Hollywood Studio Screenwriting

In this course students will analyze movies currently in production and/or distribution such as Bourne Identity, Obsession, and Sense and Sensibility /(others, tbd)/, and the differences between the independently financed arthouse film, and a studio release. Students will gain an insider's look at mainstream, global standards for material, script development notes, and engage in round table discussions as they develop their own story ideas for a viable, studio movie. At the conclusion of this class students will have applied various structural elements of movie-making (i.e. theme and intent, the inciting incident, concise dialogue, and character set-up), including a three-act structural outline, and the detailed, first act for a professional, feature screenplay.



A writer, director and story consultant for Hollywood studios, Brian Brightly is currently working with Focus Features/NBC. Brightly has several movies out on Amazon, and now lives in Burlington, VT as an adjunct professor and independent film director. He will be directing the darkly comic, independent feature, 'Dinner Guest' in Vermont, in 2026, in an effort to bring more production to New England. In 2023, he wrote and directed the feature, 'The Wake', with Michael Chernus and Rob Yang, in N.Y., which is out now on Amazon and AppleTV.