Screenwriting 101
A screenplay must always be written in this tense.
What is present tense?
This 2016 film tells the story of the three brilliant women whose work at NASA helped send John Glenn into orbit.
BONUS 300: Name these three historic women.
What is Hidden Figures?
BONUS 300: Who are Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson?
This Watchmen star is projected to be the second black woman to ever be nominated for best director in the history of the Oscars.
Who is Regina King?
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard a luxurious, though ill-fated ship.
What is Titanic?
This video sharing platform has been getting most of us through quarantine tbh.
What is Tiktok?
If you're trying to indicate how a piece of dialogue should be delivered in your screenplay, you should use these, placed directly under the character's name and above the dialogue.
(Amelia says use them VERY sparingly)
What are parentheticals?
This new release tells the story of the betrayal of Black Panther leader, Fred Hampton, by FBI informant, William O'Neal.
What is Judas and the Black Messiah?
This director was snubbed by the Oscars in 1990. In 2019, he finally won one for his screenplay, BlacKkKlansman.
BONUS 200: Name is this director's 1990 film that was shamefully overlooked by the Academy.
Who is Spike Lee?
BONUS 200: What is Do the Right Thing?
A rich philanthropist leads a team of scientists to populate a wildlife park with living dinosaur clones.
What is Jurassic Park?
Although it's last season aired in early 2020, this comedy sitcom about a down on their luck family remains a popular quarantine binge.
What is Schitt's Creek?
When writing a character in a scene, you must be mindful of these three things.
What are motivation, objective, and super-objective?
The Netflix series Self-Made starring Octavia Spencer details the life of this famed black entrepreneur who was the first female self-made millionaire in America.
Who is Madam C.J Walker?
Although often relying on stereotypical characterizations, this late '60s-70s film genre promoted black empowerment by featuring heroic black leads fighting against white oppression.
The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
What is Pulp Fiction?
Ms. Amelia and Ms. Karnes have A LOT of opinions about this Shonda Rhimes period piece.
What is Bridgerton?
According to David Mamet (and Amelia) a film tells its story through the juxtaposition of these.
What are images?
Many people have portrayed Malcolm X on the silver screen over the years. Name two of them.
Who are Kingsley Ben-Adir, Nigel Thatch, Mario van Peebles, and Denzel Washington?
This filmmaker is credited as being the first African American filmmaker, who in his career wrote, produced, and directed forty-four feature-length films.
Who is Oscar Micheaux?
A wheelchair bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced that one of them has committed murder.
What is Rear Window?
Recently, Netflix released the third installment of this popular film series which began with a collection of love letters.
BONUS 100: Name the title of the newest installment.
What is To All the Boys I Loved Before?
BONUS 100: What is To All the Boys: Always and Forever?
These three things need to be written in ALL CAPS in a screenplay.
What are characters names when they're first introduced, props when they're first introduced, and sound effects?
This 1991 film, whose imagery was referenced years later in Beyonce's Lemonade, brought attention to the Gullah Geechee culture, language, history, and narrative style.
What is Daughters of the Dust?
Ignited by the Watts riots and subsequent unrest and oppressions, this UCLA-based film movement revolutionized black cinema and attempted to decolonize Hollywood.
What is the L.A. Rebellion? (aka the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmkers or the UCLA Rebellion).
A boy who communicates with spirits seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.
What is the Sixth Sense?
In an ode to Ms. Amelia's macabre streaming practices, name two true crime series that came out in the last year.
What are The Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer, the Ripper, I'll Be Gone in the Dark, the Vow, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel...?