Archive of Past Courses (Click here)

About our Faculty (Click here)

Screenwriting Essentials
Taught by James Breckenridge, MFA, Founder and Director, The PlayCrafters Group


Have you ever left a movie feeling queasy? Perhaps the plot was stale, some awkward lines of dialogue were repeating, or the main character wasn’t sitting well. You were probably thinking, “I could do better than that.” Well now’s your chance!

Learn the crucial elements you’ll need to start your own screenplay in this course geared to the beginning screenwriter as well as those more experienced writers who may have lost their way. It covers screenwriting from first idea to well-structured screenplay, making stops at premise, story arc, scene building, and character development along the way. In addition to learning critical techniques and the building blocks of the form, students use the essential principles of dramatic writing to examine two films.

In screenwriting, there is a lot of ground to cover between being inspired and being done. This course gets you moving on that journey.