Learn the Secrets of Successful Screenwriting
If you dream of making it as a screenwriter, this course is the place to start. Learn proven techniques for crafting a script that tells a story effectively and holds the attention of your audience.
We will dissect scripts from popular films to find out what makes a good story and an engaging screenplay. Using the free platform Writer’s Duet, students will learn the accepted way to format a script. They will also gain an understanding of how to structure a screenplay and construct scenes with compelling characters, settings, dialogue and conflict. Through a variety of writing activities, students will sharpen their screenwriting skills. Finally, they will bring together everything they have learned as they storyboard, write and edit their own scripts.
What You Will Learn
Practice using proven techniques for crafting a successful script.
- Practice formatting a script using Writer’s Duet, a free formatting website.
- Discover how to use scene headings, subheaders, extensions, dual dialogue, sluglines, transitions and parentheticals.
- Learn to establish characters, settings, stakes and a central conflict.
- Explore how to structure a script by introducing an inciting incident, creating a confrontation and then resolving storylines.
- Gain an understanding of how to create compelling characters as protagonists and antagonists.
- Analyze how to structure an effective scene.
- Practice writing dialogue that feels natural, reveals character and advances the story.
- Put this new knowledge to work by storyboarding, writing and editing scripts.
Return to the Sally Ride Science Junior Academy website here.
Note: Upon successful enrollment of a section, students will receive a confirmation email from our Student Services team. This email will include a link to an authorization form that is required to be completed within 72-hours of enrollment.
In response to COVID-19 health guidelines, we have restructured our in-person Junior Academy workshops as online courses. Contact us at srs@ucsd.edu if you have questions.
Course Number: THEA-90003
Credit: 1.50 unit(s)
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7/11/2022 - 7/15/2022
$175
Live Online
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CLASS TYPE:
Synchronous web-based class meetings that are scheduled to meet online at published times (time/date).
Turret, Samantha
Samantha Turret is a transplant from New Jersey and New York City who found her way to sunny Los Angeles. She is an actress, voice actor and teacher best known for cohosting Nickelodeon's “Top Elf” alongside the one and only Santa Claus. She has also worked on shows on MTV, A&E, Discovery and Lifetime. As a voice actor, she can be heard on commercials and podcasts, and as the narrator of popular children's audiobooks such as “Pearl the Magical Unicorn” and “Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World.” Samantha loves live theater and has performed throughout the country in regional productions, off-Broadway and in schools with Story Pirates. She has taught theater and creative writing in New York, New Jersey and California for the past eight y...Read More
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POLICIES:
1st meeting mandatory.
Early enrollment advised.
No UCSD parking permit required.
No visitors permitted.
Pre-enrollment required.
No refunds after: 7/5/2022.
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NOTE:
This is a MIDDLE SCHOOL level course. Instructor will email student with Zoom information 24-hours in advance of start date. Please note this email will go to the student email on file, and not the parent email. The course runs the first two hours with an optional office hour the last hour. No supplies are needed for this course.
| DATE | DAY | START | END | LOCATION |
|---|
| 7/11/2022 | Mon | 9:00 a.m. | 12:00 p.m. | |
| 7/12/2022 | Tue | 9:00 a.m. | 12:00 p.m. | |
| 7/13/2022 | Wed | 9:00 a.m. | 12:00 p.m. | |
| 7/14/2022 | Thu | 9:00 a.m. | 12:00 p.m. | |
| 7/15/2022 | Fri | 9:00 a.m. | 12:00 p.m. | |
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7/18/2022 - 7/22/2022
$175
Live Online
-
-
-
CLASS TYPE:
Synchronous web-based class meetings that are scheduled to meet online at published times (time/date).
Turret, Samantha
Samantha Turret is a transplant from New Jersey and New York City who found her way to sunny Los Angeles. She is an actress, voice actor and teacher best known for cohosting Nickelodeon's “Top Elf” alongside the one and only Santa Claus. She has also worked on shows on MTV, A&E, Discovery and Lifetime. As a voice actor, she can be heard on commercials and podcasts, and as the narrator of popular children's audiobooks such as “Pearl the Magical Unicorn” and “Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World.” Samantha loves live theater and has performed throughout the country in regional productions, off-Broadway and in schools with Story Pirates. She has taught theater and creative writing in New York, New Jersey and California for the past eight y...Read More
-
-
POLICIES:
1st meeting mandatory.
Early enrollment advised.
No UCSD parking permit required.
No visitors permitted.
Pre-enrollment required.
No refunds after: 7/11/2022.
-
NOTE:
This is a HIGH SCHOOL level course. Instructor will email student with Zoom information 24-hours in advance of start date. Please note this email will go to the student email on file, and not the parent email. The course runs the first two hours with an optional office hour the last hour. No supplies are needed for this course.
| DATE | DAY | START | END | LOCATION |
|---|
| 7/18/2022 | Mon | 1:00 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. | |
| 7/19/2022 | Tue | 1:00 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. | |
| 7/20/2022 | Wed | 1:00 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. | |
| 7/21/2022 | Thu | 1:00 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. | |
| 7/22/2022 | Fri | 1:00 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. | |
There are no sections of this course currently scheduled. Please contact the Pre-College Programs department at 858-534-0804 or precollege@ucsd.edu for information about when this course will be offered again.