Screenwriting Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Anemoia, Emily A. Macdonald

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Many girls would kill for the opportunity to make it in the modeling world, but with one foot in the door already, Sloane seems less than thrilled. When the chance arrises to visit the famed Arion Hotel, a training ground for up-and-coming models run by the mysterious photographer Louis Lord, even she cannot pass it up.

However, the hotel does not appear to be all it was promised. Outdated, isolated and nearly empty-- save for a small group of Lord's friends and employees, Sloane finds herself in an unfamiliar and strange world. All this she could bear, but the appearance …

The Corps, Greta Zimmer, Daniel Rogers

Honors Thesis

When a rich, sheltered girl joins a ragtag community service team in Mississippi, she must learn who she is while dealing with her arrogant rival, manipulative boss, and the brutal challenges of serving the unhoused population.

Flm170.1 Storytelling For The Screen: Inheritance [Film] Example 2, Sae University College

Exemplars

FLM170 Project 1 Distinction

Flm170.1 Storytelling For The Screen: A Few Bitter Brews [Film] Example 1, Sae University College

Exemplars

FLM170 Storytelling for the Screen Project 1. Logline: When a recently heartbroken romance author is stricken with writer's block. She attends a speed dating event to conduct character research but is thrown off by a man who she fears could break her heart.

An Analysis Of The Episodic Writing Process, Megan Kanger

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Writing for an episodic series vastly differs from writing for a short film. This essay explores the major differences between writing a short film in contrast to writing an episodic series and how these differences impact the writing process. The essay examines the topic by breaking down my own experience writing an episodic series and the key findings I uncovered throughout that process. I describe my series, Scythe, and the central themes and characters that encompass the series. With a central theme of death, I describe how I worked to establish an emotional tonal balance between drama and humor within …

You're Gonna Lose That Girl, Wilmont True

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

In the feature screenplay, You're Gonna Lose That Girl, by Bill True, fifty-something Jason Kite blames his failed life on getting dumped twenty-five years ago during a slow-dance cover of the iconic Beatles song. Then Paul McCartney, who is actually a wizard of space and time, shows up and sends Jason back in time to the fateful weekend to play wingman to his younger self in order to stop the breakup from happening and, in the process, fix Jason’s life.

Glass House S1:E1 “Sweet Temptations”, Taylor Middleton

Honors Theses

Sweet Temptations tells the story of the Price family navigating their new lives in Cape Huron. Enticed by the opportunity of a new job with great benefits, the Price family moves to Cape Huron, Maine, a small town with mysterious goings-on. While father, Paul, starts work at the factory in town, twins Seth and Samantha start their senior year of high school. Everything in the town is perfect at surface level, the houses are all the same cookie-cutter design with the exception of the different color palettes and furniture styles. The perfect All-American façade comes crashing down when Seth and …

The Rain Over Hanoi: A Personal Project About Screenplay Structure, Story, Representation And Intergenerational Struggle, Joan Moua

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

A good screenplay is first and foremost a good story. Elements of a good story include compelling characters, a theoretical structure, and a well-executed premise. The Rain Over Hanoi is an extremely intimate and personal project about an Asian American expat living in Vietnam. Our protagonist’s journey and coming of age is explored via the interactions she has with her old and new family. Communication through food, symbolism, and cultural exchange are also present throughout the screenplay, utilizing a realistic point of view for the benefit of a full story submersion experience to the reader/viewer. Themes of self-exploration, growing up, …

The Rink, Noura Alavi

LMU Theses and Dissertations

When two elite, female figure skaters are both at a crossroads with their skating performance, they decide to form a same-sex skating pair for a chance to save their careers.

Encore: A Story Of Identity, Austin Copps

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Encore, a feature length screenplay, tells a story of a young man and his search for identity.

Hindsight, Haley Elizabeth Moore

LSU Master's Theses

“Time travel is theoretically impossible, but I wouldn't want to give it up as a plot gimmick.”—Isaac Asimov

“Of all the concepts in Speculative Fiction, Time Travel is probably the one that, over time, has provided us with the most possibilities for storytelling, and therefore the one that has been (clocked as having been) exploited the most.”—TVtropes.org

Hindsight is a one-hour long show with an eight-episode arc per season. It is a story of authenticity and gimmicks, privilege and disadvantage, mediocrity and exceptionalism. These are all pretty big concepts, and yeah, we look at them on a macrocosmic scale, but …

Old Man Young Man Snake, Bradley Hathaway

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A young man in rural and frigid North Dakota is on the run for committing a crime. He finds refuge at a secluded bible camp from a mysterious old man that may or may not have his best interests in mind, and the young man must decide if the old man’s protection is worth the cost. Exploring ideas of free will, God, nature, and visions, Old Man Young Man Snake, a screenplay, quietly tells their story.

A Friend Of Robyn, Megan Fay Raveneau

LMU Theses and Dissertations

An arrogant, but brilliant pediatric psychiatrist accidentally exorcises a demon from a young girl during an experimental procedure – only to discover she wants her demon back.

Slotus, Alison F. Huntley, Michael F.X. Daley

Honors Thesis

When a paranoid, image-obsessed woman becomes Second Lady of the United States, she will protect herself and her family from the (often non-existent) eyes of the press no matter what - despite her three step-children’s protests.

Fantissity, Alexandra N. Dean

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Scrub, Mark T. Williams

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Karmic Buyback: A Pilot Program, Cindy E. Dauer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Karmic Buyback: A Pilot Program, a screenplay, is the story of Oliver Harker, a water resources engineer in his early thirties, adrift in a world of lost social connections. Aside from this work, which he describes as "just a lot of redundant paperwork," his only connection to the outside world is his exuberant younger brother Van. With no father to speak of, and harboring long term resentment against his mother who ran away to Africa the day after Van's high school graduation, Oliver's defining tragic moment came three years earlier. It was then he discovered Eva, the woman he planned …