Teaching screenwriting from the inside out: The importance of writers’ inner, emotional discoveries in understanding the tools of screenwriting

Abstract

This article discusses the vital importance of expanding a screenwriting curriculum to demonstrate screenwriting techniques and finding originality by initially deriving story ideas from students’ life experiences, emotional memories and insights. It highlights the inherent problem common to a number of screenwriting students who desire to ‘race for originality’ that tends to imitate films they have already seen rather than finding the inspiration from a world they are better familiar with. The article introduces examples and results where the stories have first been solidly rooted in the writer’s own experiences. The qualitative research question is, how do students benefit from learning to write from the inside? The article challenges the order in which basic elements must be disseminated to students and suggests that alongside the traditional structures and tools of storytelling in teaching screenwriting, teachers should first and foremost guide students towards the private sources of their individual experiences and memories, highlighting their unique potential and originality. The article is based on qualitative research materials collected from screenwriting workshops the author has conducted in various film schools in Finland and Belgium between 2017 and 2021 using an emotional mapping method.