Overview  |   Courses  |   Instructors   |   Advisory Board  |   How to Apply

Course Descriptions

Currently accepting applications Apply now >> Next program starts: Autumn 2008 Program location: UW campus, Seattle Next information meeting: Thursday, Aug. 7 (see details >>) Sign up to receive e-mail updates >> Contact a program representative >>   Program at a glance >>

Interested in taking a single class? Some courses (designated by a below) may be open on a space-available basis to individuals who are not seeking the certificate. See Single-Course Enrollment for details.

Autumn Course

Story

Schedule: Tuesdays, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Sept. 30-Dec. 9, 2008 (no class Nov. 11); Thursdays, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Oct. 2-Nov. 6, 2008; Saturdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Oct. 4 and Nov. 15, 2008; $1,095; 6 CEUs.
Instructors: Mark Handley and Mary Elder.

How do you write a story for the screen? Do you start with character? A place? An object? An unforgettable image? An event that changed your life? A movie you wish you had written? This course takes you from the first moments when you face the blank page, right past your fear, into the heart of the story you might never have even dreamed you wanted to write, all the way to a completed story treatment. This treatment gives the narrative summary of characters and plot on which your future screenplay can be based.

Most of all, you write and write and write, from the first five minutes of your first class onward. As you write your treatment, you build key scenes and the narrative thrust. You marvel at the sudden and amazing growth of your characters, discovering images within you that rise up and enrich your story. You will also gain insight into how the industry really works from instructors who are seasoned screenwriters, from the stories they share, and from watching scenes from films.

Winter Course

First Draft & Rewrite

Schedule: Tuesdays, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Jan. 6-June 2, 2009 (no class Mar. 17 and 24); $1,095; 6.0 CEUs.
Instructors: Mark Handley and Mary Elder.

Most new writers who start a screenplay never finish it. They get bogged down in the middle and give up. The First Draft portion of this course will propel you to the end of your screenplay and the discoveries that await you there.

Each week, you turn in 13 new script pages, on your way to completing your first draft in just 10 weeks. Along the way, you receive written feedback on your pages from the instructors. In class, you're guided through a series of exercises to help you write the scenes that build your screenplay.

The difference between a great script and a weak one is rewriting. M. Night Shyamalan wrote ten complete, start-over, page-one rewrites of The Sixth Sense before he realized the main character (played by Bruce Willis) was dead.

This course gives you the tools to analyze your own work, to see the strengths and weaknesses, to exploit the former and eliminate the latter. As you rethink and refine your story's structure, plot, characterization, pacing and dialogue, you gain a better understanding of the initial impulse that drove you to write the story in the first place.

You also gain insight from industry professionals and former students about the best ways to promote your work, to improve your chances for serious consideration in film and television, and how to pitch your project.

How to sign up for individual enrollment in this course