Subject Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Course description
This workshop course introduces students to the art and craft of writing for television. We're living in the midst of the (second) Golden Age of Television. More and more Americans are turning away from the traditional movie theater experience and embracing long form, character driven, small screen stories. In the film world, directors are king, but in television, the writers reign. It is their vision that gets put on the screen. Throughout the course, each student will workshop and develop a thirty minute pilot script and Show Bible, as well as read and analyze contemporary pilot scripts to see what exactly makes a pilot.
[Source: ORC/Catalog, 04/30/2024]; Dist:ART
In the Library's collections
You can use one of these subject headings to start your research in the library's online catalog:
- television authorshipBooks about television authorship are shelved in PN 1992.7 or PN 1996 on Baker Level 4.
- television plays techniqueBooks on this subject are in the call number range PN 1996 on Baker Level 4.
Introductory reading(s)
The calling card script: a writer's toolbox for screen, stage and radio by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781408110171The calling card script is the script that expresses your voice, gets you noticed and helps you reach commission and production. Written by Paul Ashton and born out of his wide experience of reading scripts, working with writers, and as an industry 'gatekeeper', this is a guide to the key writing tools you need to know and understand to write a truly original script. ...
Essentials of screenwriting: the art, craft, and business of film and television writing by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780452296275Publication Date: Updated ed.Hollywood's premier teacher of screenwriting shares the secrets of writing and selling successful screenplays. Anyone fortunate enough to win a seat in Professor Richard Walter's legendary class at UCLA film school can be confident their career has just taken a quantum leap forward. His students have written more than ten projects for Steven Spielberg alone, plus hundreds of other Hollywood blockbusters and prestigious indie productions, including two recent Oscar winners for best original screenplay-Milk (2008) and Sideways (2006). In this updated edition, Walter integrates his highly coveted lessons and principles from Screenwriting with material from his companion text, The Whole Picture, and includes new advice on how to turn a raw idea into a great movie or TV script-and sell it. ...
The screenwriter's bible: a complete guide to writing, formatting, and selling your script by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1996 .T76 2019ISBN: 9781935247210Publication Date: 7th ed.This 7th edition marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most popular, authoritative, and useful books on screenwriting. Always up-to-date and reliable, it contains everything that both the budding and working screenwriter need under one cover -- five books in one! ...
Selected book title(s)
Complex tv: the poetics of contemporary television storytelling by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1992.7 .M58 2015ISBN: 9780814769607Over the past two decades, new technologies, changing viewer practices, and the proliferation of genres and channels has transformed American television. One of the most notable impacts of these shifts is the emergence of highly complex and elaborate forms of serial narrative, resulting in a robust period of formal experimentation and risky programming rarely seen in a medium that is typically viewed as formulaic and convention bound. Complex TV offers a sustained analysis of the poetics of television narrative, focusing on how storytelling has changed in recent years and how viewers make sense of these innovations. Through close analyses of key programs, including The Wire, Lost, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Veronica Mars, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Mad Men the book traces the emergence of this narrative mode, focusing on issues such as viewer comprehension, transmedia storytelling, serial authorship, character change, and cultural evaluation. ...
Created by--: inside the minds of TV's top show creators by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1992.7 .P75 2005ISBN: 9781879505827As entertaining as it is enlightening, Created By presents a stellar cast of 21 show creators who candidly talk about writing and selling hit television series: J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost); Alan Ball (Six Feet Under); Yvette Lee Bowser (Living Single, Half & Half); Mark Brazill (That '70s Show); Ilene Chaiken (The L Word); Larry David (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm); Tom Fontana (Oz); Tracy Gamble (8 Simple Rules); Dave Hackel (Becker); Barbara Hall (Joan of Arcadia); Brenda Hampton (7th Heaven, Fat Actress); ... They discuss influences: writing spec scripts; first jobs in TV; getting an agent; mentors; being staffed as a writer; the pitch; writing a pilot; putting yourself in the characters you create; rewriting; producing a pilot; marketing; hiring a writing staff; making a show last; TV writing vs. film writing; drama vs. sitcom; cable vs. network TV; what show creators look for in a writer; writers block; luck and much more. ...
Inside the TV writer's room: practical advice for succeeding in television by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780815632412Aspiring writers often ask how they can break into the television writing business. Meyers believes that the answer can be found by asking why people become television writers and what makes them successful. Inside the TV Writer's Room reveals these insights and much more. This volume, a collection of interviews with some of today's top episodic writers arranged in a round table format, explores the artists' drive to express how they honed their creativity, and what compromises they have made to pursue their craft both before and after finding success. ...
Writing Hollywood: the work and professional culture of television writers by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1992.7 .P48 2018ISBN: 9781138229822Writing Hollywood highlights the writing process in the production of television drama and comedy series in the U.S. The way writers do their jobs is heavily dependent not only on the demands of commercial business, but also on the uncertainties inherent in a writing career in Hollywood. Drawing on literature in the fields of Media Industry Studies and Occupational Culture, Writing Hollywood explains writers' efforts to control risk and survive in a constantly changing environment. ...
Other library resource(s)
- Bill Moyers journal. screenwriter David Simon byCall Number: Jones Media DVD #12875For five seasons, The Wire brought the poorly understood world of the inner city into living rooms across the country. In this edition of the Journal, Bill Moyers is joined by the creator of that critically acclaimed drama series, David Simon--an award-winning screenwriter who is also a former police reporter at the Baltimore Sun and the author of Homicide : A Year on the Killing Streets. Together they talk about urban crime and politics, the art and craft of storytelling, and the uncertain future of journalism.
- Dialogue: learning from the masters byCall Number: Jones Media DVD #various numbers, check the online catalogAn interview series that looks at some of the more notable screenwriters of our time. The writers interviewed include Paul Haggis, Sheldon Turner, Stuart Beattie, David Goyer, Ted Griffith, Jim Uhle, Ganz & Mandel, Jose Rivera, Scott Rosenberg, Callie Khouri, John Hamburg, Nick Kazan.
- Hope Springs: creating and writing an original 'quality television' drama byCall Number: Baker-Berry LD 865 .C428 A34 2005a text
Television authorship from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286Unlike the well-established tradition of auteurism in its sibling art cinema, in the case of television, the question of authorship continues to be fraught: subject to contestations not only over who can be called the television author but over whether that author exists at all. The heavily collaborative and standardized nature of most television production has been a long-standing issue for discussions of authorship, which have often argued that the concept is not useful for analyzing television—putting emphasis instead on the polysemic television text—or else focused on the struggle for control and agency between creative practitioners and television networks. ...
Finding scholarly articles & journal title(s)
Film & television literature indexCall Number: Electronic resourceThis index covers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television. About half the journals and magazines are film periodicals and the other half cover film and television with some regularity. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
Communication & mass media complete (CMMC) by Call Number: Electronic resourceThis is the main article index for the field of Communications and Mass Media.
Media history digital library by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe Media History Digital Library digitizes collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access. The project is supported by owners of materials who loan them for scanning, and donors who contribute funds to cover the cost of scanning.
The Collection feature extensive runs of several important trade papers and fan magazines.
MLA international bibliography by Call Number: Electronic resourceMLA International Bibliography indexes journal articles, books and dissertations. Coverage includes literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing.
Screen studies collection by Call Number: Electronic resourceA comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside detailed filmographies. This collection includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database and the detailed and complementary filmographies created by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the British Film Institute.
Web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Internet resource(s)
- Writers Guild of America, EastThe Writers Guild of America, East, (WGAE) is a labor union of thousands of professionals who are the primary creators of what is seen or heard on television and film in the U.S., as well as the writers of a growing portion of original digital media content. They have a whole section of "Resources" for screenwriters.
- Writers Guild of America, WestThe official site of the union representing writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable and new media industries. They have a whole section of "Writer's Resources" for screenwriters.
Citing and Tracking Your Bibliographic References
Use this guide to help you learn how to correctly cite and keep track of the references you find for your research.
Keeping up with Television Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Television Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.