Archive for the ‘Teaching’ Category.
25 Jun 2010, 11:15 am
Thanks to overwhelming popular demand (okay, moderately whelming popular demand), I am once again teaching a UCLA Extension Writers’ Program course entitled “Beginning Writing for the One-Hour Drama: Building the Story and the Outline” for Summer Quarter 2010! The class meets for ten weeks, 7pm to 10pm on Tuesdays, from July 6 through September 7 on the picaresque UCLA campus in Westwood.
For the official course description (or to enroll!), go to this UCLA Extension page (or click on the above banner)… but here’s the unofficial course description: (up to) twenty students each choose a current one-hour TV drama for which they’d like to write a “spec” episode. I whip them guide them through the process of developing episode ideas into story synopses, basic “beat sheets”, and full outlines. Along the way, students pitch their ideas in class for notes and feedback… and also form small “writing staffs” to help each other brainstorm and “break” their stories on a whiteboard, the same way professional TV writers’ rooms work. At the end of the ten weeks, each student should have a solid 12 to 15-page story outline that’s all set to be expanded into a spec teleplay.
(And… early heads-up… I’ll be teaching the followup course, “Writing the One-Hour Drama Script”, during the Fall Quarter, taking students from outline to teleplay!)
3 Nov 2009, 11:23 am
EDITED 11 Jan 2010 to add: Good heavens, the class roster is actually full!
(Click the banner below to check if any slots have opened up… or to get on the wait list.)
No, it’s not an Indiana Jones ripoff, it’s an actual UCLA Extension Writers’ Program course entitled – take a deep breath – “Beginning Writing for the One-Hour Drama: Building the Story and the Outline”… and I’ll be teaching it in the upcoming Winter Quarter 2010. The class meets for ten weeks, 7pm to 10pm on Thursdays, from January 14 through March 18 on the idyllic UCLA campus in Westwood.
You can check out this UCLA Extension page (or click on the above banner) for the official course description (and enrollment info), but here’s the course in a nutshell: (up to) twenty unsuspecting students each choose a current one-hour TV drama for which they’d like to write a “spec” episode. I whip them guide them through the process of developing episode ideas into story synopses, basic “beat sheets”, and full outlines. Along the way, students pitch their ideas in class for notes and feedback… and also form small “writing staffs” to help each other brainstorm and “break” their stories on a whiteboard, the same way professional TV writers’ rooms work. At the end of the ten weeks, each student should have a solid 12 to 15-page story outline that’s all set to be expanded into a spec teleplay.
(Had our innocent Mary Sue from my previous post taken this class, she’d've known everything there is to know (well, more or less) about the Process of Professional TV Scriptwriting before ever setting foot in the Space Slayers writers’ room…)
