The Screenwriting minor is offered to students who wish to pursue careers in writing for film and television or in story development for the entertainment industry and especially students interested in pursuing graduate studies in screenwriting. Students in the minor study an inclusive canon of landmark screenplays from a diverse range of professional screenwriters and develop their own portfolio of writing samples, including short scripts, script coverage, treatments, and either a completed feature spec script or television pilot script. Courses in the minor address narrative structure and foundational storytelling principles, script development, pitching, inclusive screenwriting, the history of scripting practices from an international perspective, and narratological theories of the screenplay.

The Screenwriting minor is intended primarily for students not majoring in Digital Cinema. To complete the minor, students must achieve a minimum GPA of 2.75 in 28 credits of Digital Cinema coursework listed below. While Digital Cinema majors may declare a Screenwriting minor, only DCIN 300  may be counted toward both the Digital Cinema major and the Screenwriting minor. In order for Digital Cinema majors to fulfill the DCIN 200 - Storytelling Foundations  minor requirement already required for their major, they must consult with their advisor to identify 4 credits of course substitutions suitable for the minor. DCIN 331 - Screenwriting 1: The Short Script , which is also required for both the Digital Cinema major and Screenwriting minor, may be repeated to count for both, or Digital Cinema majors may consult with their advisor to identify 8 credits of course substitutions suitable for the minor to replace both DCIN 200  and DCIN 331 .

Students in the Screenwriting minor are eligible to enroll in Capstone (DCIN 410 ) to do a year-long project (6 credit minimum) if they wish to do a screenwriting thesis project.