Lights, camera, paper? Before all the action, comes something that is the foundation of every good movie. The script. The very beginning of every good movie, from the James Bond series, to Harry Potter, to the Notebook, is the script. But how do you write one?

Well here’s your chance. SMCHS’s new screenwriting class will be up and running by the 2015-2016 school year if enrollment hits 15 students. If you’re wondering where this idea came from, the answer is visual arts teacher Todd Naylor himself.

Naylor has wanted to create a screenwriting class at SMCHS for years now. But it was last year not until last year that it really started to move along with a trial class of four seniors.

“We had a couple of students take the class last year, and two of them got into NYU Film School,” Naylor said. “I don’t know that it was all due to the screenwriting class, but that definitely stood out on their transcript.”

The class is dedicated to teaching students the fundamentals of screenplay writing, especially with a focus on TV shows and movies. The year begins with brainstorming, developing and more brainstorming. But after all that brain work, each student comes up with a solid idea for a 100-page movie script. The idea can be anything your little heart desires — from horror, to romance, to comedy, to Sci-Fi.

“I don’t limit students on what they can write because I want them to write their own story,” Naylor said. “You have to really know what you want to write and be passionate about it to make the story come to life. Inspiration can come from songs, current news, anything really. Then you come up with 10 stories then you narrow it down to one.”

This class is not limited to students who have taken video production classes, in fact, it’s open to the entire student body. Naylor believes that keeping it open will motivate creativity and imagination.

“The experience of learning how to create a story and how to complete that and communicate it and to get stories in their heads into other people’s heads is always a great lesson,” Naylor said. “But also the discipline to actually write screenplays. It’s not an easy task, but once you have done it you feel pretty accomplished.”

Naylor intends for this class to be a blended, online class that would meet about once or twice a week, depending on the topic and the pace of the class.

“The first semester would be choosing your story, developing your characters and finding the voice of your characters,” Naylor said. “Basically by the end of the school year, you will have written a full-length movie, like the ones you would see in the movie theatres.”

One year. One class. One hundred pages. Care to take the challenge?