No significant instruction/teaching provided. Appears to function only as a self-directed workshop, which doesn't teach the craft itself. Disappointing.

The instructor says in the first video: ”you do not need to read a book on how to write a script” – in my opinion YOU DO! Better to read a book or two than waste your time on this course; the videos are extremely short, shallow and a waste of time!

There isn't any real teaching happening. I guess this isn't a course for beginners.

Writing ain't easy, but it sure is satisfying as hell!

This was my first writing course and trust me when I say, I wasn't disappointed. In this course, I experienced and learned so much from David. These learnings weren't just about techniques and methodologies, they pushed me to look deeper into myself and the writer I want to be. Regardless of whether or not I ever have a book, script, play or poem published, I will write and continue writing because I write for me. I write because of the peace, joy and challenges writing offers. I write because I can and I write because I ENJOY it.... Thank you David for encouraging me to "Just Write!"

Robert Garlington

This is not so much a course as a cut-throat writing incentive. If you're looking for anything beyond the basics of basics, go elsewhere. I think the rapid pace of the course is causing major student drop-offs and disengaged peer reviews. I don't think a total of five people even finished their script during my run. Jan Zurcher, the mentor, is this course's saving grace. He's endlessly patient and very helpful. He will be critical, so use that to become a better writer. This course helped my novel writing as it forces you to take a step back and look at your story's bare bones. It was a lot of fun, but it lacked the writing group kinship I'd hoped for.

this course will make you write a script... and that's it, if you want to LEARN how to write a script, don't take this course.

This course just push you to write a script without clearly teaching you what to do, if you want to learn, look for another course (I took one from futurelearn.com while in this course, it's free, this one is a waste of money if you pay)

I'm sorry, but I have taken many courses on Coursera and this is, without a doubt, the absolute worst. This isn't minimal teaching, it's practically nonexistent. Frankly, buying a book would at least give more guidance than tossing one-minute 'lectures' out there and having students blindly fend for themselves under the guise of "experimental learning".

Plus, you then have an all or nothing grade system - there is no middle ground, just pass or fail on an assignment that had little to no instruction or examples listed to begin with.

I'm truly surprised that Coursera agreed to allow this course as it is. I suggest that the instructor and team see how other instructors at universities are teaching their Coursera courses. Just because something is free, it doesn't give free reign to be lazy. If I had paid for it, I would have asked for a refund. This entire course needs a serious revamp.

I should suggest my fellow Coursera students not to waste their money and time for this course. You'll learn a lot more than this course has to offer if you consult some websites with screenwriting tutorial blogs, read books and write on your own.

I am a PhD student of theoretical film studies and and a fan of Coursera courses. I was eager to learn screenwriting as an interesting hands-on course. Well, it's project-based alright, but where's the real guidance??

This is a lazily designed course with poor content and almost zero guidance. The videos are very short and feels like a layman is trying to motivate you to write something, that's all. No methods explained other than some terminologies like bible, acts, outline being thrown at you. No examples, no comparisons, no detailed approaches.

Lastly, scriptwriting has a significant difference with other humanities course. Being peer-reviewed doesn't help here -- a total novice can not effectively judge another newbie's work nor give them quality feedback.

What a lazy excuse of a course. Why would you call it a course? Just call it "Start Writing" and put it on a blog. No guidance, no tips, no effort whatsoever. Without any guidelines, how does review from a fellow novice help? It's like blind leading the blind.

I'll go with the minimalist style of this course and use just one word to describe it: Rubbish.

Very disappointing course offering; do not pay, do not audit, just read through the syllabus and move on.

Supremely basic and a near total lack of notes. Helpful only if you have zero experience in screen writing.

Excellent course. The lectures are very short and to the point but they provide enough for you to start doing the most important thing of all - getting an idea down to paper and writing and writing and writing. The course does require a significant investment of time and energy - but if you provide that, you are the ultimate beneficiary as this is very much learning by doing. The peer feedback system provides and interesting opportunity to see what other members of the class are doing but unfortunately most peers do not provide much quality feedback on the work you submit. Having said that, I requested feedback from one of the course mentors and I was blown away by the depth and quality of the feedback that he provided on my final submission. This was my first Coursera course and I feel very happy with the final outcome.

I had a wonderful time completing this course. This was my first time writing a script and I learned so much along the process, especially by getting reviews from my peers. Having assignments week by week also made it better since I was committed to finish before due date. However, there were occasions when I couldn't finish on time so I resubmitted and then waited to be graded. I feel incredibly happy to have learned so many important aspects about writing a script and even happier to be a writer.

So fun and it didn't seem like a task to do, it seemed more like a hobby.

Great course to take for starting your ideas flowing.

Great course, amazing experience!

The course was crisp. I could learn at my pace. Assignments were very helpful. I enjoyed the well designed course

I took this course out of curiosity. I just want to know if I have it in me the creative flare.

Great teaching

This course will teach you the proper way to create a three act- screenplay. I loved it.

Very useful course!

This is a tough course but what makes it simple is how the instructor breaks everything down little by little. I love that I can re-watch the videos. That helps a lot. Feedback is real.

This class has motivated me to write the pilot of a story that I had in mind for a couple of weeks and I love it. Compared to other online classes, I love that we have feedback from other classmates. However, I would have liked the teacher to tell us more information on how to write a good script.

This course helped me a lot. Anyone who want to start writing a script will get benefit form this course. For long I had thought of writing and developed few ideas for movie or web-series but all of those remain in my mind, I never wrote them down. This course helped me to prepare frame work for the script and break it down into Acts. There is still a lot to learn but this course gave the required impetus to begin. One area where this course need an improvement is peer-review, we get the grade but we don't get to know where to improve and what was strength of our script, giving feedback should be made compulsion in peer-review.