Class Policies

Grading
Grading will primarily be based on your tests and writing.
• 50% five short assignments during the course of the semester
• 30% final paper
• 20% tests/classroom participation/presentations/in-class assignments etc.

Attendance
If you are more than ten minutes late, you will be considered late. Two lates equal an absence. Four absences result in a full letter reduction in your grade. More than that and you could be considered for a failing grade. For excused absences, I would like print documentation that I can keep (xerox of doctor report, etc).

You are expected to be quiet and attentive in class. If you are sleeping, typing on your cell phone, giggling and chatting, etc. this will count against you in the final grade.

Plagiarism
You will fail if caught plagiarizing.

Late papers and assignments
For every week a paper is late, it is worth a full grade less.

Format style
All papers should be in 12 point type (in Times Roman or similar font with serifs) with 1.5 spacing and 1 inch margins. They will be marked down if not in this format.

Writing Assignments
For each screenplay, you will be required to write a 4-5 page analysis including the following points:
• how does the screenplay breakdown according to page count?
• what are the plot points?
• what adjustments did the screenplay writer make to the original story, including additional characters, location, time, etc.?
• how effective were central characters created, including especially the protagonists and antagonists, but also the minor characters
• how did the dialogue change from the original to the screenplay?
• how did the filmed production differ from the written screenplay?
• was the screenplay adaptation successful? was the film successful?
• were there possibilities you saw in the original that were not fulfilled in the screenplay?

These assignments should not only demonstrate the above analysis, but also show me your writing level at its best. Please don’t hand me something you wrote at the last second. Of course, you can hardly cover every point above in 5 pages, so please organize your paper effectively and write efficiently.

Final Paper
Your final paper can either be written alone or with a “production group” of no more than 3 people. Everyone in the production group will receive the same grade, but the production groups must also include a two-page analysis of the collaborative process.

Your final paper will be based on a book of your choice, whether novel, play, non-fiction, even poem. Your final paper will include many of the analytical points where applicable from the assignments during the semester but it only needs to be 3-4 pages since many of the elements cannot be covered. Also included in the final paper will be material related to your selling of the film, including:
• a sales pitch (why make this movie? who will watch it?) presented to the class
• a two page summary of the story of the film
• your own 5-page adaptation of several pages of the original piece in proper screenplay format

This involves roughly 10 pages of writing and a presentation. Any missing elements will automatically count as a detraction from the final grade of the paper.