Screenwriting Commons^™

Misread Before Being Known: Race, Religion, And Institutional Non-Inquiry In Abrogation, Franklin Livingston

Journal of Religion & Film

Institutions often arrive at certainty before they arrive at knowledge. This article names that mechanism institutional non-inquiry — the organizational habit through which visual and cultural assumptions substitute for direct verification, allowing identity classifications to solidify before the subject meaningfully enters the encounter. Unlike prejudice, racialization, or established theories of pre-reflexive social perception, institutional non-inquiry isolates the organizational encounter itself as the specific procedural moment at which collective interpretive habits make inquiry feel unnecessary. Examining Abrogation (2024), a micro-budget American independent feature following Daud Khan, a Brown Pakistani-American infectious disease specialist whose movement through evangelical, civic, and federal institutions repeatedly …

Barrel-Rides And She-Elves: Audience And Anticipation In Peter Jackson’S Hobbit Trilogy [Note], Janet Croft

Faculty Publications

Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, to the audience that loved the Lord of the Rings films, is an exciting opportunity to revisit Tolkien’s fantastic world and see favorite characters acting out their earlier adventures. The reader of the books, though, is often likely to find the difference in tone between the children’s book and the vastly expanded films jarring. This essay will explore audience expectations, the difficulties of filming a “prequel” after a “sequel,” and issues of “anticipation” in relation to character development.

History, Myth, Courage, And Selflessness: Kate Shelley And The Bridge Of Darkness, Stephen M. Jennings

All Theses

This thesis documents the research, creative development, and production of the animated short film Kate Shelley and the Bridge of Darkness. The project is inspired by the historical account of Kate Shelley, a fifteen-year-old girl who in 1881 crossed a railroad bridge during a violent storm near Moingona, Iowa, to warn a nearby train station of a catastrophic bridge collapse. Over time, Shelley’s actions became both a documented historical event and a subject of mythologized retellings in American cultural memory. The film explores this tension between history and legend through an interpretation that balances historical research with cinematic storytelling. The …

Immersive Attraction Design Using Real Time Virtual Production Techniques: A South Carolinian Ghost-Lore Dark Ride, Gabrielle M. Delo

All Theses

The role of themed entertainment can serve as a tool for cultural enrichment by integrating regional folklore into attraction design, using South Carolina’s “Gray Man” legend as the narrative foundation for a proposed dark ride. This project highlights how attractions can introduce wider audiences to lesser-known folktales while fostering appreciation for regional identity. It also examines the use of real-time virtual production, specifically using Unreal Engine 5.5, as a unified platform for previsualizing narrative-driven environments, enabling efficient iteration and integration of both physical and digital storytelling elements. This project positions game engine technology as a means of preserving and communicating …

"Everyone Leaves Me Behind”: How Harmful Tropes In Fiction Impact Autistic Women, Sara E. Allard

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Until now, females with ASD have been ignored by healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the general public. The unique presentation of autistic women and girls is now in the cultural spotlight within not just the advocacy and scientific community, but also the arts. Female autistic characters are getting increased representation across literature and television, yet their narratives are still often stuck in the past. Most authors and screenwriters have yet to understand the specific struggles that female autistics face compared to their male counterparts, relying on the outdated, reductive perceptions that have plagued them for decades.

This article outlines three harmful …

Finding A Way Out Of The Filter Bubble: The Confusion Of A Heavy Social Media User, Longwen Miao

Masters Theses

This thesis studies how algorithmic recommendation systems reshape visual perception, aesthetic judgment, and the construction of selfhood within contemporary digital culture.

Everything begins with the experience of repeatedly encountering algorithmically recommended content on everyday digital platforms. On these platforms, images, sounds, and social interactions are continuously selected, repeated, and reorganized by predictive systems, forming an environment in which perception is constantly structured and adjusted.

From this observation, the research raises two central questions: how do algorithmic recommendation systems reshape visual perception, aesthetic judgment, and self-recognition, and how might these systems be intervened in or made perceptible through artistic practice? Within …

Welcome Tilly Norwood: Forecasting Hollywood’S Ai Policy Futures, Samuel P. Rooker

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

In late 2025, weekly trade publication Variety Magazine reported on the announcement of a new acting talent in Hollywood: Tilly Norwood. Norwood is an industry outsider and the pet project of Eline Van der Velden, who unveiled the actress’ existence to the world at the Zurich Film Festival. The announcement quickly gained media coverage while Van der Velden has since faced cyclical backlash from Hollywood trade unions, which does not seem entirely without reason. Tilly Norwood is a digital persona, a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) program, designed by Van der Velden’s novel AI talent studio, Xicoia, to become the next …

The Purpose Of Life: An Analysis Of The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty As A Cinematic Guide To Eudaimonia, Eric W. Stroud

The Confluence

This paper examines the moral formation of the protagonist of the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) through the framework of Aristotelian virtue ethics. Though extensive research has been conducted on the use of film as a vehicle for moral education and a tool for ethics pedagogy, there exists a demonstrable gap in research which applies the principles of virtue ethics to character analysis in film. This paper presents a scene-based, qualitative analysis comparing the actions of the main character to the model of habituation of virtue as presented in The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. In observing the …

A Puff's Exploration Of Wayne Hopkins, Ethan G. Mullen, Leon Wiebers

Honors Thesis

This thesis is a synthesis of modalities I have studied during the course of my Theatre Arts degree, applied to the realization of the principal character, Wayne Hopkins in the award-winning play Puffs (Or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic) a LMU Theatre Arts Department production. This work is divided into three major sections. First, I reflect on how I applied acting tools I have studied at LMU to the development of my character and performance. These include script analysis, story structure analysis, breath work, and Viewpoints training. Second, I share media displaying my …

Caladrius: Creating A Playable Game Via A Multimedia Experience, Isabelle Morgan Brookshire

Whittier Scholars Program

Caladrius: Creating a Playable Game via a Multimedia Experience hones in on making an experience through different forms of media to represent a game. If this project was fully funded and done, it would be a video game on Steam with an art exhibition, small poetry book, and novel accompanied with it. It would even have a show, a soundtrack, and merch. But at this level, it was to make an experience for my audience that they could experience whether or not they enjoyed video games as a concept. I wanted them to enjoy 'playing' within a physical exhibition and …

Dungeons & Dragons 5e En El Aula De Comunicación Audiovisual: Propuesta De Adaptación Pedagógica, Antonio Roda Martínez

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

Este artículo explora el proceso de adaptar Dungeons & Dragons Quinta edición versión 2024 a un contexto educativo dentro de sesiones únicas de menos de dos horas. Pese a que D&D es ampliamente reconocido como referente cultural y uno de los juegos de rol más influyentes, su complejo sistema de reglas y diseño para campañas de larga duración dificultan su implementación en contextos educativos formales con limitaciones temporales. Para abordar este desafío, se rediseñó la sesión para condensar las experiencias fundamentales del juego de rol de mesa—creación de personajes, interpretación, combate, construcción de mundo e investigación—en un formato breve y …

Student Film Fest 2026 Playbill, Providence College Department Of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Playbill and Promotions

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

John Bowab Studio Theatre, Smith Center for the Arts

Student Film Fest 2026

April 30, 2026, 7PM

Festival Director, Ben Sweeney

Department Chair, Megan Chang

Production Manager, Anne Harrigan

Technical Director, Trevor Elliott

Assistant Technical Director, Gabriel Luxton

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS:

Rev. Kenneth Gumbert, O.P.

COMPETING FILMS

Luca DeLucia ‘28, Check, 11:29

Anthony Maldonado ‘27, The Allegory of the Cave, 9:35

Margaret Doyle ‘26, End of Beginning, 8:43

Ryan James Tobin ‘26, When One Door Closes, 9:46

Rowan Locascio - McLaughlin ‘26, The Limit, 13:27

Isabella Feher ‘26, Fearless …

Student Film Fest 2026 Poster, Providence College Department Of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Playbill and Promotions

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

John Bowab Studio Theatre, Smith Center for the Arts

Student Film Fest 2026

April 30, 2026, 7PM

Framing The Heart: A Director Of Photography’S Role In Crafting Cinematic Emotion, Mitchell D. Partlow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will explain the process of being the Director of Photography on the film Echoes from the Dock by Bella-Jace Moreno. I will discuss my process during Pre-Production, Principal Photography (Production,) and Post-Production, and walk you through the process of being the Director of Photography on a feature length production. Echoes from the Dock was one of the hardest tasks I have taken on, but through trials and tribulations, it is not about the journey, but the product. Pushing me to my creative limit, here is my journey through the Director of Photography’s Making of Echoes from the Dock …

The Eye: A Science-Fiction Screenplay Examining Space-Time, Meteorology, And Human Connection, Ella K. Lukowiak

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the nature of time, meteorology, and human interconnection to the universe through the lens of a science-fiction screenplay. The creative project spans a three-act, detailed outline, and a screenplay draft of Act I. It is based upon extensive scientific research regarding hurricane development, the inner workings of organizations such as the National Weather Service, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and the space-time continuum. I will delve into the various factors that shaped my science-fiction premise, including pivotal films such as Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR (2014) and Denis Villeneuve’s ARRIVAL (2016). Both of these filmmakers integrated complex science-fiction concepts into …

Generative Ai/Machine Learning In The Screen Production Classroom And The Implications For Tertiary Educators., James Thompson, Kereen Ely-Harper, Tom Young, Rachel Wilson, Nico Meissner

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This report explores how screen production educators in the ASPERA community are responding to the rapid integration of generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) in teaching and learning. Framed by Sean Cubitt’s (2020) notion of Common Intelligence, we investigate two guiding questions: How are students engaging with genAI tools in their productions, and what are the implications for educators? Methodologically, we engaged in qualitative professional dialogue with screen practice educators through three mechanisms during the 2024 ASPERA Conference: lightning provocations, an anonymous Mentimeter survey, and a facilitated roundtable discussion. These activities provided a collaborative forum for educators to share practice-based insights, reflect …

Where We Go When Reality Hurts: The Comfort Of Story, Margaret Nebens

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Nonesuch Road, Allie Goolrick

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Ambitious TV news producer Lex is killing the game at work but on the brink of failing when it comes to parenting her 6-year-old son, Sawyer. Her life in a high-pressure newsroom—defined by urgency, metrics, and relentless tragedy—has made her forget what is really important in her real life.

A bad call that puts her son directly in the path of some serious gun violence forces her to take a professional break and retreat to her family’s farm in Virginia to regroup. There, she reconnects with her no-nonsense Aunt Mel and a cast of characters from the past and is …

Pathos, Winter 2026, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Adriana Stanzione

Fly The Coop - Pilot Script And Bible, Allison Righter Moore

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Fly the Coop is a children's cartoon about a young teenage girl, Robin, who gets caught in a storm while in a hot air balloon alongside her father. She finds herself teleported to a foreign land called Perch which is inhabited by humanoid bird-people called avains, Robin herself being transformed into one. She enters the small town of Roost Rest where she meets and befriends a trio of orphans. Goldie, a canary who wishes to be theater star, Rudite, a burrowing owl who strives to be the most intelligent bird around, and Pebb, a penguin wisecracker always trying to earn …