Creative Screenwriting

The fundamental structures and archetypes of "story" are evolving for some time now, and the "tools" of storytelling are changing too: for one thing more and more platforms are added to the equation, which allow for a new form of fractured and multi-perspectival narrative, while story becomes less of a text and more of an experience.

The sharing of stories and characters in transmedia or interactive storytelling, the first-person involvement of online gaming, is blurring the line even more, not just between story and play, but also between storyteller and audience, illusion and reality, fact and fiction.

Through a number of exercises specifically catered to the writing for different such platforms, students learn how to find the right form and structure for each part of the storytelling, and how to treat each part as its own separate story while not losing focus of the big picture.

In this course storytelling is treated like something alive and evolving, optimizing thematic richness, emotional depth, and narrative rhythm, but which also allows for interaction, audience participation and collaborative storytelling.

This studio workshop course will focus on concrete examples, which will be largely researched by the students to make them able to navigate the new platforms, and will at the same time aim at the creation of the design of a collaborative project, which will include multiple platforms and interactive elements. 

Pre-Requisite: Media Design (NMDS 5008) or instructor permission. Media Studies courses are open to all graduate students. Undergraduate Juniors and Seniors with permission from the instructor and BA/MA Media studies students should email [email protected] for access.