Great horror movies are substantial works of art that go beyond jump-scares to confront society's most intractable problems – like racism, in the brilliant 'Get Out'. In 'How To Write A Horror Movie', students will study genre classics, while writing weekly short scenes – to be read aloud in class – that address basic elements of screenplay-writing, the mid-semester goal being the script for a short horror film. Students will also keep a journal of story-ideas, one of which they will develop – in the second half of the semester - as a feature-length screenplay, completing a rough draft of at least 80 pages, with successive portions of these scripts to be discussed in class.
Cinematic Arts