Screenwriting 101: Mastering the Art of Story

Before "Lights! Camera! Action!" there is one thing a film must have: a good story. Look to the literary past to see how the earliest stories shape the ones we create today and use that knowledge to look at scripts and storytelling. You may be surprised to discover how cognitive science can shed light on how humans experience stories.

The first question any writer must ask is: where do I want to take my audience? Professor Fletcher shows you how to reverse engineer stories to pinpoint their cognitive effects and put those tools to use in your own writing (and viewing) experiences. Travel back to the dawn of scriptwriting and reverse engineer three storytelling innovations of ancient Greece, connecting each to a modern script.

Every script has a setting, both a time and a place where the story occurs. Your "story world" is more than the physical or temporal - what makes the world are the rules you create for it. Understand the value of the rules that underlie your story and see how genres allow you to use pre-existing structures while enabling you to embrace a multitude of possibilities.

Character is the key ingredient in most successful stories; make great characters and audiences will want to follow them anywhere. Professor Fletcher presents a simple recipe for creating memorable characters with three simple ingredients. Discover why fear is the most powerful driver of human behavior and why this is a key to creating and sustaining great characters.

Your job as the writer is to create a great story; the rest of the work is up to others. So how do you make sure your story creates the cognitive effect you want? The answer is tone. Look at the two most important ways writers shape tone and then dive into four influential tones used in screenwriting, using both literature and award-winning scripts as your guide.

One of the most common pitfalls of scriptwriting is poor plotting. The human mind is actually designed to plot - the key is learning how to constrain this natural tendency so your story doesn't simply wander. See how plotting backwards can help you stay on track and why you should forget about creating a three-act structure.

Begin your exploration of great film scripts with Casablanca. Learn how to identify its cognitive effect and reverse engineer the four main story components to unlock the tools you will use to understand every script. Casablanca will also introduce you to the first of the "big three" storytelling genres: the heroic.

How does a script go through 19 rewrites and multiple directors to emerge as one of the most influential films of the 20th century? Reverse engineer this story that traces its roots back to ancient Rome and see how a sublime tragedy can be even more powerful when brought down to a human scale.

The basic plot of all romantic comedies is essentially the same, so the surprise success of When Harry Met Sally can teach writers volumes about all the other ways you can make a story great. Professor Fletcher demonstrates the subtle ways screenwriters can add naturalistic details to make a predictable story still feel realistic and rewarding.

Take a look at the film whose immense success gave us the term "blockbuster," examining why the feeling of relief is one of the most primordial of human emotions and how it can best be put to use in good storytelling. Also gain an appreciation for the value of improvisation and collaboration with actors in the filmmaking process.

A comedy with an ending more like a tragedy and with a tone that effortlessly fuses irony and sentiment, Annie Hall was an instant success that almost didn't happen. Use what you have learned about reverse engineering stories to better understand how to reach your ultimate (psychological) destination in a script.

The influence of Joseph Campbell and the idea of an archetypal journey have long been credited as part of the success of George Lucas's epic space opera. However, neuroscience has since debunked the idea of this "monomyth" and Professor Fletcher shows you how the power of the script comes down to something much simpler: childlike wonder.

The Princess Bride is the first film thus far that was not a hit on its initial release. Instead, its popularity grew slowly over time, engaging small audiences who were connected by a sense of being "in on the secret" - the essence of charm. Solve the riddle of how two different worlds can actually be the same and discover why community can be an important element of storytelling.

Most Hollywood films use simple but strong emotional effects to lull audiences into an easy enjoyment in a world with moral certainty. But some movies want to make you think critically and offer no easy answers. Ambivalence can be a crucial tool for writers who want to challenge audiences and here you will learn how it can be used to powerful effect.

The gritty soul of the Western genre was revived by the release of Unforgiven - a film that is not just a lesson in great genre writing, but in how to bring old stories back to life. Look at the ways the various story elements help create an anti-hero audiences will root for as you explore how a seemingly forgotten genre can be revived with the right script at the right time.

Film scripts often use literary techniques to build the story world, form characters, and set the right tone. By adopting a collage method taken from the surrealist movement, Pulp Fiction shows that visual arts can influence story in much the same way. Explore the various ways connections can be made between seemingly unrelated characters and events.

How did a film that began as a computer demo become an unexpected smash hit? Solve this mystery as you discover why having an engineering mindset can be a great advantage in screenwriting, and reveal how Pixar changed the direction of Disney films for years to come - by looking at a surprisingly dark side of storytelling.

Some films defy easy explanation. Fargo is an eccentric story that uses its oddities to its advantage - like delaying the appearance of the main character for almost a third of the film. Explore existentialism and see what can happen when writers stop thinking about fixed structure and focus on the desired result.

Begin your transition from the big screen to the small by looking at the different ways television and film scripts approach storytelling. See why the conflicts and plotting of TV must operate differently from film to sustain story over time and how you can determine which format is best for the kind of story you want to tell.

Follow Professor Fletcher as he shows you how a television pilot works. Or, in the case of the original Game of Thrones pilot, how it doesn't. Compare the initial failed script with the later successful one and see how a story can be reshaped to better achieve its desired effect and discover why writing a TV pilot is like building an engine.

In the first look at successful TV genres, look at the longest running sitcom in television history, The Simpsons. See why jokes are not the key to humor; it's all in the characters and their ongoing conflict with the world around them. Look at the episode "Duffless" and see how it works as a great example of sitcom writing.

The success of the procedural story harkens back to the Victorian heyday of Sherlock Holmes, whose adventures always followed a similar pattern but with important variations. This same technique drives the success of shows like CSI, as you will see by looking at the pilot episode, which encapsulates the show's combination of problem solving and problem making.

See why soap operas are an enduring and brilliant form of storytelling, despite their reputation. By focusing on the subjective and the most primal of human emotions, soap operas allow viewers to experience deep feelings that may be difficult or absent in real life. Grey's Anatomy shows how the conflict between wanting to belong and feeling like an outsider can fuel this kind of storytelling.

Professor Fletcher concludes with a look at the ultimate goals of Screenwriting 101: to help you appreciate more film and TV; tell better stories; and write your own scripts. As he takes you through each of these points and sums up, he also gives invaluable practical advice on how to become a screenwriter from a professional perspective. And that's a wrap.