Introduction To Screenwriting — Shannan E. Johnson
Film Courage: Shannan, for anyone who knows nothing about screenwriting, how would you begin to teach them the craft?
Writer/Instructor and Script Consultant Shannan E. Johnson (The Professional Pen): That’s a great question because we all kind of start from this place of not knowing screenwriting unless you decide to go to a film program that’s actually teaching screenwriting. It’s one of those things that is not a part of our education system or anything like that so a lot of us are starting from scratch. The great thing about it being 2021 is that there are resources everywhere. I actually just got this question via email the other day and my first response was just start writing right? It’s kind of like even if you are doing creative writing, if you have short stories that you’re interested in, if you want to be a journalist and you want to write articles, you just have to start practicing it. That’s the first thing that you can do is just start writing down your ideas. The other thing you want to do is then figure out how to hone that craft…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Shannan E. Johnson, a native of Houston, TX, is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO of the first black-owned script consultancy in the entertainment industry, The Professional Pen. The Professional Pen is a writer-centered service provider helping emerging and established creatives develop their stories for the screen.
