Courses Taught:
Screenwriting Syllabi
SSW 510 Story Structure for Stage and Screen
Examines the structural components of plays and film scripts. Character development studied in relation to structure. Scenarios, treatments and a substantial amount of creative work realized as the student works toward development of a full-length piece.
Qualifications to teach SSW 510:
• Terminal degree in the Arts - (M.F.A.) creative writing/script & screen
• Managing Director, K&T Literary
• Member ASA (American Screenwriters Association)
• Associate Member, WGAe (Writers Guild of America, East)
• 10 years of professional experience
• Story Awards: Creative Screenwriting Magazine's AAA TV Writing Contest, Hollywood, CA (The Wire: Black and Blue, Police Thriller). Hollywood FirstGlance Feature Competition, Hollywood, CA (Eden Valley Rain, Suspense Thriller). PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Hollywood, CA (The Hole, Sci-Fi Thriller). 12th Annual Writers Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition, co-sponsored by WGA Signatory Literary Agencies in Los Angeles and New York (Red Sky Morning, Action Thriller). PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Hollywood, CA (Eden Valley Rain, Suspense Thriller). American Gem Short Screenplay Contest, FilmMaker’s Magazine, Irvine, CA (The Gravel Drive – Family Drama), etc.
• 25+ years of teaching experience (including classroom and online learning)
• Development and design of course curriculum (online deployment)Other: (Alumn)
• Robert McKee's Story Seminar, LMU (Loyola Marymount University), Los Angeles, CA, 2004. World's premier writing class graduating more than 50,000 working screenwriters, filmmakers, TV writers, novelists, industry executives, actors, producers, directors and playwrights.
• David Freeman's Beyond Structure, UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), Los Angeles, CA, 2000. L.A.'s most popular screenwriting, development, and fiction workshop.
“I look forward to enrolling in any future classes you may be teaching. Thanks so much, Sincerely, J. L.” (Student Email, Summer 2008)
SSW 512 Writing the Short Film
Examination of the special circumstances of the short film (less than 45 minutes running time). Students learn the narrative conventions of this format and write three film (5 minute, 10 minute, and 30 minute) scripts through multiple drafts. The best student scripts are forwarded to the producing classes for production consideration.
Qualifications to teach SSW 510:
• Terminal degree in the Arts - (M.F.A.) creative writing/script & screen
• Managing Director, K&T Literary
• Member ASA (American Screenwriters Association)
• Associate Member, WGAe (Writers Guild of America, East)
• 10 years of professional experience
• Story Awards: Creative Screenwriting Magazine's AAA TV Writing Contest, Hollywood, CA (The Wire: Black and Blue, Police Thriller). Hollywood FirstGlance Feature Competition, Hollywood, CA (Eden Valley Rain, Suspense Thriller). PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Hollywood, CA (The Hole, Sci-Fi Thriller). 12th Annual Writers Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition, co-sponsored by WGA Signatory Literary Agencies in Los Angeles and New York (Red Sky Morning, Action Thriller). PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Hollywood, CA (Eden Valley Rain, Suspense Thriller). American Gem Short Screenplay Contest, FilmMaker’s Magazine, Irvine, CA (The Gravel Drive – Family Drama), etc.
• 25+ years of teaching experience (including classroom and online learning)
• Development and design of course curriculum (online deployment)
SSW 685 Seminar: Narrative Adaptation
What do Sin City, Casablanca, Uncle Vanya, and The Pelican Brief all have in common? Whether comic books, novels, plays, or vintage films of yesteryear, the Hollywood “money machine” has always been keenly interested in the acquisition, use and packaging of pre-sold products adapted for film. Indeed, students of the screen cannot hope to be equipped to compete in today’s rough and tumble industry, or to join the ranks of A-list professionals working in Hollywood, without a firm grasp of the art of narrative adaptation. This course explores the ways prose fiction, stageplays, and screenplays are written. Through a variety of screenings, course exercises, and deep reading, it further examines what constitutes an adaptable prose fiction piece and, further, how that piece can be transformed into teleplay, stageplay, or screenplay format. The course revolves around the creation of a Treatment, Step Outline and Key Scenes to match a full length teleplay, stageplay, or screenplay – ending with a discussion of copyright, securing the option agreement, and a general overview of the business of film adaptation.
Qualifications to teach SSW 685: Seminar ...
• Terminal degree in the Arts - (M.F.A.) creative writing/script & screen
• Managing Director, K&T Literary
• Member ASA (American Screenwriters Association)
• Associate Member, WGAe (Writers Guild of America, East)
• 10 years of professional writing experience
• Screenwriter, 2005 Summer Film Project (Screenplay 1st Runner-up). The Gravel Drive – 1hr made for TV movie, INSP/I-LIVE TV
• Screenplay adaptation of Kirk L. Martin’s best-selling novella by the same title
• Screenplay Treatment/Adaptation of Greg Iles' NY Times Bestseller Black Cross, December 2006 (unproduced)
• Novel project (Cyberia) arriving Fall 2009
• Extensive research in the field of narrative adaptation, writer theory, including qualitative studies in the use of autoethnography (2004 – present)
• 25+ years of teaching experience (including classroom and online learning)
• Development and design of course curriculum (online deployment)
“I feel I have a lot to learn from you—and I thought it a bold move to let us read an earlier piece of yours for this course.... I’m definitely enjoying this course already and I like the choices you’ve made regarding the movies, stories and texts. Blessings, D.C.!” (Student Email, Summer 2008)
SSW 685 Seminar: Advanced Screenwriting
Examines a variety of advanced tips, tools, and commercial techniques for fine-tuning the screenplay. Course emphasis is upon moving scripts from the planning stage to polished draft with strong attention to the re-writing process.
Qualifications to teach SSW 685: Seminar ...
• Terminal degree in the Arts - (M.F.A.) creative writing/script & screen
• Managing Director, K&T Literary
• Member ASA (American Screenwriters Association)
• Associate Member, WGAe (Writers Guild of America, East)
• 10 years of professional writing experience
• Screenwriter, 2005 Summer Film Project (Screenplay 1st Runner-up). The Gravel Drive – 1hr made for TV movie, INSP/I-LIVE TV
• Screenplay adaptation of Kirk L. Martin’s best-selling novella by the same title
• Screenplay Treatment/Adaptation of Greg Iles' NY Times Bestseller Black Cross, December 2006 (unproduced)
• Novel project (Cyberia) arriving Fall 2009
• Extensive research in the field of narrative adaptation, writer theory, including qualitative studies in the use of autoethnography (2004 – present)
• 25+ years of teaching experience (including classroom and online learning)
• Development and design of course curriculum (online deployment)
"Thank you for the best class I've had a Regent to date!" (Student Email, Summer 2009)
SSW Seminar Courses Proposed
SSW 685 Seminar: Beating the Hollywood Reader
SSW 685 Seminar: Genre Writing
SSW 685 Seminar: Writing the Suspense Thriller
SSW 685 Seminar: Writing the Action Adventure Film
SSW 685 Seminar: Writing the Science-Fiction Film
Communication & the Arts Syllabi
COMU 100 The Christian Role in the Arts Today
A critical study, through lectures, readings, viewings and discussion, of the ways in which Christian principles can be applied to the arts. Course also gives students an introduction to the methodologies and language of the arts.
Qualifications to teach COMU 100:
• Original design and development of course curriculum for UG-BA-CTV core
• Terminal degree (M.F.A.) in the Arts - creative writing/script & screen
• Managing Director, K&T Literary
• Member ASA (American Screenwriters Association
• Associate Member, WGAe (Writers Guild of America, East)
• 10 years of professional writing experience
• Ph.D., Communication (in progress)
• Doctoral coursework adds another 23 "discipline specific" hours in the field of Communication Studies (COM) beyond the M.F.A.
• Extensive writing experience (scholarly and creatively) in the field of the Arts – rhetoric of film, faith and film, visual culture debate, media studies, technology, culture, and society
• 25+ years of teaching experience (including classroom and online learning)
“Professor Crawford did as excellent job with this course. I thoroughly enjoyed being his student.” (Student Course Evaluation 2007)
“...thank you for the time and effort you have given to our class this past sixteen weeks. Your love for the arts is evident ... You have a great gift of listening to people and their views and responding with wisdom and gentleness, while never compromising or apologizing for the truth. I am very impressed, and want you to know how thankful I truly am.” (Student Email 2008)
“Thank you very much for a great semester. I learned a great deal from you and hope I may find you in front of a class I take in the future!” (Student Email 2008)
“I really learned a lot from the discussions in class ...” (Student Course Evaluation 2008)
“I enjoyed it all, it was a very effective course. Professor Crawford made the course very interesting.” (Student Course Evaluation 2008)
"This class has been the best one of my first semester at Regent. Thank you so much for the effort and time you put into our class. I loved the reading material and the class discussions. You were a great professor. Hope to have you again in the future!" (Student Email 2009)
Animation Syllabi
ANIM 210 Writing for Animation
Writing for Animation is a three (3) credit semester length course in which we study the unique opportunities and challenges found in writing for animation in a variety of formats: the short subject, half-hour program, game platform and feature length development, with an emphasis on integrating visual elements such as sketches and storyboards into the writing process from the very beginning in order to maximize creative discovery.
CTV and Critical Studies Syllabi
CTVU 210 Storytelling and Screenwriting
Study of the way meaning is structured and perceived in the screen image of both film and video; introduction to basic narrative and screenwriting techniques. Includes viewing and analysis of narrative examples. Class includes three lecture hours and one twohour film screening each week.
Qualifications to teach CTVU 210:
• Terminal degree in the Arts - (M.F.A.) creative writing/script & screen
• Managing Director, K&T Literary
• Member ASA (American Screenwriters Association
• Associate Member, WGAe (Writers Guild of America, East)
• 10 years of professional writing experience
• Story Awards: Creative Screenwriting Magazine's AAA TV Writing Contest, Hollywood, CA (The Wire: Black and Blue, Police Thriller). Hollywood FirstGlance Feature Competition, Hollywood, CA (Eden Valley Rain, Suspense Thriller). PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Hollywood, CA (The Hole, Sci-Fi Thriller). 12th Annual Writers Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition, co-sponsored by WGA Signatory Literary Agencies in Los Angeles and New York (Red Sky Morning, Action Thriller). PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Hollywood, CA (Eden Valley Rain, Suspense Thriller). American Gem Short Screenplay Contest, FilmMaker’s Magazine, Irvine, CA (The Gravel Drive – Family Drama)
• 25+ years of teaching experience (including classroom and online learning)
• Original design and development of course curriculum for UG-BA-CTV coreOther: (Alumn)
• Robert McKee's Story Seminar, LMU (Loyola Marymount University), Los Angeles, CA, 2004. World's premier writing class graduating more than 50,000 working screenwriters, filmmakers, TV writers, novelists, industry executives, actors, producers, directors and playwrights.
• David Freeman's Beyond Structure, UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), Los Angeles, CA, 2000. L.A.'s most popular screenwriting, development, and fiction workshop.
“I loved the course, and thoroughly enjoyed/benefited from Professor Crawford’s teaching style.” (Student Course Evaluation 2007)
“I really enjoyed Professor Crawford’s lectures and power points.” (Student Course Evaluation 2008)
“I enjoyed the way the class was mapped out. I would not change anything ...” (Student Course Evaluation 2008)
“I thought this was a very effective course.” (Student Course Evaluation 2008)
“... thank YOU sooo much for this Screenwriting class! It was my favorite class
and the expertise and care you brought to it made it the highlight of my semester. I look forward to having you as my professor again in as many classes as I can.” (Student Email 2008)
"I have enjoyed this class more than any other I have ever taken. I only wish I had taken it 20 years ago." (Student Email 2009)
"Thank you so much for teaching this course! I learned a lot and now feel sharpened in the world of professional creative writing. Not only that, I know how to think vertically and horizontally in a way I've never been able to before. So, thank you for teaching us and keep it up!" (Student Course Evaluation 2009)
CTV Seminar Courses Proposed
CTV 685 Seminar: Alfred Hitchcock (critical studies)
CTV 685 Seminar: John Woo (critical studies)
General Ed Syllabi (Other)
PHIL 101 Introduction to Philosophy
An introduction to philosophy as developed in the European tradition, with attention given to significant philosophical insights borne out of different cultural legacies. Consideration of seminal philosophical questions in epistemology, metaphysics, and axiology. Both historical and thematic approaches will be utilized, with emphasis on students' personal philosophical development.
Qualifications to teach PHIL 101:
• Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in the field with a total of more than 60 discipline specific hours in philosophy, Christian apologetics, ethics, and the philosophy of religion
• Development and redesign of this course curriculum for on campus deployment
• 25+ years of teaching experience (including classroom and online learning)
• Extensive work in the field of analytics, postmodernity, and Deleuze-Guattari Studies
“I love this class and the teacher was great!” (Student Evaluation, Spring 2008)
PHIL 102 Logic and Critical Thinking
An examination of the relationship of communication to critical thinking with an emphasis on valid reasoning and the obstacles to its mastery. Emphasis on students' development of skills in logical processes and argumentation as well as applying these skills to the practical problems of everyday life.
Qualifications to teach PHIL 102:
• Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in the field with a total of more than 60 discipline specific hours in philosophy, Christian apologetics, ethics, and the philosophy of religion
• Development and redesign of this course curriculum for on campus deployment
• 25+ years of teaching experience (including classroom and online learning)
• Extensive work in the field of analytics, postmodernity, and Deleuze-Guattari Studies
“Thanks so much for all that you do for our students in the undergraduate program....Your influence and contribution is far-reaching and has eternal value.” (Dr. Ru Wideman, Ed.D., Department Chair for General Education, Regent University, Summer 2008)