This article explores academic and industry perspectives on the use of dialect, slang, and historical language in screenwriting. It offers a chronological overview of major screenwriting manuals' treatment of dialect and slang (or lack thereof) 1946-2020. It then presents survey data of 53 currently-practicing screenwriters' views on working with…

The article describes a collaborative project co-taught by a creative writing teacher and the theater department's technical director that required students to write an original script and perform it as toy theater or shadow theater.

This article draws on the experiences of two young adults, Sean and Jerome, who participated in a writing workshop at a juvenile detention center. The young adults composed screenplays to explore how writing could call on their unique perspectives and life experiences to amplify their beliefs. While some educators emphasize a skills-based…

Identity studies relating to writing in educational setting have tended to focus on the analysis of non-fiction texts. Aligning a Bakhtinian view of language with the concept of identity as participation in "figured worlds" [Holland et al. 1998, "Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds". London: Harvard University Press], this…

Writing a screenplay was an assignment that was part of Storytelling Through Film, a program sponsored by the Austin Film Festival, a professional film organization. In six weeks, students in creative writing and English classes first learned about the genre of screenwriting and then wrote original screenplays. The curriculum was a collaborative…

This article presents a pedagogical experience that addresses the use of an instructional strategy called screenwriting aimed at improving the teaching of writing in an educational context. This pedagogical intervention took place in a private English language school, where three adult students willingly participated to create their own short…

Horton Foote was among the television writers who helped make NBC's "Television Playhouse" the most popular live dramatic program on the air during the "Golden Age" of television drama, the period between 1952 and 1957. Foote felt a strong affinity for the land and people of his youth, and modeled the imaginary towns of…

Four play scripts written by elementary school students. (RL)

Describes how one English teacher stumbled on the idea of having student peer groups write scripts. Outlines a variety of ways that script writing assignments can be made. Advocates having such scripts created by student collaborative groups. (HB)

Contains a teacher's description of how a radio script was developed by students and the completed script itself. (RL)

Gives an overview of how one English teacher uses students' inherent understanding of film by asking them to write movie scripts. Advocates the use of screenwriting in the classroom. Details numerous reasons for such methods, and describes eight specific suggested class activities employing script writing. (HB)

Seven of the articles in this journal contain first-person descriptions of the procedures and methods used by outstanding American playwrights in creating their individual plays. The playwrights explain their own writing habits, working conditions, and revision processes in an effort to clarify the elements that contribute to the unusual…

Readers' theater engages students in reading and writing activities that offer both affective and cognitive rewards. Students can develop their own scripts that introduce books, replacing the traditional book report with creative participation and active peer recommendation. Appendices provide two sample scripts. (AEF)