106-421 Scripts Wanted: Any Medium

This subject is only available to students enrolled in Honours in Creative Writing. The subject 106-448 Theorising the Spectator is strongly recommended to students enrolling in this subject. Successful completion of either 106-027 Writing Scripts and/or 106-091 Writing for Performance would be an advantage to students undertaking this subject.

Usually admission to fourth year honours in Creative Writing.

In this subject students will acquire the practical skills of script writing in any one of a number of mediums. Each student will learn to write and craft either a theatre playscript, a live performance script, a radio play, libretto or film/TV script. The student will decide on the particular medium early in the semester during the workshopping process. This decision will be made considering the medium which best suits the topic, the material already generated by the student and/or the story to be told. Scripts will be developed to professional workshopping standard using the appropriate formatting and lay-out requirements demanded by the particular medium. This is a workshop subject and will focus on teaching students to access and develop their creativity and critical thinking skills, understand their own creative processes, generate and craft their material, how to use research without becoming expositional, character development, narrative structuring, developing skills of writing performative/spoken language, acquiring knowledge of the basic protocols and the various cultures, studying successful scripts and becoming familiar with the theories and strategies of experts in the particular field. These skills will be developed through writing exercises, discussion, lectures, guest speakers, study of the material in the subject reader and particularly through feedback to students presenting their work. The student will, in this way, develop and extend skills of cooperation and collaboration which are essential to any successful script writer in any of these mediums.

• develop public speaking skills through extensive presentation of work-in-progress during workshops and in public presentation;

• develop and expand understanding of, and access to, creative processes and abilities in a focused and confident way;

• demonstrate an ability to use research and theoretical material practically, conceptually and creatively;

• gain an understanding of the effects of gender, indigeneiety and ethnicity and the ways in which they relate to social, ethical and cultural contexts and thus gain practical insights into the politics of representation.

A 5-minute script equivalent to 1000 words in the students' medium of choice 10% (to be submitted mid-semester); a 20-minute script equivalent to 4500 words, incorporating the original 1000 word script (see above) developed to professional workshopping standard 70% (to be submitted at the end of the semester; a 500 word review of a theatre production, performance, radio or film 10% (to be submitted at the end of the semester); attendance and participation in the workshops 10%. Students must attend a minium of 80% of workshops in order to be eligible for assessment in this subject.

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.