As screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière put it: “The script is the dream of a movie.” Writing for the movies is not as much the work of a literary writer as that of a filmmaker. The script is the movie on paper and serves as a working tool—a map to follow—for the many people involved in the next stages of production. That is why screenplays follow a highly specific and precise form.

As viewers, we want movies that entertain, that provoke emotions or make us wish we were in them. We want characters we can relate to, or that surprise us. We want to believe it’s true and live experiences we don’t have in our day-to-day life. What makes a story well-rounded? A glance at some of film history’s masterpieces can help us understand what works.

This seminar examines the craft of screenwriting at three levels: 1) The design of the story with its characters, what happens to them, how it evolves and how it ends. 2) How this finally comes out on the screen, where we as viewers often struggle to distinguish what is script and what is acting, special effects, etc. And 3) The actual writing, its language and restrictions that you need to master to write a screenplay.