AA
Jun 13, 2016
David Wheeler is awesome, and I love this course! I am so glad that Coursera and Michigan State University have partnered to offer this course to those of us who have a thirst for learning! Thank you!
MT
Jan 10, 2017
Amazing course. Without useless talking, we are immediately thrown into action, and start working immediately. This course helped me gain priceless empiric experience, and finally start writing.
By Yomna F
•Aug 11, 2020
I loved the course, it had me hooked since day one. This was my first time trying screenwriting, I accidentally enrolled in the course and I decided to go for it and I have absolutely no regrets.
The videos are extremely helpful, but they can still be a bit more detailed to give complete understanding of everything. The mentor was very helpful. The course is flexible and you can submit your work more than once, with enough room for improvement.
I had trouble finding a group to work with and review their work, so maybe at the start of the course groups should be assigned according to genre for example. That way, one can review same works each week and give a review based on complete understanding of the work.
By Elizabeth S K
•Mar 20, 2018
Fantastic introduction to screenwriting and generally good, exhaustive feedback from mentor Jan Zurcher at the end (especially feedback regarding scriptwriting conventions/format).
At the same time, for unsolicited feedback this was a little discouraging; especially the bit where Jan said he didn’t feel engaged, as others had said they did feel engaged. I feel at this early stage, we need constructive feedback but also an incentive to go on, a degree of validation encouraging us to nurture our strengths. I feel the rest will come with practice. In this regard, I found Jan's feedback discouraging rather than constructive.
By Robert O
•Apr 11, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this class. It gives you an excellent regiment and list of characteristics that would make your pilot and potential series desirable. My only real issue, which makes it 4 instead of 5 stars, is that the student feedback is somewhat limited in that not all students really understand how to give notes. Often times they are very vague ("good effort, write with move consision") not offering enough particulars to know what you should be looking to improve. But that's the inherent limitation of a course offered in this format. Not a reflection on the curriculum itself.
By s r
•Oct 23, 2016
The course was great in that it moves you to write. I actually completed a pilot script that I was very proud of. My only criticism of the course would be the peer review. For the most part the reviews were weak and lacking substance. I put a lot of energy into reviewing classmates works but I can't say that I got back what I put out. This may be improved with a video teaching students what kind of feedback is expected of them. Other than that, it's worth the time.
By Elaine W
•Apr 6, 2016
I really enjoyed this class. I would say that it is a lot of work in a short period of time. Also there were some issues with the peer review process. For example not knowing the criteria we would be graded on before submitting the assignments, many students unable to get enough reviews to move forward especially if they had to revise their assignment. Hopefully, this will be worked out for future versions. Overall, it was an interesting process.
By CECILE G
•Apr 7, 2016
Well-paced course that encourages you to write, and sets reasonable deadlines that are so important for procrastinators. Don't agree with the statements that reading scripts and watching films won't help you as a writer, as I've found doing both extremely useful in learning to analyze and write more efficiently and effectively. Enjoyed the sessions, got some good feedback, and am continuing to work on the subsequent episodes of my new series.
By adriene j
•Jun 4, 2018
Learned much but felt the homework was too much to do within one week. That is, an outline and act due the same week before peer review should be adjusted. Even if the course runs longer, I feel that doing an outline then getting peer review before submitting the act would be more helpful. Allows writer to better flesh out the script with more time to improve and implement the useful peer review suggestions.
By Deirdre B
•Oct 5, 2016
I found this a hugely useful course. I really liked it's minimalism and found it a great writing prompt.
My only criticism was the way the feedback and critique is set up. I found it didn't encourage people to do written analysis of what they liked and didn't like. Sometimes I didn't myself because after I wrote a critique, I would loose it by pressing the submit button before the post button.
By Adrianna L
•Jul 28, 2020
I'm glad I took this course. It was very challenging but extremely beneficial. I think the feedback from peers is very helpful. I definitely stayed motivated throughout the course. I highly recommend this course if you want to improve your writing skills and get inspired. You get to write an entire pilot for a TV series.
By Adam R
•Aug 26, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyed the course. A lot of the assignments really helped me to fully flesh out my, initially, basic idea into a much greater story. I did find one or two things that seemed to oppose my understanding of script writing 'rules', but aside from this it was a fantastic course.
By Angie M A S
•Apr 3, 2019
This is a great and helpful course, but I just would like there would be some examples of what we have to do at least in the first and second week. I recommend this course for those who like to write and create new stories, and maybe in the future, make possible the real screenplay.
By Aasiya C
•Jul 25, 2021
I had a really pleasant experience throughout this course, I didn't get to have my own writers group but overall it was fun, the project itself was really fun, writing my own script and submitting before deadlines was kind of struggling but helped me learn a lot.
By Joyanne F
•Apr 2, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this class and feel that I've really grown as a writer. The student peer review process didn't always work for me as not all feedback was constructive. Perhaps students need some direction on how to offer really helpful feedback.
By Adrienne R
•May 10, 2016
This course is a great introduction to the art of script writing. You'll gain an understanding of basic script formatting, get in the habit of writing consistently and have the benefit of your script being reviewed by peers.
By Brittany N
•Apr 4, 2017
I really loved taking this course. It forced me to sit down and write almost every day, and I really appreciate that. I've learned so much, and I love the fact that I can learn things from fellow students.
By Teya S
•Mar 14, 2017
I'm ALREADY optimistic about my confidence and capabilities. I write down crazy ideas all of the time. This will not give me a framework for which I can have tons of fun and maybe get a show out there!
By John M
•Oct 3, 2016
Excellent quality assignments. Really the best online writing course I've found. This is a teacher that knows what he's doing, and how to draw out the best of his students' unique ideas and talents.
By Tyne H
•Oct 3, 2019
The applied projects were great, and I learned a lot from the peer review assignments. However, I would have liked to get more professional or structured feedback on my work or ideas at some point.
By Tim M
•Nov 30, 2016
Great course. Learned a great deal about script writing. Much of the peer feedback was very helpful and useful, but a small portion of the peers were did not seem to be very engaged or helpful.
By Ciera M
•Dec 28, 2016
Very enjoyable course! However, I think that it would have been nice to have some more professional viewing of our work, since several of us were taking in this information for the first time.
By Michelle B
•Jun 18, 2020
Would like a little bit more about how to protect my intellectual rights. In addition, I would like to know how to properly create a series bible.
By Paula M
•Oct 29, 2020
Great course that was well paced, in helping me gather my ideas on paper and completing a first episode for my series concept--- Thank you
By Zeid A
•Mar 15, 2019
It's a great course that helped me learn a lot. I wish the grading was depended on on more people other than course colleagues.
Thank You
By Raymond Z
•Nov 9, 2021
Nicely done and it helps to chop up your screenplay in acts. This is a good course if you want to avoid writers block.
By Nadia R
•Oct 29, 2022
a great course to motivate you to wrire. The negative point is just checking the assignments by other learners.