Screenwriting Lessons for Beginners
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Writing is no easy task at all. You need to create a whole base for your readers to imagine the story that you want to build for themselves. Similarly, writing for the screen is even difficult as you are not leaving the details to a reader's imagination but have to build a proper storyline, character base, and scripts for them to turn your writing into something that is appreciated by the viewers.
You need to create a whole movie, just with your pen. Writing is the foundation on which any movie stands and a lousy storyline may cause the movie to flop, no matter how good the cast or direction is.
That is why it is important for you to learn how to write for a movie properly if you are looking to pursue a career in the field. You cannot just rely on your good writing skills as you can have the best vocabulary in the world or some top writing skills but they are of no use if you don't know how to write for screen properly.
Multiple universities, educational institutions, studios, and writers are offering you a chance to learn from them to write for movies but that would mean you need to invest some bucks and time as well. For those who lack the time and resources, there are some lessons offered by top websites to learn screenwriting.
10 Best Screenwriting Lessons for Beginners Review
1) MasterClass: Aaron Sorkin Teaches Screenwriting
The MasterClass is offering you a unique and one in a lifetime opportunity to learn screenwriting from the Academy Award-winner Aaron Sorkin. This course is comprised of 35 video lessons spanning over 8 hours that are enough to start you from the beginning and move you all the way up to a screenwriter who can write a script that sells. All you are going to need is your creative imagination that would make it work and the rest is covered with this course.
From intention & obstacles to some cool story ideas, you are going to find everything in the course. There are some elaborative guides on how you can develop a character, conduct your research, incorporate that research into your writing, and more.
You will also get to learn the rules of story writing, some habits to make your writing routine perfect, and everything that you require to make it work. Upon completion of this course, you will be able to write dialogues, stories, character development, and a complete script that would capture the attention of the audience.
2) MasterClass: Shonda Rhimes Teaches Writing for Television
Writing for TV is a lot more different than writing for the screen, and that is explained well in this course by Shonda Rhimes. She is known for Grey’s Anatomy, one of the most popular series over the TV that has bagged several awards and records so far.
In this course, Shonda Rhimes prepare you to write something for TV in a unique and definitive manner. You are not just going to follow some instructions but teach yourself how you can make it happen and write for the TV.
The course has around 30 video lessons that have a complete guide that you are going to need to write for the TV. The course contains guidance on how you can brush up your creativity and find the right idea, developing that idea into a concept, and research your story based on that idea.
Further, you will also get to learn how you can create some characters that are going to be remembered. From gathering the right material through research, putting it into words, and pitching your show, everything that you can need to start your career as a writer for TV is available in this course.
3) MasterClass: David Mamet Teaches Dramatic Writing
Theatre writing is a whole another thing for the writers and most writers are not as good at it as you might believe. That is why David Mamet, the Pulitzer Prize-Winner and writer of Glengarry Glen Ross is sharing some insight on his successful career in writing for the theatre.
The course allows you to use your creativity to write something truly mesmerizing that would leave a deep impact on the audience. You will learn all that you need to know about drama and how to write it properly. Including the purpose of drama, Dramatic rules, story Ideas, Character development, and plot writing, this course is a complete guide for the beginners.
With 26 Video lessons, you are going to go on a roller coaster ride of concepts, rules, imagination, creativity, and how you can put that all into words. The lessons in this course are structurally designed to help you step-by-step through your learning journey so you can make the best out of it.
4) Udemy: Write Like Jurassic World
Jurassic World is a marvel of Silver Screen. This is one of the most legendary movies that will be remembered till the end of times and movies like that are not just about the animations. There is a strong storyline that makes any movie hit and not only hit but the audience's favorite. It takes some serious skills to write movies like the Jurassic world and this course is offering you the opportunity to learn those skills.
With the help of this course, designed by Ryan Estabrooks, you are going to learn those cool methods used by writers of the Jurassic world and use them in your own words with your creativity to write movies like that.
The course has elaborative insight on Themes of the Jurassic world and how they have shaped the movie. This is a cool course for any beginner who would like to test the waters for writing and try with some cool movie tricks. This course gives you a fair idea of how things are done, and how you can do them your way.
5) Udemy: Screenwriting & Storytelling Blueprint: Hero’s Two Journeys
Filmmaking is about storytelling. The better story you have, the better film you can make. But the trouble starts when you need to write and that is what you are going to learn with this course. The course is created by IFH courses and Michael Hauge. It sheds some light on essential elements that you need to have to write stories for films, television. You can also learn to write fiction screenplays with the help of this course.
In this 6.5-hour course, you will be learning how to have both commercial and artistic success and make a successful career out of it. You will maximize the potential to have an audience attracted to the films that you are writing You will also learn 5 essential turning points for any screenplay or novel, so you can write a perfect story that would make a film hit.
6) Udemy: Screenwriting 101: Writing for Film & Television
The course is all about basic 4 skills that can make your career successful. You need to learn how you can write a screenplay, then you need to get an agent to sell that screenplay, and selling that screenplay makes you a professional screenwriter with a successful career ahead of you.
Sounds simple enough, right? But in this course, you are going to learn how you can make this happen, and the small steps that you need to take to become a professional screenwriter. You need to have a creative mind and ready to explore the depths of it before starting this course.
Created by David Titcher, of UCLA film school, you will learn all scopes and experience levels of screenwriting with a strong foundation on all the aspects. This course takes you on a journey of your own imagination that you essentially need to write effectively for a screenplay and sell it in the right manner for your audience to love it.
7) Udemy: Screenwriting 101: Learn from Working Hollywood Writers
This is the best course that you can get your hands-on. The course contains over 37-hours of on-demand video that is basically comprising of in-depth interviews with the screenwriters of Hollywood. You will get a chance to have all your questions answered by Screenwriting legends. There are Oscar winners that have shared their years of experience and some cool tips that you can use to make your writing for screen stand out.
You will learn what it takes to write a blockbuster film and all the elements that are not seen by common people that are imminent for success. You will also learn to navigate Hollywood and some essential business tips that would help you grow your career as a professional screenwriter for Hollywood that is currently flooded with the competition.
This is a truly unmatched course with insight on these writers are work habits, failure stories, secrets of the trade, the methods they use, and business advice that would come in handy for you when you are out there in the field.
8) Udemy: Screenwriting Masterclass: How to write Fascinating Scenes
No Screenplay is good enough without some strong scenes, and this course explains to you the right importance of writing some fascinating scenes that would capture the attention of the audience and keep them charmed even after the film has ended.
This is an instructor-led online course through screenwriter's university that is an IFH course. Created by Karl Iglesias, you will learn how to improve your screenwriting skills through each scene and make them count towards a marvelous film.
You will learn the craft of scene writing and the stronger scenes you are writing, the more chance you are going to have over a successful script. From crafting some basic dramatic scenes to learning those effective techniques to make each scene more compelling, whatever you need is in this course. The course also sheds some light on some most common scene writing problems and mistakes and how you can avoid them.
9) Coursera: Script Writing: Write a Pilot Episode for a TV or Web Series (Project-Centered Course)
While you can find tons of courses out there that can help you with all the concepts and theories to write. This course is totally different. Being a project-centered course, you will learn how you can write a pilot episode for any TV or Web Series. This includes preparing everything from the plot to a storyline that can be extended and characters.
You will get a chance to have all the insight into these factors and make them work. A pilot is the most important part of any TV or Web Series as it lays the foundation that can be grown into something magnificent, so you are going to have a chance to learn the best part.
Being offered by Michigan State University, the course is specifically designed to facilitate online learning. There is just an hour or two for the study and you are going to spend 30+ hours working on the active project that would allow you to have the practical experience that would make you confident in your skills. Students are loving this course, as they are actually working on something creative rather than playing around with concepts and theories.
10) FutureLearn: An Introduction to Screenwriting
Like all the other courses on FutureLearn.com, this course is also designed by a popular university out there. Created by the University of East Anglia for online education, this course allows you to explore the basic concepts and fundamental principles that are involved in the process of screenwriting. This is a complete and elaborative course that can get you started on Screenwriting fairly quickly.
This course is a must-have for anyone who is new to script and screenwriting and wishes to take their writing to a professional level. You will learn the common vocabulary, and some scenes writing examples ranging from drama, Crime Screenplay, and tons of other genres.
Choosing the Best Screenwriting Lessons for Beginners
Screenwriting is no joke at all. It is a serious and professional career that would take you to places if done right. However, the smallest of mistakes can shatter your career and all your dreams along with it. You need to learn screenwriting in a proper manner if you are willing to step-in to the field. These courses can help you learn what you desire. You just have to choose the best course according to your preference.