# USC screenwriting app--creative challenge timing?



## sophiedog (Jul 15, 2008)

Hey guys, 
Does anyone (probably those who applied) know when the creative challenge scenes for USC screenwriting are set out? The ones on the USC site right now involve two people in an elevator and one in which two people live together. I'm sure they'll change the scenes--do you remember if they change in October or is it late like November? 
It's early but I'm just curious! Thanks!


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## A Plan Unfurled (Jul 15, 2008)

They haven't changed in at least 3 years. I doubt they'll change this year.

Have at them Sophie. Good Luck.


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## Jayimess (Jul 15, 2008)

Plan's right.  He's 08, I'm 07, and we all had the same challenges.


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## sophiedog (Jul 15, 2008)

Seriously? Wow thanks, glad I asked early so I can start working on them!


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## Jayimess (Jul 16, 2008)

You know what's funny?

I spent ten months preparing my applications, studying  for the GRE, researching schools, etc.

I tried a half dozen approaches to my "Most Emotional Moment" before finding the right one, same with my personal narratives.

I locked the Creative Challenges down pretty early on, though.  July or so.

Then, on December 9th, around ten at night, I decided they sucked, trashed them, and wrote two completely different, new scenes just before sending off the application at 1159pm on December 10th, which was USC's postmark date.

I got into USC off waitlist, and because I verge on neurotic, I often wonder...would I have gotten in straight up if I had used my first locked scenes?  Or would I have been rejected?

We'll never know.

Anyway, Sophie, the point of this rambling post is that don't fret too much too soon, because you just might end up tossing most of it at the zero hour.

Best of luck to you, and as always, I'm here if I can help.


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## sophiedog (Jul 16, 2008)

Thanks Jayimess! I work best under pressure, so I'll probably do a few drafts and throw them out also, writing new ones just before the deadline. I wouldn't be surprised lol. 
Right now I'm studying for the GRE, trying to force myself to learn hundreds of vocab words that I've never heard in real life. And relearning all that geometry that I thought I'd never have to use again from high school. 
I've started on the first act of a new screenplay also, but that's pretty much it for fall applications.
I think the Most Emotional Moment will be the toughest part of the USC app...that one I may leave until I really am under time constraints, helps me work!


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## Jayimess (Jul 16, 2008)

Re: Emo:  Write out what you think is your most emotional moment, then send it out to people you trust.  You'd be surprised at their reactions.

Personally, I wrote about the day my father died.  It would seem like that would be the biggest day in my emotional history, right?

I wrote this beautiful piece, but it came across as detached and fragmented...I was only seven, so time had faded the photographs in my mind.

It took a writing mentor to say, "This is an amazing piece, but it doesn't fit the prompt.  Your most emotional moment should be something you can convey so clearly that I can smell the room, hear the noises, and feel the same emotion."

It changed everything for me.  Instead I recalled the day in eighth grade that one of my closest friends was killed, and I found  out about it on the news while my mom was lecturing me because she'd found some contraband makeup.  I could still remember it like yesterday, and it showed in the writing.

THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT.


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## sophiedog (Jul 16, 2008)

That must have been an incredible scene, so terrible but powerful. I'm so sorry about your friend and dad! USC probably gets a better sense of its applicants than some other programs I guess, most emo moment is maybe the most revealing thing they could ask of people.


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## Jayimess (Jul 16, 2008)

I never thought of it that way, Sophie.  The emo does paint a totally different picture than any other work we submit.  And it makes you focus your other personal statements away from it.

It does give a broader picture of an applicant.  I guess that's why they feel secure choosing their students without interviews.

The best part of the different drafts is all the writing you get done.  I had to make a non-synced film for part of my undergraduate thesis package, and I ended up using the attempt about my dad as the voiceover.  I also sent it out in every application, allocating two of the permitted pages to this poem of sorts, just because I thought it came out so well and showed my writing ability...so jewels can come out of the struggle, though they might not make it in the big brown envelope to California.

So...get writing, and don't be afraid to take chances.


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