AFDA Bachelor of Creative Writing first-year, second-year, and third-year students from the Johannesburg campus recently had the privilege of attending a webinar hosted by the South African Writers Guild on The Screenplay Format, featuring guest speaker Theoline Maphutha on 19th March 2025.
Theoline Maphutha is a highly accomplished screenwriter, industry advocate, and trainer with nearly 20 years of experience in film and television. Over 14 of those years have been dedicated to training performance writers and championing their rights as a Writers Guild of South Africa (WGSA) member. She played a significant role in advocating for performance writers during the public participation of the Copyright Amendment Bill in Parliament and was honoured with the prestigious WGSA Service Excellence Award.
In addition to her work as a writer and advocate, Theoline is a trained script reader and has reviewed and analysed over 500 scripts across genres for competitions and awards, including the WGSA Muse Awards. She has also served as a judge and panel chair for the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs). She holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute (AFI) Conservatory and has worked on several internationally recognized projects.
The session provided a practical approach to formatting screenplays to industry standards. It covered the fundamental principles of screenwriting format and demonstrated how various script elements contribute to storytelling. While briefly touching on different types of scripts across various mediums, the primary focus was on writing a film scene—showcasing how all these elements come together in practice.
This webinar was an insightful learning experience for our students, further equipping them with essential industry knowledge and practical skills in screenwriting. It would be great to highlight this engagement on our platforms to showcase our students’ exposure to industry professionals and their continued development in the field.