An entertaining course, with serious deficiencies. The professor takes a minimalist approach to his lectures that borders on the lazy and is not to everyone's taste. (Personally, I found it refreshing to have a professor who did not like to hear himself talk.) For the most part though, the course depends upon peer interaction - and this is where the course fails miserably. Though you are encouraged to work in groups, the Coursera platform provides no functionality to support group formation or group interactions. Some who did form groups using other social media platforms did all their work on those other platforms and never posted anything back to Coursera, thus defeating the entire purpose of the course. It doesn't help that Coursera divides people into walled communities using some algorithm of its own so that we cannot see the work of all the learners, but only the learners in our community. There were also technical problems with the GUI that prevented learners from submitting their work to 4 of the 20 assignments. Although this problem had been flagged for more than six months it was never fixed. The one plus of this course is that unlike creative courses from Wesleyan and other universities, with the Michigan State course you can participate in all the peer review activities without buying a certificate - and the peer reviews you get in this course are no worse (but no better) than what you get elsewhere. In summary, if you pay attention to Professor Wheeler's lectures you will get a nice introduction to screenplay writing, but be prepared to put in a lot of work and don't expect too much help from the platform.

this course will not let me advance to the first real lecture unless I join a group of 5 other students and do peer-review with them. I don't want to do that. I just enrolled yesterday, but the course won't let me unenroll, as the unenroll button does nothing. There is no live support available, and there is no way to submit a support request.

This is my first time trying to use Coursera, and I think I would be better off deleting my account, if that's even possible.

I'd gladly give this course 3 stars, or 4, but the fact that there is zero contact with a proffesor, prevents that. This course helped me a LOT. I recomend it to anyone who needs help with structure, and motivation. But the peer review is not a great format. I only wish ONE time I got feedback from the teacher. Even One single time.

I am trying to unenrol from the class, and it won't let me. I don't find all these peer review elements useful, and they are just a big time issue. How do I unenrol and also delete my screenplay pitch? I liked the instructor in the video, but it just seems like it's not enough of him, and too much simplistic reviews from inexperienced students.

I enjoyed this course. I've always struggled to actually sit down, make time for myself, and use that time to productively write. This course gives its students an easy, and easily-replicated, schedule/formula to follow in order to actually create a feature-length screenplay. I have now written a feature-length script, something I had always wanted to do but had never actually done, and this course was the impetus for doing that. I will say, given how much importance the course places on collaboration, the effort some of my peers put in to the course was at times frustrating. An important part of the course is reviewing the work of your peers and receiving feedback from them on your own work. I frequently received feedback on large chunks of my screenplay that was literally one word: "good," "nice." It was incredibly frustrating, especially since the aim of the course should be to provide you with as much experience writing and reviewing screenplays as possible, rather than accumulating a grade value (honestly, your grade in this course does not affect any sort of grade point average, it does not count towards a degree, if you half-ass your way through this course, it negatively affects both you and your peers who are putting more into it and hoping to get more out of it). Additionally, it would be helpful to learn about screenplay formatting before going into this course. The instructor doesn't spend much time explaining the intricacies of the format, which makes it a little harder to adequately begin writing and reviewing a screenplay.

Worthless. All he tells you to do is write ten pages a week. There is zero insight into how to structure a story or develop a character. It's all peer-reviewed material which is basically the blind leading the blind. Go pick up a copy of Save the Cat and you will learn a lot more from that book than you do in this class.

Great course well recommended i did the Transmedia writing course before taking Write A Feature Length Screenplay For Film Or Television and have enjoyed them both

The lessons are very short. All the assignments are peer-assignments, where other students review your work. I find these peer-assignment random, unreliable, and unprofessional. It does not help me learn and develop.

I expected more from the lessons, act two is completely fruitless, just "write 10 pages and upload for peer review" is not a lesson. However, I am thankfull for the peer reviews and I'm happy I was successful in finishing my full script.

A great course to provide the tools and techniques to help you write a screenplay. I will use them again. And hopefully again and again. You should try it too!

It's difficult to learn anything through this course. The professor doesn't teach you how to write so you are reliant on others taking the course but only a few individuals are enrolled at the same time. You need to review your peers work but a lot of it is more than 2years old and it's difficult to navigate submissions. In 24hours I haven't received any feedback and it's required to progress in the course.

David,

Thank you so much!

But for your guidance, I wouldn’t feel as happy as I feel today. The way you taught to break down the components of my own writing will definitely help me in whatever I write from now on. I’m gonna’ recommend my friends who are aspiring to take screen writing as their career to take your course.

I don’t know how I’ve fared as a screenwriter as this is my maiden attempt. But I’m sure I’ve learnt the basic grammar of Screenwriting through a well structured course and from a fantastic Master.

Thank you David, my Master!

I am not taking further part in this course. I found the peer-reviewed process very helpful with the poetry course I took, but not here.

This course, its instructor and many peers keep you motivated to write with joy, meaning and structure, especially in these uniquely turbulent times of socio-political flux with a pandemic on top.

A very well created course that allows us to explore the creativity within ourselves, while utilising the in depth knowledge provided to us by Professor Wheeler.

A wonderful and must course for every writer who wishes to write for television.

Not enough feedback from others on the couse.

Wonderful learning course with flexible space for the writer to generate a free flow storytelling writing pattern. Along the learning journey, I was able to self-explore and develop my writing style and also gained some necessary industry knowledge. In short, the course curriculum design is not too much nor little.

精彩的学习课程，灵活的空间让作家产生自由流畅的讲故事写作模式。 在学习过程中，我能够自我探索和发展我的写作风格，也获得了一些必要的行业知识。 总之，课程设计不多也不少不死板。

I am very happy that I finally wrote an entire feature-length script! I've written scripts before but they had been for short films and I genuinely feel like the script I've written with the help of this class has helped me become a better writer and also inspired me to write even more! If you are interested in film making or screenwriting I definitely recommend this course!

Love it... This is my second time taking his course. I look forward to the next.

I have been filled with hope and lighting in my life. For about 20 years I wanted to write the screenplay and I achieve this goal with your course.I am really happy that I write my first screenplay for your course. with the most popular university. And it was so interesting to experience that I could read assignments of peers and they review mine. I didn't have this experience before. We read our assignment without any judgmental thoughts or rude behavior and get many good reviews. I hope one day in my country everyone writes everything that wants and gets feedback without any judgmental behavior or rude behaviors or humiliation. I only have some worried about the copyright law for my work, It was the only thing that I was worried about in this course. Thank you for all the good moments you have created for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this class! Best thing I have done for yourself was get back into writing. I appreciated being able to take this very thorough course free of charge to see if I could really do it, it was hard, but kept me disciplined and writing almost every day. My only disappointment in it was the lack of commitment on the part of other students who reviewed my work with one or two words, not taking the time to even read it. Not sure what could be done about that but there were times I really needed advice, encouragement or a second opinion. I would have liked to know if anyone at all read it, especially Mr. Wheeler, that would have meant a lot to me.

But honestly, I loved it so much, sorry it is over! Again, thank you.

Carol Childs

The Other Side of the Mirror, Copyright 2023

At first, I would like to thank this course instructor. It's an amazing course I have ever completed. Yep, this course surely helps me in the near future when I will scripting my own fiction feature film. Now I know which areas should be focused while scripting. Of course, regular writing is necessary to improve my scriptwriting skills.

Love the approach Wheeler takes towards this course. It's to the point, easy to follow, and very informative! Overall, would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in taking a Screenplay Writing course!

Writing is discipline, this is what you'll learn in this amazing course.