Being a Screenwriter: Generating Ideas for a Screenplay

Program Outline

Thrills, chills, romance, and suspense: You never know what a young person can dream up! Show learners how to release their inner Spielberg and join the screenwriting phenomenon!!

Grades 6 - 8

Lesson 1 - The Kinds of Movies We Love: An Introduction to Genre and Theme
Students dive right into the screenwriting process with this introduction to understanding genre, in which the difference between Dracula and Cinderella really counts!

Lesson 2 - How Movies Work: The Three-Act Structure
What if Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz) found herself surrendering to Darth Vader (Star Wars)? In this lesson, mixing up the elements of storytelling helps learners understand the classic structure of movies of all kinds!

Lesson 3 - The Story You Can Tell: Writing from the Heart
Generating ideas for screenplays often represents a struggle between the heart and the head. Learners capture the best of both in this set of activities that use memories and photographs to jumpstart the creative process.

Lesson 4 - The Brainstorm: Coming Up with an Idea The rapid-fire delivery of writing “prompts” in this lesson is sure to stimulate a swarm of new ideas. Most importantly, learners get the idea that inspiration can be found most anywhere—and that can always lead to writing something new!

Lesson 5 - Bringing It All Together: Making Your Ideas Work
“Story Stars”—an inventive activity that helps student screenwriters zero in on plotlines and story details—is at the center of this exciting lesson. Tabloid headlines also make a guest appearance in this lesson.

Lesson 6 - Developing Characters: Who Will Your Story Be About? Characters come alive in this intriguing and revealing exploration of character development. Students discover new dimensions to character on “The Psychiatrist’s Couch,” and

Lesson 7 - Understanding Conflict: What Will Your Story Be About?
Will the learners in your classroom craft stories with war, intrigue, disaster, crime, or failed romance at the heart of their stories? A return to familiar films introduces students to the concepts of analyzing conflict and its relationship to plot.

Lesson 8 - The Hero/Heroine's Journey: Managing Conflict and Character
Even the hero’s journey starts with a single step. Learners set off on the road to story-building in this important lesson that ties character and conflict in fun ways that stretch the muscles of imagination.

Lesson 9 - Thinking Cinematically: Showing Rather than Telling
The fundamental tool of screenwriting, the storyboard, is at the center of this introduction to cinematic thinking. As learners linking a chain of visuals in order to tell their stories, the principle of “show, don’t tell” makes good sense and great fun.

Lesson 10 - The Pitch: Writing Your Logline and Treatment
Imagine a film: “Twenty young screenwriters compete to win a Hollywood contract for a movie about themselves…” Learners wrap up their creations for the Hollywood litmus test: the challenge of “loglines” and “treatments” is explored in this activity on the big studio pitch.