Writing Drama

What makes a Drama a Drama?

The beginning, should tell the audience or reader what took place before the story leads into the present action. The middle carries the action forward, amid trouble and Click to edit Master the style complications. In subtitleend, the conflict is resolved, and the story comes to a satisfactory, but not necessarily a happy conclusion. It should be filled with characters whom real people admire and envy. The plots must be 4/30/12 with action. It should penetrate both the filled

Writing Drama
Drama consists of PLOT and CHARACTER

Plot is a literary term defined as the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a pattern, in a Click to edit Master subtitle style sequence, through cause and effect, or by coincidence. A Character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art.
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Writing Drama
PLOT

Aristotle considered plot to be the most important element of drama; even more important than character. A plot must have a beginning, a middle, and an Click the events of the end, and to edit Master subtitle style plot must causally relate to one another as being either necessary, or probable. For Aristotle, a plot has two main parts: it tells of a change in fortune that happens to a character. The only kinds of change, he says, are from good fortune to bad, or4/30/12 to good. bad

Writing Drama
CHARACTER

According to E. M. Forster, there are two basic types of characters : flat characters and round characters. Flat characters are two-dimensional, in that Click to edit Master subtitle style they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work. By contrast, round characters are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.
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Writing Drama
Clim n Fa io ax t ac llin ac tio g g in n is R Expositi on Click to edit Master subtitle style Inciting Resoluti incident on Denoueme nt

Dramatic structure is the structure of a dramatic work such as a play or film. Many scholars have analyzed dramatic structure, beginning with Aristotle in his Poetics. This is dramatic structure by Gustav Freytag's analysis of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama. 4/30/12

Writing Drama
The Three-act Paradigm:

Click to edit Master subtitle style Act One Act Two

Act Three

Dramatic structure is the foundation of screenwriting. The word itself means "to build, or put together," and understanding how it works is essential to the craft of screenwriting. Simply put, structure holds the story together; there is a beginning, middle and end, (not necessarily in that order), and a point at which the beginning turns into the middle, and the middle turns into the end. That point is called a Plot 4/30/12 Point. It is any incident, episode or event that hooks

Writing Drama
1 - Log-line OR Premiseline A logline is a one-sentence summary of your script. It's the short blurb in TV guides that tells

you what a movie is about and helps you decide if you're interested in seeing it. It's the grabber that excites your interest. Your logline answers the question: What is your story about? Your friends and others probably ask you this question when you tell them you're writing a screenplay or that you've already written one. You need to be able to state the main concept of your story in one concise sentence. You must learn to express the story concept in one powerful sentence if you want an agent or producer toClickyouredit Master subtitle style read to screenplay, For that reason, your logline is also step number one of planning your screenplay. Before you even begin to write, you must write down this one key sentencethe logline. Keep it in front of you while you write your script. It will keep you focused on the story when you stray. So, there are two main reasons why you need a logline: 1. A logline keeps you focused as you write. 2. You need a logline to sell your screenplay. 4/30/12

Writing Drama
2 - Log-line OR Premiseline

How does a logline help you sell your screenplay? When your screenplay is ready to sell, your query letter to agents, producers, and directors must contain a logline. Sometimes, they don't read past the logline. So, if you don't grab them with your logline, you won't have any chance of getting them to read your entire screenplay. If you speak to a producer, director, or agent, that person will ask you: "What is your script about?" You will have 30 seconds to describe the plot in a captivating way.
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Writing Drama
3 - Log-line OR Premiseline

How do you write a logline that will interest a producer, director, or agent? Your logline will usually start out as more than one sentence. It may even be far too long and complicated. That's okay. Leave it alone for a day or two. Then go back, look at it, take a pencil and cross out all the words that don't contribute to the main action or the heart of your story. Soon, you will have pared your logline Click to edit Master subtitle style down to one sentence that captures the essence of your story.

Read it to your friends, your family, fellow writers. Find out if they're intrigued by the logline and want to know more. Getting feedback from others is important. It tells you if you're on track or if you have to go back and rewrite.
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Writing Drama
4- Log-line OR Premiseline Young lovers defying their feuding families is not unique. But, putting the lovers in a ghetto setting and adding the element of tragedy to their escape plan gives the story an interesting twist. It's Romeo and Juliet in a ghetto, a setting that helps add conflict to the story. Dull logline: A woman confronts her past when her illegitimate daughter shows up after twenty years. IntriguingClick to edit Master subtitle style her long-buried past when her logline: A minister's wife confronts illegitimate daughter shows up after twenty years. An illegitimate daughter showing up after twenty years is not an unusual plot. But, the fact that the main character is a minister's wife implies conflict, morality vs. immorality, and deception. Defining the woman's past as "long-buried" peaks interest. These logline examples all have a hook, something that can stimulate serious interest. They mTake a statement about the 4/30/12 central problem that will be resolved by the character(s), and they

Writing Drama
5 - Log-line OR Premiseline

A well-constructed logline answers three key questions:

Who is the main character and what does he/she want?Master subtitle style Click to edit Who (villain) or what is standing in the way of the main character? What makes this story unique?

EXAMPLE Logline: Two brothers fight on opposite sides in 4/30/12

Writing Drama
6 - Log-line OR Premiseline

Who is the main character and what does he/she want? In this logline, one or both brothers could be main characters. Both brothers are fighting a war they believe in for different reasons, and each wants to win. 2. Who (villain) or what is standing in the way of the Click to edit Master subtitle style main character(s)? The Civil War itself is the obstacle the brothers must overcome because they have chosen opposite sides. 3. What makes this story unique? The twist comes when the two brothers face each other on a battlefield. An enormous conflict is implied. Would one 4/30/12 brother kill the other for a cause he believes
1.

Writing Drama
7 - Log-line OR Premiseline

ACTIVITY Create loglines for the following popular films:

1.

Jaws

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2.

Raiders of the Lost Ark Deewar Lagaan Rang De Basanti

3.

4.

5.

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