Scriptwriting Workshop 4: The Television Drama (The 60 Minute Script)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Daragh Carville
• Assessment: a 60-page, 60-minute industry-formatted script (100%)

Following on from Scriptwriting 1, we employ lectures, workshops and study current one-hour TV dramas to help you create and develop an original 60-minute drama series or serial for television. You will be supervised by experienced television writers, with two guest visits from script editors/producers from the industry to hear and respond to your pitches and to consider the final work.

You will have the opportunity to hone your writing skills and interact regularly with fellow writers, developing your skills of self-evaluation and constructive analysis of the work of others. You will consolidate your learning through lecturer/peer feedback and further your skills in editing and revising your own writing. You will develop an awareness of the industry-standard expectations of your dramatic work and how to pitch it at the one-hour series and serial drama market.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate awareness and control of the standard television drama form
• discuss and evaluate the work of fellow students’ and broadcast dramas in relation to elements of craft
• interpret, self-evaluate and communicate constructive feedback
• maintain a regular writing habit and produce more effective creative work independently
• understand sources of inspiration and creativity
• use language and dramatic technique more confidently, precisely and imaginatively
• experiment with style and form
• display confidence and fluency in your own writing
• solve craft-related problems in your screenwriting
• practise redrafting and editing
• sustain and evaluate a work-in-progress
• demonstrate an awareness of the industry-standard expectations for the presentation and pitching of television drama.
• demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of television writing and the market thereof
• think critically and independently about creative works you have written and read
• edit and revise, and apply technique and critical analysis to the development of a piece of television drama
• present ideas and arguments in a variety of modes: visually, orally, verbally, reflectively, in practice, in groups, in writing
• work more efficiently and constructively within a group to critique work
• participate in workshop or small group discussion by listening and contributing ideas
• complete a 60-minute television drama.