Before Humphrey Bogart murmured, “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid” a WRITER penned those words.

We associate iconic moments in film with actors, but we forget: movies begin as words on a page. A script!

Your student may have enjoyed the witty banter between characters in Toy Story or The Princess Bride. Or the epic worldbuilding of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Perhaps they could recite a favorite scene word by word. 

Now, your teens have the chance to build on those movie-watching experiences to create scripts of their own. 

Action! 

Class Overview

Made With You in Mind

At Brave Writer®, we recognize that film is the literature of our century. These are resonant experiences that our children treasure.  

They want to be part of the feast of ideas shared through movies.

Our focus in this class is on screenplays, but budding playwrights are welcome to join, too. All will learn the basic elements of scriptwriting and how it differs from writing novels. 

In this class, we'll explore:

  • The structure and plot progression of popular genres specific to film
  • Character intention and obstacles used to create tension
  • Creating believable characters that are action-driven
  • Dialogue and its rhythm, poetry, and music
  • Using scenes to keep the story in motion

Students won’t submit a complete screenplay (these are far too long for a four-week class), but instead will have the opportunity to work on specific skills using exercises and writing processes to enhance their scriptwriting prowess. 

A wonderful advantage to this class is that your students get to share their work with other passionate writers and fans of film! They will understand and enjoy movies more once they know how they work.

We will give suggestions of movies to watch and published scripts to read as we diagnose them to find what makes them successful. Students will always be given a choice of movies to explore. 

In this class, we watch movie clips that address a wide variety of perspectives and may include time-bound references. Please be aware that you may experience strong reactions to what you watch. By using literature as a teaching tool to foster understanding and growth, we have the opportunity to discuss these evolving ideologies.

We encourage you to consult our list of movie clips to determine their appropriateness for your family and to prepare to have discussions on these topics with your students as they participate in the class. Students are also asked to watch entire films in Weeks One and Two in preparation for writing, but the choice of film is entirely open to the family.

Week by Week

Week One

Students study genres specific to screenplays and analyze how they are structured. Students examine two movies of their choosing this week.

Week Two

Investigation of protagonists, antagonists, and side characters is the focus this week. Students explore character development in a new film-watching session.

Week Three

Students determine how to create concise, compelling dialogue that moves a story forward. 

Week Four

To conclude, students examine how a script is built from the ground up and plan the structure of their own script to work on once class is done.

Registration Details

Join Us!

Tuition:
$239.00 per student
Recommended Ages:

13 - 18

Class Size:
25 students
Class Length:
4 weeks
Class Type:
  • High School

There are currently no upcoming sessions scheduled for this class.

Word on the Street

I was going in blind when I started this class, straight into the world of screenwriting for the very first time. Yet by the end of the course, I now have a complete guideline for everything I need to know to pen one myself, which I intend to print up for future use. 

Priya, 18

For anyone who revels in stories, whether movies, radio-plays or books, this is an excellent class to fine-tune your story-telling and scriptwriting skills.

Emmerson, 17

If you love movies, take this class! It would really impact your understanding of films and scripts. I enjoyed it because of how, for example, I recognize the first ten minutes and how the set the scene for the movie in everything I watch!

Eliza, 13

I never had writer's block in this class (which is something I usually struggle with) because of the amount of fantastic feedback I received. Each time I read the comments on my post, I felt instantly motivated to start writing again!

Emilie, 14

More Information

Sample class login

Want to see how our classroom works? Test drive a sample class complete with real class readings, assignments, and instructor comments!

Follow these instructions:

  1. Navigate to class.bravewriter.com. If you are a current student, you’ll need to log out in the upper right corner before proceeding.
  2. Log in using these credentials:
    Username: [email protected]
    Password: Brave1
  3. Next, you will land on our Family Dashboard. You'll find a Parent icon and a Student icon to represent classes where the parent or the student is the primary participant. Click on Parent to view parent participation classes. To find classes with direct student-instructor interaction, click on Student.
  4. Click on the class name of interest and start reading posts!
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