{"id":74,"date":"2021-11-01T21:48:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T21:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/?page_id=74"},"modified":"2021-11-22T01:43:15","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T01:43:15","slug":"basic-dramatic-writing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/foundations\/basic-dramatic-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic Dramatic Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I took Dr. Bray\u2019s Basic Dramatic Writing class the first semester of my sophomore year. I couldn\u2019t yet join Grady College and get access to the screenwriting courses hosted there, and so I saw this class as an opportunity to get started early. This class was thus my initiation into the field of scriptwriting, and it was where I first learned how to write for a visual medium. Throughout this class, the biggest challenge was learning how to communicate information naturally without a reliance on narration and within the limitations of theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15 Dollars and a Sub-sandwich <\/em>was the final project for that class. Our task was to write a ten-minute play. I decided to write about an experience that was common in Athens – an encounter with somebody asking for money. I hoped to generate a conversation about why people feel discomfort about giving money in these situations. My goal was to be as fair as possible, while also satisfying the basics of narrative progression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the small scale of this premise, I found that I was a little overambitious. I wanted to treat this issue with a nuance and care, and I\u2019m not sure I was able to accomplish that in just 10 minutes. I was pleased to find that I could create a sense of escalation and climax through dialogue, but I had trouble writing actions in this scenario. I enjoyed how I could toy with the dialogue, with the various interruptions and character quirks. When I needed help, I found saying the script aloud did wonders for identifying any awkward points in the script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This assignment opened my eyes to how difficult scripting could be. Writing this was not a fast process, and I needed to consistently visualize how characters moved in limited space. I also became aware of how important research is. I had initially based this script off of assumptions that I had been raised with, which ultimately made it a hollow, condescending experience. When I revised this script, I took more care to look into how Athens treated its homeless population and the conditions that contributed to homelessness. I adjusted the focus of the script to be on the conditions and stigma that have driven these two characters into conflict, which I felt led to a more substantive piece. I was fortunate to have learned from this mistake while in college, and, going forward, I was more cautious when writing about subject matter like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15 Dollars and a Sub-Sandwich<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took Dr. Bray\u2019s Basic Dramatic Writing class the first semester of my sophomore year. I couldn\u2019t yet join Grady College and get access to the screenwriting courses hosted there, and so I saw this class as an opportunity to get started early. This class was thus my initiation into the field of scriptwriting, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4002,"featured_media":0,"parent":60,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-74","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post-preview"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/wcp-colinbergen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}