
I
was a gorgeous, thin swan trapped in an ugly, fat body!
(She stands up, turns around and shows
herself off.)
That,
my dear children, is the true meaning of X-mas...
Transformation,
acceptance and then, joy...
Inner
Joy and Joy to the world.
Sleep
in heavenly peace, children... Amen...
(She starts to walk away as the LIGHTS
FADE
then she stops, looks over her shoulder, and
snaps her fingers like a Diva.)
And
if you don't like it, you can stuff it in your Christmas stocking!
(The Lights fade.)
THE END.
Week #6 – 9/20 (11:30 – 2:30) – Assignment #6 – MONOLOGUES:
Do a second draft of a monologue and be prepared to
present.
Week #7 – 9/27-29 (12:30 - 1:45)– Assignment #7 – MONOLOGUES:
Last chance to workshop and develop your monologue.
Week #8 – 10/4 & 10/6 – (12:30 - 1:45) - Assignment #8 – MID-TERMS:
Present your monologue in class for your mid-term
grade.
Week #9 - 10/11 & 10/13 – (12:30 - 1:45) MID-TERMS:
Present your monologue in class for your mid-term
grade.
and also, Assignment #9 – DIALOGUE EXERCISE #1 – SAYING I LOVE YOU:
Your
assignment is to write a scene in which one character tries to tell another
that he or she loves that person without ever using the "L" word. The
scene ends with the object of affection demonstrating through action (and maybe
subtle dialogue) that they either accept or reject this love.
PS -- Once
you have completed this assignment (or if you'd like to try a variation),
instead of dealing with love, deal with one person trying to reveal to another
that a third party has died. Again, the scene ends with the person to whom the
revelation is made responding by either accepting or rejecting the knowledge of
the death. Go for it. Make artistic choices that are subtle, ambiguous, and
interesting without being vague and incomprehensible.
Week #10 - 10/18 – (Times TBA) – Assignment #10 –
DIALOGUE EXERCISE #2 – THE TWISTED FLOWER:
Write a scene in which one character presents
flowers to another character. Over the course of the scene, there must be three
complete reversals in which things happen that the audience does not expect.
And the scene should be start and end with the image of flowers.
Week #11 - 10/25 – (Times TBA) – Assignment #11 –
Do the first three steps of my 5 step process for
your short
Film script.
Week #12 - 11/1 – (Times TBA) – Assignment #12 –
Do the scene-o-gram for your short film script
Week #13 - 11/8 – (Times TBA) – Assignment #13 –
Do a step outline of your short film script.
Week #14 - 11/15 – (Times TBA) – Assignment #14 –
Do a first draft of your short film script.
Week #15 - 11/22 – (Times TBA) – Assignment #15 –
Do a second draft.
Week #16 - 11/29 – (Times TBA) – Assignment #16 –
Final workshop class for your script.
Week #17 - 12/6 – (12:30) – FINAL EXAM –
Turn in final portfolio and final script.
Week #17 - 12/8 – (12:30) -- Return Final Portfolio with final script
SYLLABUS:
Instructor:
Richard W. Krevolin (rkrevolin@yahoo.com)
Office
Hours: By appointment only.
REQUIRED
TEXTS AND MATERIALS -
Screenwriting
From The Soul - Krevolin
How
To Adapt Anything Into A Screenplay
- Krevolin
Playscripts
and Movie Scripts --
A
3-ring notebook to store your many brilliant exercises. An open, interested
mind armed with a writing utensil and paper. Lots of xerox copies.
COURSE
OBJECTIVES -
To
teach the essentials building blocks of a story: Visualization, Dialogue, Scene
and Story Structure, Conflict and dramatic sequencing. This is accomplished
through a series of short premises which have been developed to teach these
basic building blocks. You will then take these scenes and combine them into a
sequence and maybe even use some of them for your final project: a one act
play or screenplay.
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS - Do I really have to write every week?
1.
ABSENTEEISM & TARDINESS - Don't be.
Absences are not allowed and after one absence, each additional absence
will be rewarded with a grade penalty and eventually a failing grade. If you
aren't in class, you just might miss an important announcement. Excessive
tardiness (i.e, being more than two or three minutes late to class) will be met
with the same rigid treatment. Two tardies can be interpreted as one unexcused
absence. If you have to be absent for a good reason, please inform me prior to
your absence so that we can work out a schedule to allow you to make up your
missed work. And the schedule will change, so you must be flexible…
2.
IN CLASS READINGS & CRITIQUES - ARE REQUIRED, so be there, prepared with
your xeroxes or go to Georgia Tech and try to find a decent screenwriting
class.
3. SCRIPTS, SCENES, SEQUENCES, LOVE LETTERS,
ETC. - Everything that is written out of the classroom must be submitted on
clean white paper, typed and double-spaced. Make sure that you keep (at home in
a folder) a xerox copy of each draft of every assignment that you submit to me
and that you keep every draft that I hand back to you. LATE WORK WILL NOT BE
ACCEPTED - If you have a problem, see me before your assignment is due and we
might be able to work something out. Late work will slip one full letter grade
per day and it will be returned to you at my convenience and without any
visible comments.
4. TIME - In order to fully learn
something in this course, you must be willing to put in the time (i.e.,
reading, writing, revising, critiquing, and thinking long and hard are all
required to receive a decent grade in this course). Also, I expect you to read the reading
assignments and write down your comments about your fellow student's work. If
you fail to do so, I will start collecting these critiques and also giving pop
quizzes on the reading. Participation is also required and will be counted into
your portfolio grade.
5. GRADING PROCEDURES -
33%
- Assigned scenes/Final Portfolio/PARTICIPATION.
33%
- Mid-term: Monologue Script:
33%
- Final: One Act Play Script/Screenplay:
6. CLASSROOM PROCEDURES - In order to
learn how to be a good storyteller/playwright/screenwriter and write well, you
have to be willing to work at your writing skills and occasionally take
chances. Therefore, your first drafts
and some work may not initially be graded (although if they are late they will
pull your grade down) but the final draft always will be. If you want to meet
with me at any time to work on your writing, please contact me before or after
class or email me. Thanks and write hard, write fast and take no prisoners.
7.
CLASS SCHEDULE --
Weeks
1-2: Critiques. Brief character bios.
Week
2-5: Non-dialogue scenes - write and rewrite.
Week
6-8: Mid-Term Monologue - write, rewrite and read.
Week
9-10: Dialogue scenes.
Week
11-14: Develop One-Act Play/screenplays.
Week
15 or more: Hand in Final 10 page One-Act Play/screenplay.
|
