Film and Digital Media Center. Located at 9147 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro, GA 30236. On main campus, visit us in the Harry S. Downs Center, Continuing Education Office, Suite 223.
For more information call or email:
(678) 466-5085
FilmAndDigitalMedia@clayton.edu
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A good script is the foundation and backbone of any film! In this course, the student will learn how to write for film with an award-winning instructor. Students will study structure, character development, denouement and more.
Course objectives are to provide students with a working knowledge of the fundamentals of screenwriting with emphasis on character development and structure. Through the practice of screenwriting, students will learn how to represent in words not only story, but also sound design, editing, visual design, and other parameters of media making. Students will discover how core concepts of character, structure, plot, theme and tone interact within existing and emerging media and explore how to utilize these concepts to express their personal vision.
This course is designed to supply students with tools to expand and enrich their appreciation of all aspects of filmmaking and screenwriting in particular. Students will prepare for eventual entry into the professional world, learning how outside forces can influence the decisions a screenwriter makes.
The primary assignment is writing and revising a short film screenplay.
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Gabrielle Fulton is an award-winning filmmaker and playwright born in Athens, Georgia, and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her BA from Columbia University, and her MFA in Writing for the Screen & Stage from Northwestern University.
Her short film Ir/Reconcilable is currently airing on HBO, and was awarded official selection status at the American Black Film Festival in New York City and the Atlanta Film Festival. Starring Jasmine Guy, Crystal Fox, and Dick Gregory, Ir/Reconcilable was showcased in the Atlanta Film Society’s New Mavericks Showcase.
Gabrielle also directed the documentary short If We So Choose, about the 1964 public accommodations protests to integrate The Varsity restaurant in Athens, GA. Other “non-scripted” work includes The Center, a television pilot for an international singing competition show, and her Hip Hop Diaspora project which was optioned by MTV Networks.
Her play Uprising was a Rolling World Premiere with productions in Atlanta, GA and Alexandria, VA. Her work has been developed and workshopped at The Alliance Theatre, The Lark Play Development Center, Chicago Dramatists, The Greenhouse Theatre Center, Horizon Theatre Company, MetroStage Theatre Company, Curious Theatre Company, the National New Play Network, the D.C. Women’s Voices Theatre Festival, Next Theatre Company, Atlanta Fringe Festival, The One Minute Play Festival, and the Emory University Center for Creativity & Arts. She was the 2011-2012 Playwright-in-Residence at Horizon Theatre Company and in 2014 was a winner of the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab.
Gabrielle is currently Artist-in-Residence at the Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries and Visiting Professor of Screenwriting in the university’s Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts. She taught screenwriting to undergraduates while completing her graduate work at Northwestern University and has taught playwriting to talented high school dramatists at Fulton County Schools, Grady Playmakers, and Horizon Theatre Company.
She is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
Working command of oral and written English; basic computer and internet skills: keyboard, mouse, file saving; basic use of Windows operating system.
REQUIRED EQUIPMENT: Computer access and access to a screenwriting software (Celtx, Final Draft, etc…)
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK (not included in course fee): Cowgill, Linda (2005). Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters, (2nd Ed.) Los Angeles: Lone Eagle.
TEXTBOOK RECOMMENDED BUT NOT REQUIRED: Howard, David (2004). How to Build a Great Screenplay, New York: St. Martin’s Griffin
Handouts distributed in class are required reading for the next session unless otherwise indicated.
Additional readings will be announced in class. These will be designated as required or optional.
Streamed films will be announced in class and posted. These films will be designated as required or optional.
Course Title: Writing for the Screen
Instructor: Gabrielle Fulton, MFA
Target Audience: Who would benefit from this course/program? Four types of learners:
Learning Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: write and revise a short film screenplay.
Teaching Methodology and Assessment: Course delivery will use a combination of lecture, PowerPoint, video samples, internet demonstrations and writing projects with revision and feedback.
Criteria for Successful Completion: Minimum requirements for successful course completion:
Amount of contact time (in hours) needed to effectively teach this course: 10 weeks; 3 hours/week
$599
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