Survey of Mass Communication COMM 2010Professor Kim McCullough
Let’s Write A Scene!
Assignment due: Oct. 27 (GaView)
Purpose of the assignment: In this assignment, each group will show
their creativity by elaborating on their TV show idea with a scene from the
show. This assignment aims to teach students the basics of screenwriting
and the development of characters and storylines.
This assignment will include the following elements:
● A description of the scene’s setting
● Introductions of characters presented in the scene
● Dialogue between characters presented in the scene
● Some type of action or conflict
● Some type of resolution or cliffhanger
Requirements:
● Scene must be at least two pages
● All group members must participate in brainstorming and writing the
scene
● Scene must be in the correct format
● Include cover page
Outline Template for Research Paper
·
Introduction:
o Introducing statement:
o Thesis:
o Points:
·
BODY 1:
o Explain the point:
o Supporting source/ quote:
o Tie point back to how it supports the thesis:
·
BODY 2:
o Explain the point:
o Supporting source/ quote:
o Tie point back to how it supports the thesis:
·
BODY 3:
o Explain the point:
o Supporting source/ quotes:
o Tie point back to how it supports the thesis:
·
+ADD however many body sections needed
·
Conclusion :
o Thesis:
o Points:
o Concluding statement:
● Introduction:
○ Introducing statement: Something to catch the reader’s attention,
a hook, a fun quote, an interesting fact. This can be written later
on, but maybe include some ideas here.
○ Thesis: Write your thesis here. A thesis is usually one or two
sentences that express the main idea of a research paper. It can
be persuasive or informative. The length of the thesis may depend
on the required length of your paper.
○ Points (Road map): After your thesis, you might want to state the
main points you will use to prove this thesis. This can be in only
one- two sentences and by using commas to separate the points. If
you need a longer intro, you can give these points a sentence per
point, but try not to do this if you don’t need to. Make it clear that
you will be discussing these points in more detail later in the paper
and that they answer the thesis.
● BODY 1: First Point
○ Explain the point
○ Supporting source/ quote
○ Tie point back to how it supports the thesis
● BODY 2: Second Point
○ Explain the point
○ Supporting source/ quote
○ Tie point back to how it supports the thesis
● +Add as many BODY sections/paragraphs as you need following the format
above. Do not feel like you need to follow the five-paragraph method. Use as
many or as few points that support your thesis to the fullest and back up your
statement. Often times there are three or four points, but that there could be
more or fewer.
● Conclusion:
○ Thesis: Restate your thesis here with different wording, do not
write the same thesis verbatim as in the introduction. Considering
this as a restating of the ideas, not the same thesis sentence.
○ Points: Restate your points from the body paragraph in one-two
sentences, making connections when necessary.
○ Concluding statement: Make some concluding remarks about
why your thesis is important. This statement is basically a fancy
way of saying why the paper was written in the first place and why
it matters to the reader. Try to connect it to something that is
currently going on in the world or why it is relevant now. If you are
having trouble, think what initially attracted you to the topic and
why you think it is important to others.
Television Show Pitch
Camron Crawford
Title: The Next Chapter
Logline: Some things in life should come with an instruction manual, like building furniture,
operating a lawn mower, and attending college. Let’s learn about the ups and down of the best
four years of our lives.
Synopsis:
Many producers of television shows highlight high school years and adulthood but jump
right over our college years. My show will be similar to Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide,
but instead it will be for college students. My hopes for the show are to make it as realistic as
possible considering many people go into college not knowing what to expect.
There are many struggles that come with being in college. The first that comes to my
mind is the cost. Some students are lucky to have parents who will pay entirely or for some of
their college. Others are not so lucky. Navigating working with financial aid, scholarships, loans,
and being broke is something that is hard to prepare for, therefore would be an important topic
for my show. In your senior year of high school, you are so worried about taking your SAT and
ACT, and taking AP classes and corresponding exams, applying to colleges and writing essays,
no one is teaching you about managing your finances. High school is so driven on helping you
get in, but not on what it is like to be on your own in college paying your way. The next struggle
is making friends, especially in the year 2020. Making friends can be hard, and especially this
year when many freshmen events were cancelled due to the pandemic. It’s hard to go out and
make friends when your confined to your dorm room to ~stop the spread.~ The first year is
hard when students are overwhelmed with making friends, joining clubs, passing classes, going
out and staying involved, etc., but it all seems to pass by so fast once the first year is up. The
next struggle is social pressuring. To fit in, college students often find that they need to go out
and they should drink and smoke (which is illegal underaged). Students get so caught up in
being social and having fun, they may fall behind in their classes. Wanting to go out every night
to fit in will negatively affect your school routine which will ruin the balance of school and social
life. My show will show students who come from all different backgrounds, who are in different
stages in college, struggling through these examples.
College does come with a lot of plusses as well. Navigating what you want to do with the
rest of your life can be rewarding. Working in internships and taking classes about things you
enjoy can be very fulfilling and change of pace from what students are used to coming out of
high school. Another plus is independence. Many college students live on campus, in their first
year in a dorm, which may be the first time they live away from their parents. It can be
gratifying to learn how to live on your own and relaxing being able to take your life at your own
pace.
Characters:
My main characters are Jake, Andrew, Olivia and Zoey.
Jake is a townie and it is his first year in college. He plays football and has a hard time
balancing practices, school, and a social life. He has never had to make choices on his own as
his parents were a strong support system for him throughout high school. He battles a lot with
his mental health as football can be very time consuming and takes a lot out of him. He likes to
go out and relax on the weekends, but hates going back on Monday morning to practice.
Andrew comes from the next state over and worked his butt off to get into college. This
is his second year in college. His first year was cut short from the pandemic, so he had to live at
home for most of his first year taking online classes. He was excited to come back to campus for
his second year, but many of his classes were online. He was struggling to make friends as he
didn’t really get a freshman year experience and is still having a hard time getting out there. He
studies hard in school and prides himself in his work. He wishes that he could get more
recognition for the work he does, because it is a lot, and he feels he goes unnoticed.
Olivia’s hometown is about a 50 minute drive from her college. Similar to Andrew, she
worked very hard in high school to get to her college. Olivia has been working a part-time job
all throughout high school and into college just to be able to afford to enroll. Her parents are
unable to help her with any expenses because she has 4 siblings at home her parents have to
continue to provide for. Olivia is grateful that she has the chance to be a college student,
because she is firstgeneration, but envies people who don’t have to work themselves tirelessly
to get by. School is very important to Olivia and she tries her best to get good grades, because
college is expensive, and she feels she would be wasting her money if she wasn’t working hard.
She is in her third year, and is working a job on top of an internship in hopes she will be able to
get a good-paying career that she enjoys once she graduates.
Zoey is from California and travelled across the country to attend college. She is in a
sorority on campus and enjoys going out as many days a week as she can. She only takes four
classes a semester just so she can remain eligible for her sorority, but school isn’t very
important to her. Zoey is in her second year in college and still is unsure of what she is going to
major in.
She goes to her college because both of her parents went to the same one. Zoey reaches a
point in the semester where she is nearly kicked out for her academic standing and misconduct.
She realizes she needs to get herself in check.
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