Adob Digital Video Curriculum Guide

Using Proven Scriptwriting Techniques
Module 1 1
ADOBE PRODUCTION STUDIO CURRICULUM GUIDE
The goal for your students is to tell stories. In most cases, they might go out on a shoot
with only a basic idea of what they're going to tape and how they're going to piece it
together. That kind of approach will get them only so far.
At some point they will need to work from a script. It might be as straightforward as a
corporate safety video production with employees doing the acting, or they may have
aspirations to create a dramatic feature.
In either case, some fundamental scriptwriting skills will help them raise the bar of your
production. We tapped two of Hollywood's top writers to do the honors.
Stephen Black’s and Henry Stern’s TV scriptwriting and producing credits would fill
this page. They forged new directions in episodic dramas with their work on Dynasty,
Falcon Crest, Flamingo Road, Matlock, and Knot's Landing. Their work as head writers
on As the World Turns and consultants for One Life to Live stirred things up and added
sizzle to both of these long-running daytime staples. They've had a hand in a half-dozen
TV movies, including the only TV film starring Audrey Hepburn, Love Among Thieves.
Stephen Black (left) and Henry Stern (right), TV scriptwriters
and producers.
S T E P H E N B l A C K A N D H E N r y S T E r N ' S
S C r I P T W r I T I N G T I P S
They got their start as a writing team doing comedies in the mid-1970s. Stern had been one
of Broadway's youngest producers, and Black had written a couple plays. Despite failing to
sell their first comedy script to the Mary Tyler Moore Show, they were given free access to the
set, where they watched rehearsals and show tapings, all the while taking copious notes. That
led to a brief stint writing for a new show called The Love Boat ("It paid the bills and got us in
the Writers Guild") and finally landed them a job with Norman Lear Productions, the company
behind All in the Family.
Here's their advice to aspiring scriptwriters:
• The most important thing is that we like to tell stories.
• And the most important thing in stories is the characters. The best kind of character is
one with the ability to surprise you. The audience is not dumb. You've got to come up with
something unpredictable. You don't want a white hat or black hat. You want people wearing
gray hats. People you can't read. You want to be interested in what happens to them.