Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect

Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect, Sixth Edition, stands alone among screenwriting books by emphasizing that human connection, though often overlooked, is as essential to writing effective screenplays as conflict. Award-winning writer and director Claudia Hunter Johnson teaches you the all-important basics of dramatic technique and guides you through the challenging craft of writing short screenplays with carefully focused exercises of increasing length and complexity. In completing these exercises and applying Johnson's techniques and insights to your own work, you will learn how to think more deeply about the screenwriter's purpose, craft effective patterns of human change, and strengthen your storytelling skills. This 25th Anniversary Edition features 11 short screenplays, including Academy Award winning Barry Jenkins' (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk) luminous short film, My Josephine (now in the Criterion Collection), and an accompanying companion website that features the completed films and additional screenplay examples. The book has also been updated and expanded to include more excerpts from leading films and TV series as well as collaboration exercises and invaluable guidance about giving and receiving effective feedback. This ground-breaking book will show you how to advance and deepen your screenwriting skills, increasing your ability to write richer, more resonant short screenplays that will connect with your audience. It remains an absolute must have resource for students of screenwriting.

Claudia Hunter Johnson is the writer/director of the civil rights documentary feature, The Other Side of Silence: The Untold Story of Ruby McCollum, winner of the Gold Jury Prize at Seattle's Social Justice Film Festival and Best Florida Documentary at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Her memoir Stifled Laughter, now in its 2nd edition, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won the inaugural P.E.N./Newman's Own First Amendment Award and the 2023 Best Books Award for Current Events. She's also the author of the memoir Hurtling Toward Happiness: A Mother and Teenage Son's Road Trip From Blues to Bonding in a Really Small Car. She has taught screenwriting at the FSU Film School and USC's School of Cinematic Arts.

Introduction: The Power and Importance of Human Connection PART I: Preparing to Write the Short Screenplay 1. Connecting to Purpose 2. Connecting to Self 3. Connecting to Genre 4. Connecting to Process 5. Connecting to Collaboration PART II: Aspects of the Craft 6. Story and Screenplay 7. Character 8. Structure 9. Dialogue Part III: Five (Not So) Easy Screenplays 10. The Discovery 11. The Decision 12. The Boxing Match 13. The Improbable Connection 14. The Long Short Screenplay PART IV: Eleven Screenplays That Make It Look Easy 15. Chillin' Out 16. The Great Wall of Vicky Lynn 17. Killer Kart 18. Intercambios 19. Underground 20. Tough Crowd 21. Kosher 22. My Josephine 23. Lena's Spaghetti 24. Cool Breeze and Buzz 25. Slow Dancin' Down the Aisles of the Quickcheck Conclusion APPENDIX A: Available Screenwriting Software APPENDIX B: Films and Television Series Referenced APPENDIX C: Further Reading