MA Creative Writing (Playwriting and Screenwriting) Reading list
Term one: Playwriting Workshop with Barbara Norden
RECOMMENDED READING – PLAYS AND BOOKS ON THEATRE
Reading and seeing plays is a very important part of the MA. It’s good if everyone has seen and/or read some influential contemporary playwrights and frequently revived plays from the past.
If you’ve recently been studying English or Drama or Theatre Studies in university you won’t need much introduction to Beckett or Strindberg but you may need to catch up with contemporary playwrights. If on the other hand you often go to the Royal Court but haven’t ever studied drama then you may need to catch up with the older plays. If in London you could also visit the bookshop at the National Theatre and/or the Royal Court. The latter often sells off play texts for around £3. Foyles bookshop in Charing Cross Road stocks new plays as does French’s Theatre Bookshop, 52 Fitzroy Street, London W1. The main new play publishers are Methuen, Faber, Nick Hern Books and Oberon and they all have websites. Heffers bookshop in Cambridge do mail order and stock a wide range of drama. http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk Follow the link to literature then drama. You may also want to try Amazon online, but don’t pay more than £10 - £12 for a play text. Older plays can be found in your local library or the drama shelves of second hand bookshops.
The books about theatre are mostly recommended reading on one of the modules. It’s not essential to read them before the course starts but it may be helpful to know about them. I’ve also included a useful title about contemporary British playwrights for those who aren’t familiar with the scene.
You won’t see any ‘how to’ books about playwriting here. This is deliberate. As you progress through the course we will introduce books about play form but at this stage it is more useful to see and read plays. Enjoy the process of discovering or rediscovering them.
Barbara Norden, Senior lecturer, MA in Creative Writing (plays and screenwriting) The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights ed. Martin Middeke, Peter Paul Schnierer, Aleks Sierz
Books about theatre for the Dramatic Writing module:
Brecht on Theatre, Bertolt Brecht, trans. John Willett (London: Methuen, 1964)
Post-dramatic Theatre by Hans-Thies Lehmann (Routledge 2006)
State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945, Michael Billington (London, Faber and Faber 2007)
Directing Postmodern Theatre, John Whitmore, The University of Michigan Press 1994 (not a practical handbook for directors but a jargon free introduction to a semiotic analysis of performance.)
Different Every Night, Mike Alfreds, Nick Hern Books 2007
Drama from Ibsen to Brecht, Raymond Williams (Penguin 1973 )
Term one: Storytelling Module (Background reading)
Aristotle, (1996) Poetics. London: Penguin Classics
Campbell, J (1993) The Hero with a Thousand Faces London: Fontana New Press
King. S (2000) On Writing London: New English Library
McKee, R. (1999) Story. London: Methuen
Norman, M (2008) What Happens Next, A history of American Screenwriting – London: Aurum Press Ltd
Yorke, J (2013) Into the Woods - London: Penguin Books Term two: Screenwriting with Phil O’Shea and Terry Bailey
You should try to read at least two produced screenplays a week. These can be easily and freely downloaded from the internet by doing a google search for ‘free script downloads’. Don't just choose screenplays for classic films, and Oscar and BAFTA winners, look at genre material too – romcom, thriller, science fiction and horror.
A selection of film and US TV scripts are available on these sites: http://www.script-o-rama.com/ http://www.dailyscript.com/tv.html http://www.simplyscripts.com/tv.html http://www.script-o-rama.com/tvscript.shtml http://www.moviescriptsandscreenplays.com/
SCREENWRITING BOOKS:
These are all really useful background reading. If you only have time to look at one, please read the Syd Field, which is straightforward, sound and unpretentious.
Aronson, L (2010) The 21st Century Screenplay - London: Allen & Unwin
Cooper & Dancyger (2007) Writing the Short Film London: Focal Press
Dancyger & Rush (2006) Alternative scriptwriting Oxford: Focal Press
Field, Syd. (2005) Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting London: Delta
Vogler. C (2007) The Writer’s Journey Studio City CA: Michael Wiese Production
Term 3 – Writing for Television, Jim Hill JOM 909
Writing 'Soap': How to Write Continuing Drama; Chris Thompson
Publisher: Aber Publishing (1 Feb 2011) ISBN-10: 1842851187 ISBN-13: 978-1842851180 Writing Long-running Television Series: v. 1 Julien Friedmann
Paperback: 220 pages Publisher: Media Business School ISBN-10: 8488773021 ISBN-13: 978-8488773029
How to Write for Television: A Guide to Writing and Selling Successful TV Scripts William Smethurst
Publisher: How To Books Ltd; ISBN-10: 1845283805 ISBN-13: 978-1845283803
Writing the TV Drama Series 3rd Edition: How to Succeed as a Professional Writer in TV Pamela Douglas
Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions; ISBN-10: 1615930582 ISBN-13: 978- 1615930586
Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box Alex Epstein Publisher: Owl Books, U.S. ISBN-10: 0805080287 ISBN-13: 978-0805080285
The Calling Card Script: A Writer's Toolbox for Screen, Stage and Radio Paul Ashton Publisher: A & C Black Publishers Ltd (29 Mar 2011) ISBN-10: 1408110172 ISBN-13: 978-1408110171
Writing Great Screenplays for Film and TV Dona Cooper Publisher: Macmillan Publishing Co, U.S.; ISBN-10: 0028615557 ISBN-13: 978-0028615554
TV Writer's Workbook, Ellen Sandler Publisher: Delta (27 Mar 2007) ISBN-10: 0385340508 ISBN-13: 978- 0385340502
A substantial number of television scripts are available on the BBC’s writers room site. They cover a range of genres and include radio and sit com: http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/