Dear Parent,

Congratulations! Your child or teen has decided to partake in an incredible event called Script Frenzy, joining thousands of writers of all ages world-wide in bashing out a script in the 30 days of April. For one month, your son or daughter will dedicate their time to this amazing feat of literary abandon.

We here at the Office of Letters and Light are the facilitators of this event, and we'd like to take a minute give you a little background on who we are, and tell you why we think Script Frenzy is such a great event for kids and teens.

First off, the happy side-effects of writing a script in a month! Scriptwriting builds:

• Fluency – When writing a script in a month, grammar and spelling may not be the highest priority, but speed writing helps to implement style tools naturally. Things like similes, metaphors, archetypes, conveying mood, and foreshadowing will become second nature.
• Confidence – When creating so much text in such a short period of time, kids stop questioning themselves and just dive in. Long writing assignments and essay tests will no longer create groans of dread. They will smirk at required essay lengths and page-count goals knowing they've tackled that much and more while writing their month-long script.
• Creativity – Creating characters, situations, dialogue, and even whole planets from scratch helps kids think, but it also teaches them how to apply their fanciful ideas to a full project. They learn to develop and follow through on their ideas.
• Time Management – This huge project is broken down into manageable bites. Kids learn how to focus and stay on task without direct supervision. Our progress tools on the site help them to see how far they've progressed and what still needs to be done.

Some things to keep in mind to support your child or teen throughout the Script Frenzy challenge:

• Rest – Brains need sleep in order to process all that they're creating in their scripts. They also need oxygen, so encourage your son or daughter to stretch on a regular basis!
• Ergonomics – Make sure your child has a good work environment with an appropriate chair and keyboard layout. Arrange lighting to eliminate glare on their computer screen to avoid eyestrain and headaches.
• Prioritize – Commitments to homework, chores, sports, socializing, and other obligations may take top priority. So realistic schedules should be set up for adequate time to make page-count goals.

A little bit of background on us and the website:

Script Frenzy has two program tracks: an adult program and a young writers program. The adult site is hosted at www.scriptfrenzy.org, where all writers share the goal of writing a 100-page script on any topic they wish. The Young Writers Program site is hosted at http://ywp.scriptfrenzy.org, and is designed for K-12 students participating as a group and for any writer aged 12-and-under.

In the YWP, each participant sets his or her own challenging page-count goal for the month when registering on our site.

In Script Frenzy, participants write their scripts solo or with a partner. And everyone has the opportunity to interact daily with thousands of other participants in their age group through the forums. The Script Frenzy online community offers authors support through their writer’s block moments and celebrates each victory as a participant meets their page-count goal!

The adult site's forums are visible by anyone, while the YWP has private forums viewable only by other young participants, teachers, librarians, and Script Frenzy staff members. We encourage you to review the forums and talk with your child about what is and isn't appropriate to post in a public place and look at the information they plan on including on their profile.

All YWP forums are all-ages friendly, where strong language and inappropriate content is forbidden.

If you have any questions about Script Frenzy and your child or teen, please feel free to get in touch.

Enthusiastically,

The Script Frenzy YWP Staff

P.S. - Download this letter as a PDF to print here!