Short course
Screenwriting: Getting Started with Your New Draft
Course status:
Applications being accepted
Dates:
28/09/2026 - 30/11/2026
Study format:
In-person weekly
Fees:
£315.00
Together as a group we explore how screenwriters use characterisation, structure and genre in case studies and through participants' live projects. This way, emerging writers learn about the variety of traditions, agendas and expectations that their immediate collaborators (including development executives, agents, producers and directors) bring to a film idea.
Book this course
Book your place online using the button below.
Programme details
Course starts Monday 28 September 2026
This is an in-person course which requires your attendance at the weekly meetings in Oxford on Mondays, 7.00-9.00pm.
Week 1: Creating engaging Characters
Week 2: Building an absorbing Structure
Week 3: Intriguing with Genre
Week 4: Evaluate your writing influences through Script Reports
Week 5: Formative Assessment – Script Report Presentations
Week 6: The Screenplay Development Process and Evaluating Ideas
Week 7: The Ethics of Storytelling, and Structure your Story in a Beat Sheet
Week 8: The Script as Foundation in Filmmaking, and Setting up your Story in the first 10 Pages
Week 9: Pitching, and demonstrating a Sense of Adventure in the second 10 Pages
Week 10: Participant pitches and facing a turning point in the third 10 pages
Teaching methods
Regular seminars lead to the application of screenwriting concepts through independent practice. Then we proceed to read student screenplays to discuss achievements and ideas for further development.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have been given the opportunity to have learnt how to:
- write within the limitations of the screenwriting form (e.g. visual storytelling and forward momentum using slugline, scene description, dialogue);
- practise their critical skills, identifying dramatic tension in creative writing as well as areas that may be improved;
- articulate constructive feedback to peers.
Assessment methods
Only those students who have registered for assessment and accreditation, in advance of the course start date, can submit coursework/assignments for assessment.
Assessment
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Level and demands
The Department’s Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, ie first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.
Course aims
This course enables emerging screenwriters to start a first draft feature film screenplay, or a rewrite of an earlier attempt. You will practise communicating your project professionally, experience its achievements and needs in shared table reads, and then build on guidance from tutor and peers.
Course Objectives
- Express your film idea within the limitations of the screenwriting form and practise the application of dramatic writing techniques
- Evaluate screenwriting in terms of visual storytelling and dramatic tension.
- Communicate your evaluation, including areas of achievement and those requiring further development, in a constructive manner.
Programme details
Course starts Monday 28 September 2026
This is an in-person course which requires your attendance at the weekly meetings in Oxford on Mondays, 7.00-9.00pm.
Week 1: Creating engaging Characters
Week 2: Building an absorbing Structure
Week 3: Intriguing with Genre
Week 4: Evaluate your writing influences through Script Reports
Week 5: Formative Assessment – Script Report Presentations
Week 6: The Screenplay Development Process and Evaluating Ideas
Week 7: The Ethics of Storytelling, and Structure your Story in a Beat Sheet
Week 8: The Script as Foundation in Filmmaking, and Setting up your Story in the first 10 Pages
Week 9: Pitching, and demonstrating a Sense of Adventure in the second 10 Pages
Week 10: Participant pitches and facing a turning point in the third 10 pages
Teaching methods
Regular seminars lead to the application of screenwriting concepts through independent practice. Then we proceed to read student screenplays to discuss achievements and ideas for further development.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have been given the opportunity to have learnt how to:
- write within the limitations of the screenwriting form (e.g. visual storytelling and forward momentum using slugline, scene description, dialogue);
- practise their critical skills, identifying dramatic tension in creative writing as well as areas that may be improved;
- articulate constructive feedback to peers.
Assessment methods
Only those students who have registered for assessment and accreditation, in advance of the course start date, can submit coursework/assignments for assessment.
Assessment
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Mr Carl Schoenfeld
Carl has three decades’ film industry experience as writer, director and producer. He pioneered fresh approaches across filmmaking and education. His award-winning productions with the BBC, Channel4/Film4, BFI, including BAFTA nominated ‘A Sarajevo Diary’ and Ben Whishaw starrer ‘My Brother Tom’, embraced new technology and launched the talent involved. He is a BAFTA voting member and runs workshops for the British Film Institute, Creative Media Sklls at Pinewood Studios and the Online Screenwriting Academy.
Assessment methods
Only those students who have registered for assessment and accreditation, in advance of the course start date, can submit coursework/assignments for assessment.
Level and demands
The Department’s Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, ie first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course fee (with no assessment) | £315.00 |
| Assessment and Accreditation fee | £60.00 |
Module code: O26P478CRW
How to enrol
Please use the ‘Book now’ button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form.
How to register for accreditation and assessment
To be able to submit coursework and to earn credit (CATS points) for this course, if you wish to do so, you will need to register and pay an additional £60 fee. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.
