Sean Lawrence

 Activity Week 2 Assignment 3 - Portfolio Script Assignment 3 Instructions: Submit your Thesis Script or Project as a zipped file to the assignment window. Part of this assignment is to proof your script through Act II or page 60 for typos and garmmar errors. I am sending everyone a copy of the CWMFA Style Guide. Use this in helping you spot errors and correcting them.   Reflection Paper: Also submit a 200-400 word paper reflecting on your progress as a writer in the program so far. ·       Write a half-page summary of your story or project. ·       Tell me two areas or aspects of your Thesis Script or Project you want to further develop. ·       What two questions do you have about your project that you want ask your Professor in Portfolio 2. ·       Due Sunday 11:59 EST Your Thesis Project will vary depending on which format you have chosen. Here ar...

 Activity Week 1 Discussion Board - Group 2 L-Q Discussion Board 1 – Comments on the First Ten Pages Group 2 L-Q Post the first ten pages of your Thesis Script to the discussion board by Wednesday. (Note: We are breaking up into three groups according to your last name: Group 1 (A-K),   Group 2 (L-Q), and Group 3 (R-Z). Please post your pages to the appropriate Discussion Board Section. Your grades, however, will be posted and will appear in the Group 1 section. Then comment on two scripts by Sunday using the following points covered in the Keynote, the reading from Seger, and the produced scripts you have read to guide your discussion (200 word min.). Make at least one specific reference or comparison to the movie you watched. You should discuss at least five of the following questions: 1. Has the writer established the characters? 2. Has the writer established the characters’ world? 3. What does the main character(s) want? Do you care about th...

Assignment 2: Springboards and Premise Goals: Writing for television animation and comics often means coming up with a number of story ideas that you can pitch to story editors and producers. These springboards are usually brief (but longer than a log line) and can be about everything from characters flaws, current ideas and situations, unusual locations, a theme, or an exciting visual. You would usually pitch three ideas (3) and then have several more one or two sentence ideas (sometimes called spitballs) that you can also pitch if your main springboards don’t hit. The goal of this assignment is to generate a number of exciting ideas that are fun, fresh and have potential for conflict, action, humor and the big climatic finish. Then, take one of these ideas and develop it into a one to two page premise. Instructions: Submit three springboards of 25-100 words each and a premise of one to two pages. These springboards must use the characters you developed in the Ch...

Springboards & Premises 1. Watch Keynote: Springboards & Premises 2 . Read Ch. 8 in Wright 3. Read Gene Deitch’s online article “Story—What’s It All About” http://www.awn.com/genedeitch/gene-deitch-how-succeed-animation/part-one-how-you-should-do-it/chapter-7-story-whats-it- 4. Questions to consider: a. How do character flaws lead to springboard ideas? b. How do dramatic images lead to springboard ideas? c. How can you combine striking images and character flaws to create springboards? d. How can focusing on what the main character wants lead to writing a successful premise. e. How can you setup characters and conflict early in your premise so that you foreshadow plot twists and unexpected endings? f. How will envisioning the climax of your story help you write the beginning and middle of your story? How can you use this method to write your premise? 5. Understand the following concepts: a. Springboards are brief half-page idea-driven story ideas...

Assignment Goal: Writing organic, believable dialogue can be one of the most difficult tasks for a writer to master. The goal of this assignment is to help us become better dialogue writers by becoming better listeners. Listening is research! Instructions: 1. Choose an environment that’s accessible to you, to which you haven’t been exposed at all. Perhaps it’s a small town diner where the local women’s club gathers, a clothing store in China Town, your local Laundromat, a dive bar, an exchange or Veteran’s club meeting, or a courthouse. It should be a place you don't normally go. Don’t put yourself in harm’s way, but do take yourself somewhere new. Plan to spend at least an hour there. 2. Listen for interesting and/or specific ways people are speaking. Do they speak differently than you? Is there a specific jargon or shorthand they use? How are different people in the same environment speaking uniquely from one another? Is there an age factor? Gender factor? Doctor/pati...

 Activity ( Due: Sun, 03 Apr | Status: Not Completed ) Assignment 1: Submit General Thesis Portfolio Elements The goal of this assignment is to gather and submit in one folder the General Thesis Portfolio Elements. These are projects from your previous classes. The Elements are listed below. Put these Elements in one folder and in the order they appear in the list. Label each file according to the title as it appears on the list. Next week you will submit your Thesis Script or Project (see Specialization Requirements of the Thesis Portfolio Requirements in the References section of this course). Instructions: Submit General Thesis Portfolio in a zipped file to the assignment window. Due Sunday Week 1 11:59 EST CWMFA:  Final Thesis Portfolio Requirements Your Final Thesis Portfolio is divided into two parts:  General Thesis Portfolio and your Final Thesis Script or Project. General Thesis Portfolio:  Element Checklist Your General Thesis Portfoli...

THE SET-UP First, establish the normal existence and expectations of your Main Character - but only enough to give context and meaning to the Unexpected Change that is about to occur. THE UNEXPECTED CHANGE Next, a single event must occur that upsets your Main Character’s expectations and experience of normal life and launches his or her journey. THE REJECTION - "I DON'T WANT" No one likes or accepts change in the instant it happens! Your Main Character now must exert the least possible effort to restore life to exactly the way it was before. (Ideally occurs in first 10% of total page count.) THE COMMITMENT Your main character eventually accepts that the Unexpected Change is not going to go away and commits to reluctantly struggling through this new life. (Ideally occurs in first 20% of total page count.) THE REVERSAL Halfway through your script, your Main Character must fully embrace the Unexpected Change for purely self-serving reasons. (Ideally occurs...

The Professional Writer’s Library :: “When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.” Desiderius Erasmus ::    Great   writers   are   avid   readers.      Whether   you   prefer   hardbacks,   trade   paperbacks,   e-­‐books,    or   online   reading,   now   is   the   time   to   begin   to   develop   your   personal   Writer’s   Library.             Here   are   books   you   already   own:       Bird   by   Bird,   Anne  ...