Together as a group we explore how screenwriters use characterisation, structure and genre in case studies and through participants' live projects. This way, emerging writers learn about the variety of traditions, agendas and expectations that their immediate collaborators (including development executives, agents, producers and directors) bring to a film idea.
Screenwriting: Getting Started with Your First Draft
Overview
Programme details
Course starts Monday 29 September 2025
This is an in-person course which requires your attendance at the weekly meetings in Oxford on Mondays, 7-9pm.
Week 1: Creating engaging Characters
Week 2: Building an absorbing Structure
Week 3: Intriguing with Genre
Week 4: Evaluate your writing influences through Script Reports
Week 5: Formative Assessment - Script Report Presentations
Week 6: The Screenplay Development Process and Evaluating Ideas
Week 7: The Ethics of Storytelling, and Structure your Story in a Beat Sheet
Week 8: The script as Foundation in Filmmaking, and Setting up your Story in the first 10 Pages
Week 9: Pitching, and demonstrating a Sense of Adventure in the second 10 Pages
Week 10: Summative assessment: Participant Pitches (optional), and facing a turning point in the third 10 pages
Recommended reading
Recommended reading is optional and you are not required to purchase these books to study this course.
Optional recommended reading list (pdf).
Library facilities
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Library, part of the Bodleian Libraries, for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are also welcome to use the Library for reference.
- More information about the Library can be found on the Bodleian Libraries website.
- This guide for Weekly Class students also provides further information.
Certification
Academic credit
Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme (CATS Points)
Please note, students who do not register for assessment and accreditation during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun. If you wish to gain credit from completing this course you must register to do so before the course starts.
Only those who have registered for assessment and accreditation will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard. Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.
Learn more about the Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee for assessment and accreditation.
Digital certificate of completion
Students who are registered for assessment and accreditation and pass their final assignment will also be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Information on how to access the digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course attended. You will be able to download the certificate and share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course fee (with no assessment) | £300.00 |
| Assessment and Accreditation fee | £60.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. See details of our concessionary fees for short courses.
Tutor
Mr Carl Schoenfeld
Carl has three decades’ film industry experience as writer, director and producer. He pioneered fresh approaches across filmmaking and education. His award-winning productions with the BBC, Channel4/Film4, BFI, including BAFTA nominated 'A Sarajevo Diary' and Ben Whishaw starrer 'My Brother Tom', embraced new technology and launched the talent involved. He is a BAFTA voting member and runs training courses for the British Film Institute, Screen Ireland and the Online Screenwriting Academy.
Course aims
This course enables emerging screenwriters to start a first draft of their feature film screenplay, communicate the project's aims as a work in progress, and build on guidance from their tutor and peers.
- Express your film idea within the limitations of the screenwriting form and practise the application of dramatic writing techniques.
- Evaluate screenwriting in terms visual and dramatic achievements.
- Communicate your evaluation, including areas of achievement and those requiring further development, in a constructive manner.
Teaching methods
Regular seminars lead to the application of screenwriting concepts through independent practice, then we proceed to read student work to discuss achievements and ideas for further development.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will have been given the opportunity to have learnt how to:
- be able to write within the limitations of the screenwriting form (e.g. slugline, scene description, dialogue);
- practise their critical skills, identifying dramatic achievements in creative writing as well as areas that may be improved;
- articulate constructive feedback to peers.
Assessment methods
Only those students who have registered for assessment and accreditation, in advance of the course start date, can submit coursework/assignments for assessment.
Assessment
You will be set two pieces of work for this course. The formative assessment is due halfway through the course and while this does not count towards your final outcome, preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for the summative assessment due at the end of the course.
Based on your creative writing project, industry observation and feedback received, you will be required to submit:
- Formative assessment: 5 minute presentation
- Summative assessment: 1,500 word self-selected screenplay fragment and reflection on learning.
Application
How to enrol
Please use the 'Book now' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form.
How to register for accreditation and assessment
To be able to submit coursework and to earn credit (CATS points) for this course, if you wish to do so, you will need to register and pay an additional £60 fee. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.
Level and demands
The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, ie first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.