Welcome to a 13-part special series for Alumni Live: The Podcast.

These are conversations with Grand Valley State University film and

video students, faculty, and alumni about the film and video major.

But even before the cameras start rolling, there's gotta be a script.

That's called pre-production part of it where you're, you're writing it, you're

figuring out what needs to be shot.

So we're gonna talk a little bit about that script writing here at Grand Valley.

Hello, future Grand Valley students.

My name is Joel Potrykus.

I teach here at Grand Valley.

I'm a filmmaker.

And what I want to quickly talk to you a little bit about today is script writing.

So I teach script writing 1 and script writing 2.

Script writing 1 is a required class for any film and video major.

We talk about all the different disciplines involved in script

writing from fiction to non-fiction, meaning commercials, PSA's.

But the overall goal of the class is to end the class with a 10-page script, a

fiction script, that hopefully ideally you can then take to future production

classes and turn into a reality.

So we go over things like character development, story arc,

the three-act structure, irony.

I walk you through the whole process of writing a script from

beginning to end in class, and then we share our work with each other.

Now, like I said, that's a required class.

Every film and video major must take that, and then if you do have a strong interest

in writing and you want to continue to pursue that, we offer script writing 2.

Now in script writing 2, it's pretty heavy lifting.

The goal of the class is, over the entire one semester, to write an

entire feature length screenplay.

So again, I walk you through the process.

We do a more advanced version of the three act structure, go more

in depth on character development, and again, share each other's work.

So again, the idea of this is that possibly you could take this

finished screenplay at the end of the semester and once you graduate, and

you know, you do a few rewrites and you could possibly make this film.

So we talk about the practicality of your idea, the scope, budget,

things like that, and whether you'd want to make that yourself or

you'd want to potentially sell it.

So we talk about the business of script writing, the difference between an

agent and a manager and what kind of job opportunities are involved in that.

And we kind of talk about television writing and the

difference between television writing and feature film writing.

So if you have any interest, I'm around to, uh, ask me questions.

Again, looking forward to hopefully meeting some of you

and reading some of your work.

Have a good day.

You know, scriptwriting just weaves itself through every

single moment of making a film.

So even if, you know, you're watching this and you're like, I'm not a writer, like

I don't want to write, I want to like, you know, be on set, still understanding,

you know, those character motivations and, you know, why somebody would say one

thing or, or do something else I think is just so fundamental to everything.

And those fundamentals really make you a better filmmaker and

storyteller in whatever mode you go in.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Alumni Live: The Podcast special

series about the film and video major.

Be sure to listen to the next episode in the series and subscribe to our

podcast to hear even more from our alumni as they talk about their work

in different parts of the industry.

Check out Alumni Live on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for more

conversations and networking.

Let us know what topics you want to hear our alumni talk about.

The Grand Valley State University Film and Video Alumni Network is here for you.

And we're glad that you're here.

Thank you for listening.