Introduction to Script writing 

• Your study video - a collector's item! 
• Crafting your own script 
• Lucrative, imaginative realms of film and TV 
• The nature of movie making 
• Writers can look to the future 
• The screenplay 
• Script collaboration - pros and cons 
• The adaptation rules 
• 'Would you like to help me write Mad Max?' 
• The nine stages of writing a screenplay 
• Big bucks from movie tie-ins 
• Style and format; why you must get it right! 
• Coming attractions 

Agents - "Call my agent" 

• "The Reckoning" ... Is your best script in? 
• Where to find Hollywood agents 
• Wanted... an agent to handle the flak 
• Left off the world premiere list 
• The golden rule; don't submit unfinished work 
• Call my agent! 
• Where the agents are 
• Writing for stunts, SPFX 
• The art of writing telephone conversations 
• Widening use of split-screen technique 

How to develop a screenplay 

• Getting it down right; format, style & short cuts to success 
• Basic steps of mastering the screenplay 
• The story behind the 'Brothers' script 
• Wearing three hats - as producer, director and writer 
• Script page samples; Australian and American 
• A gross & grisly serve for $US4 million screenplay writer 
• Screenplay lottery; if you win, what do you do for an encore? 

Breaking scenes and dividing dialogue 

• Breaking scenes and dividing dialogue 
• Screen direction cuts 
• Inserts; putting them in place 
• More terminology 
• Analysing your screenplay 
• Financing your script 
• Funding from around the country 
• Subsidising low budgets 
• Funding help - where to go 
• Film funding bodies 

The professional script - your first steps 

• Getting your foot in the door 
• Essential Hollywood 
• Genres and origins 
• Fly (or title) page layout 
• The rainbow connection 
• Mail box - your word 
• Target the family and kids and don't forget the animals 
• Romance - who can fill this void in cinema? 
• Those tabloid headlines and public domain megabucks 
• Settling the James Clavell argument 
• Script pages in colour 

The wonderful world of documentaries 

• Hollywood essentials 
• Welcome to the wild, wacky, wonderful world of "the doco" 
• The documentary as propaganda 
• New breed filmmakers hit the front 
• Ask the Leyland Brothers 
• "Documentary-ising" the 60's to the present 
• How to do a doco - by those who have 
• Dick's flight into doco history 
• Getting your feet wet as a documentary scriptwriter 
• Finding documentary ideas 
• How to sell a documentary script 
• Your most important contact list 
• Getting your work on television 
• Be competitive in the marketplace 
• Radio documentaries 

The real thing: It's time to write your own screenplay! 

• Beginning your script 
• How to give your idea the treatment 
• Hollywood essentials 
• The big picture 
• Character summaries 
• The 'characterisation' procedure in Hollywood 
• How to change your thriller to entice Tom Cruise 
• Brothers; defining the main characters 
• Script covers - one for Oz, one for the US 
• One success story after another 
• John Grisham; What's the lowdown on his new book? 

Screenplays today - industry feedback 

• Make 'em laugh 
• Top producers tell us how it is! 
• Following the footprints to screenplay success 
• What top scriptwriters say about working methods 
• Writers' habits of success 
• Script writing software - boon or barrier? 
• Your script - what happens to it when it leaves you? 
• How to protect your work 
• A sample movie budget 
• Industry feedback 
• When established writers can ask for more ... and get it!