Screenwriting: Core Elements (On Demand)
About this On Demand Course
This is an On Demand course. On Demand courses allow you to watch pre-recorded lectures at your own pace, with curated resources and other materials to support your work. You can begin taking this course at any time.
This course does not offer feedback on your work. If you would like feedback from a Sundance Collab Advisor and to network with other writers, consider taking Screenwriting: Core Elements (Self-paced).
In order to serve more of the Sundance Collab community, we developed this On Demand course from existing self-paced course content. By doing so, we are able to offer Screenwriting: Core Elements (On Demand) at a price that allows more people to benefit from the course content.
Create a treatment for your feature film screenplay idea with an experienced screenwriter as your guide. In this introductory-level on demand course, you will take this important first step in crafting your screenplay and learn a set of tools that will get you from concept to treatment.
Along the way you will:
- learn the fundamentals of theme and establish yours for your screenplay.
- develop and reveal your protagonist, antagonist, and supporting characters.
- gain a command of the three-act structure and an understanding of when to break away from it.
- establish conflict and obstacles.
- construct the world and tone for your screenplay.
- layer emotion and emotional truth into your treatment.
- break through your own obstacles as you revise your work.
- understand how to take notes and approach a rewrite.
This course is ideal for:
- first-time screenwriters with a great idea for a film and who could use help with structure, world-building, character development, and deadlines.
- novice writers who have a first draft but want to further hone their structure or character development.
View the Outline tab for more details on the course.
All course videos are closed-captioned. For other accommodations and support services, please email us at accessibility@sundance.org.
On Demand CourseOutline
Topics covered include:
- Introduction to the course
- Theme and intent
Topics covered include:
- Initial character work
- Developing multifaceted characters
- The interior monologue
Topics covered include:
- Creating conflict through character
- The character wheel
Topics covered include:
- Fundamentals of storytelling
- The three basic stories
- Writing your action summary
Topics covered include:
- Understanding three act structure
- How to create a beat sheet
Topics covered include:
- Filling in the gaps in your story
- Using parallel scripts
- Mapping sequences
Topics covered include:
- Painting a picture through your script
Topics covered include:
- Adding emotion, motivation, and feeling to your plot
Topics covered include:
- Free your characters and yourself
- Breaking through your own obstacles
Team
Trey Ellis
Instructor
Trey Ellis is an Emmy and Peabody winning filmmaker, American Book Award Winning novelist, playwright, essayist and Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Most recently, he is an Executive Producer of the HBO documentary TRUE JUSTICE: BRYAN STEVENSON'S FIGHT FOR EQUALITY and last year’s KING IN THE WILDERNESS also for HBO.
He has written dozens of scripts and teleplays including the TUSKEGEE AIRMEN for HBO, and GOOD FENCES for Showtime, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for the PEN award for Best Teleplay of the year. His works have been screened at the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is the author of the novels, PLATITUDES, HOME REPAIRS and the American Book Award Winning, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, as well as the memoir BEDTIME STORIES: ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF SINGLE-FATHERHOOD. His essays have appeared in The New York Times, Playboy, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, GQ, Vanity Fair and NewYorker.com and he has contributed audio commentary to NPR’s All Things Considered. His play, FLY, was commissioned by the Lincoln Center Institute and continues to be performed around the country including in Washington, D.C.’s Ford’s Theater, the Pasadena Playhouse and the New Victory Theater in New York.
FAQ
Sundance Collab’s On Demand courses provide flexibility to learn on your own time, whenever you’re ready. On Demand courses do not provide you with feedback on your work, but they do provide suggested activities and curated resources.
Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion for all of the On Demand courses and the certificate will include the name associated with your Collab account.
You can find any courses that you are enrolled in or have already completed in the profile section of your Collab account under “Courses.”
Sundance Collab provides accommodations and support services to participants with disabilities. Please contact us at (435) 776-7790 or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to ask any questions or to discuss your specific needs.