The Drexel University Screenwriting & Playwriting Program: Who Are We and What Do We Do?
Every year sees the production of thousands of hours of programming for broadcast and cable television, hundreds of feature-length films, and innumerable shorts, industrial films, commercials and infomercials. In America alone, the leading 200 nonprofit theaters perform more than 2500 plays for audiences numbering nearly 20 million. And every day, the burgeoning CD-ROM and Internet industries discover new ways to educate and entertain through multimedia.
All in all, thousands of productions-- and every one of them needs a script and a writer.
Drexel's unique Screenwriting & Playwriting Program is designed to guide students in developing the skills necessary to pursue a career in writing for the stage or the screen-- the movie screen, the television screen or the computer screen. In their courses, Students learn the essentials of dramatic story telling, and work to apply this knowledge to the creation of scripts that conform to professional standards. They have the opportunity to meet and interact with men and women who have had successful careers in the entertainment industry, and learn first-hand about what that industry requires. Drexel's pioneering co-op allows hands-on experience working in the entertainment industry. Students in the Program even have the chance to write actual short films and TV programs-- and see them produced.
But most important, they begin the life-long process of accumulating a writer's capital-- the tools of the mind with which they'll see and hear the world, spin stories from reality and imagination, and tell these stories compellingly.
These are skills useful to anyone whose career calls for the communication of facts and ideas-- but which are vital to anyone intending to write for performance. Drexel, by stressing both a deep understanding of the principals of dramatic writing and a practical, hands-on approach to instruction, will provide its graduates with a first-rate preparation for competition in a growing, yet demanding, field.
Drexel's Screenwriting & Playwriting Program is under the direction of Professor Ian Abrams.
This site contains links to information about several of the Program's key classes, as well as other classes taught by Professor Abrams, including class schedules and assignments, lists of required readings and viewings, class member e-mail addresses, a library of scripts in ScriptThing format, a collection of clippings, links to show business and writing-related sites, and other useful information.