| 103 Course Outline 103 Writing TV Scripts and Movie Screenplays - Introduction to TV Scripts and Movie Screenplays
- Software for script and screen writers
- Books for script and screen writers
Introduction to TV Scripts and Movie Screenplays  offers the following video series for viewing free online!
 when on the Annenberg web site.
American Passages: A Literary Survey American Passages Video Series (16x30") American Passages Web Site American Passages: A Literary Survey is a 16-part American literature course. The video programs, print guides, and Web site place literary movements and authors within the context of history and culture. The course takes an expanded view of American literary movements, bringing in a diversity of voices and tracing the continuity among them. The materials, which are coordinated with the Norton Anthology of American Literature, can be used as the basis of a one or two-semester college-level course or for teacher professional development.
Produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting. 2003. 1. Native Voices
Native Americans had established a rich and highly developed tradition of oral literature long before the writings of the European colonists. This program explores that richness by introducing Native American oral traditions through the work of three contemporary authors: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo), and Luci Tapahonso (Navajo). 2. Exploring Borderlands
Chicana writer Gloria Anzaldúa tells us that the border is "una herida abierta [an open wound] where… the lifeblood of two worlds is merging to form a third country — a border culture." This program explores the literature of the Chicano borderlands and its beginnings in the literature of Spanish colonization. 3. Utopian Promise
When British colonists landed in the Americas, they created communities that they hoped would serve as a "light onto the nations." But what role would the native inhabitants play in this new model community? This program compares the answers of two important groups, the Puritans and Quakers, and exposes the lasting influence they had upon American identity. 4. Spirit of Nationalism
The Enlightenment brought new ideals and a new notion of selfhood to the American colonies. This program begins with an examination of the importance of the trope of the self-made man in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, and then turns to the development of this concept in the writings of Romanticist Ralph Waldo Emerson. 5. Masculine Heroes
In 1898, Frederick Jackson Turner declared the frontier as the defining feature of American culture, but American authors had uncovered its significance much earlier. This program turns to three key writers of the early national period — James Fenimore Cooper, John Rollin Ridge, and Walt Whitman — and examines the influential visions of American manhood offered by each author. 6. Gothic Undercurrents
What was haunting the American nation in the 1850s? The three writers treated in this program — Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson — use poetry and prose to explore the dark side of nineteenth-century America. 7. Slavery and Freedom
How has slavery shaped the American literary imagination and American identity? This program turns to the classic slave narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass and the fiction of Harriet Beecher Stowe. What rhetorical strategies do their works use to construct an authentic and authoritative American self? 8. Regional Realism
Set in the antebellum American South, but written after Emancipation, Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remains a classic of American literature. This program compares Twain’s depiction of Southern vernacular culture to that of Charles Chestnutt and Kate Chopin, and in doing so, introduces the hallmarks of American Realism. 9. Social Realism
This program presents the authors of the American Gilded Age, such as Edith Wharton, and juxtaposes them with social realists like Anzia Yezierska. These writers expose the double world that made up turn–of–the–century New York: that of the elite and that of the poorest of the poor. Which of these realities is the more truly American? 10. Rhythms in Poetry
Amidst the chaos following World War I, Ezra Pound urged poets to "Make it new!" This call was heeded by a large range of poets, ranging from T. S. Eliot to Jean Toomer. This program explores the modernist lyrics of two of these poets: William Carlos Williams and Langston Hughes. What is modernism? How did these poets start a revolution that continues until this day? 11. Modernist Portraits
Jazz filled the air and wailed against the night. Caught in the sway, American prose writers sought out the forbidden — the slang, the dialects, and the rhythms of the folk and of everyday life. Writers such as Hemingway, Stein, and Fitzgerald forged a new style: one which silhouetted the geometry of language, crisp in its own cleanness. 12. Migrant Struggle
Americans have often defined themselves through their relationship to the land. This program traces the social fiction of three key American voices: John Steinbeck, Carlos Bulosan, and Helena María Viramontes. 13. Southern Renaissance
"My subject in fiction," Flannery O’Connor tells us, "is the action of grace in the territory held largely by the devil." One might do well to ask what, if not the devil, haunts the American South in this era between the wars. This program uncovers the revisioning of Southern myths during the modernist era by writers William Faulkner and Zora Neale Hurston. 14. Becoming Visible
This program guides the viewer through the works and contexts of ethnic writers from 1945–1965. Starting with the works of Ralph Waldo Ellison, Philip Roth, and N. Scott Momaday, we explore the way writers from the margins took over the center of American culture. 15. Poetry of Liberation
For many, the 1960s mark the true end of modern America. Whereas the modernists remained serious about the transcendent nature of art, the artists of the 1960s wanted an art that was relevant. They wanted an art that not only spoke about justice, but also helped create it. This program explores the innovations made in American poetry in the 1960s by Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, and Adrienne Rich. 16. Search for Identity
Even as the poets were fostering a rebellion, contemporary prose writers began creating a new American Tradition comprised of many strands, many voices, and many myths about the past. This program explores the search for identity by three American writers: Maxine Hong Kingston, Sandra Cisneros, and Leslie Feinberg. Also view programs on demand at Annenberg Web site or on the Annenberg Channel Visit www.learner.org or call 1-800-LEARNER to learn more. If you want to enter the world of writing and publishing in the digital age download a free trial of DeskTop Author and go to Publish and Sell Your E-book. The following videos available for viewing free online from Annenberg should be of interest to script and screenplay writers: Literary Visions Video Series (30 minutes each program) 18. Playing the Part: Characters and Actors in Drama
The development of dramatic character, by playwright and by actor, is illustrated through several interpretations of a single scene from Hamlet and an interview with Shakespearean actor John Vickery. 19. Patterns of Action: Plot and Conflict in Drama
A dramatization of Oedipus Rex demonstrates the classical plot structure. Dramatist A. R. Gurney discusses conflict and plot in contemporary American theater. 20. Perspectives on Illusion: Setting and Staging in Drama
An interview with set designer Chris Barecca and a documentary overview of types of theaters demonstrate the intertwining of text and technique in dramatic setting. 21. The Vision Quest: Myth and Symbolism in Drama
Alaskan playwright David Hunsaker's dramatizations of Eskimo myth and his productions of Eskimo translations of Greek tragedies, together with scenes from Oedipus Rex, demonstrate the enduring power and meaning of myth in drama. 22. A Frame for Meaning: Theme in Drama
Dramatist David H. Hwang discusses the themes and structure of his plays, which include M. Butterfly. Scholars consider thematic interpretations inherent in the production of a single act of Hamlet. when on the Annenberg web site. Software for Writers of Scripts & Screenplays 
Create frameworks for your story ideas and turn them into a complete and polished stories.
Story View 2.0 helps you organize your story and see it unfold, the way a viewer or reader would. Get a feel for rhythms and patterns of your story with this powerful Software tool. Use the Outline or Timeline Views to get a stronger visual sense of your story. The Tracking Tool helps you show connections between events and characters, objects or key words. Customize Story View to fit your personal writing style, or choose any of the pre-built templates. Import a story or script that's been pre-written for deeper analysis. Represent the size and duration of your story events and their importance with Event Boxes. Change the sequence of events by clicking and dragging the Event Boxes into a new position. Export your work into Movie Magic Screenwriter.
Hollywood Screenwriter helps you turn a story idea into a TV script or movie screenplay.
Express your ideas in the form of a screenplay and turn them into a movie, TV show or play for professional consideration. Enter every important script element--character, dialogue, action, scene breaks and more--with ease. Built-in typing assistant helps you work more efficiently by filling in names & direction after just a few letters. "Television Templates" add automatic formats, margins, script styles, and character lists. Sample scripts let you see screenwriting samples from hit shows like NYPD Blue, The X-Files, and Frasier. Get a full analysis of your script and learn statistical information about your scenes and characters. "Spellchecker" corrects typos instantly. Drag-and-drop editing lets you move or change a block of text (or a whole scene) without reformatting the entire script.
Word processing modes for writing query letters, outlines, treatments, and so forth are included.  StoryBoard Quick creates professional-quality Digital storyboards that achieve professional results. Reduce your planning time with the StoryBoard Quick's built-in pre-drawn props, locations, characters, and print formats. Export boards for Internet viewing and even integrate your own digital location photos with StoryBoard Quick's layerable artwork. Working on your storyboard gets quick and easy with StoryBoard Quick. Get productive and stay productive while bringing your film, video or multimedia project to life.
• Pan & Zoom feature animates still images for more dynamic boards
• Create custom image libraries to organize your own artwork
• Caption and Data fields for creating scene breakdowns with text field search
• Multiple Audio tracks with drag-and-drop Input and editing
• Import Photoshop layers as objects or frames
• Easy exporting to QuickTime, MetaSync, EDL/Timing Sheet, Link Data
• Non-linear linking storyboarding for DVD and iTV prototyping
• Thousands of images, complete with angles & new character expressions
• Searchable captions within Database
Books for Script and Screen Writers   
   
   
Story Sense: A Screenwriter's Guide for Film and Television is a textbook for a course | 
