Lesson 1 defines what the "Visual approach to screenwriting" is and why it matters. At the end of this lesson, the student should have a clear understanding of how to approach screenwriting. This lesson also provides an overview of what the rest of the course will cover.

Lesson 2 describes three concepts much in use in Hollywood: “High Concept,” the "Pitch," and the “Logline.” The structure of the Pitch and Logline, along with the use of the Logline as a story arc through-line and how to create them are discussed. At the end of this lesson, the student will know whether or not his or her screenplay is "High Concept" and whether it should be. The student will also know how to write a strong Pitch and Logline for his or her screenplay.

This lesson describes the purpose, structure, format and usage of two of the three primary physical elements of a screenplay: the Slug Line and the Action paragraph. The third primary element of any screenplay, Dialogue, is covered in the next lesson.

This lesson covers “The Do’s and Don’ts of effective Dialogue, including 13 Rules for writing dialogue that really works, plus the concept of the "Three Texts". At the end of this lesson, students should understand how to write, what to avoid and what to include when writing dialogue.

This lesson describes how about how to set the stage and hook the audience right from Go. This lesson also describes how to write the Setup portion of the screenplay and “the Opening Shot,” which is the first image the audience sees. At the end of this lesson, the student will be able to write the Setup and Opening Shot of his or her screenplay.

This lecture provides a definition of exposition and why it's necessary, as well as the Three Basic Rules of Exposition, plus Ten methods you can use to write exposition that isn't boring.

This lesson describes what a scene is, what a scene's purpose is, the Basic Rule for writing scenes and the two types of scene transitions: the cue transition and the dialogue transition. It also describes when, how and whether to use a scene transition. At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to write a scene and use either a cue or a dialogue transition as needed.

This lesson describes how to create – and equally importantly – sustain suspense and why it's important in screenwriting. The lesson teaches how to keep the audience sitting on the edge of their seats, unable to turn away because they have to know what happens next. The "Basic Rule of Suspense" is discussed, along with how to create suspense, the difference between a mystery and a thriller, Alfred Hitchcock's approach to suspense, along with his distinction between Suspense and Surprise. This lesson also describes the use of a "warning character" as a method to create suspense. At the end of the lesson, the student should understand how to create and sustain suspense throughout the screenplay.

This lesson describes how to use Landscape either as a character or a metaphor, or possibly both. In other words, how to use Setting to provide added texture, context and subtext to the story. It illustrates with examples how incorporating the landscape as either a character or a metaphor can add resonance and power to your story. At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to determine whether and how to use landscape to add power and context to the student's screenplay.