Angelina Maccarone is an Italian German filmmaker. In her work, she explores various genres: comedy, thriller and drama. Her films were shown at film festivals all over the world, winning numerous awards. She is also a professor for film directing at Film University Babelsberg, Germany. In my craft talk I would like to address the specific challenges of writing for film. The screenplay is a transitional format, a kind of "manual" for making the movie. It has to meet specific needs for its professional readers and to provide an inspiring foundation for such different crafts as actors, directors, cinematographers production designers and editors. It needs precision and clarity and has to leave enough room for creative input by others. The words you choose should create atmospheres and spark emotions, and they should trigger ideas for its realization.  Not an easy job but rewarding in its complexity. We will spend two hours on scrutinizing the ingredients of a good script by focusing on its smallest unit: the scene. We will explore how to transform emotions, thoughts and concepts into action. The screenplay is a dramatic form, it is about development and change. It describes characters in circumstances (time and place and situation), who are confronted with conflict, and who take action, in order to get or to avoid something. What do we as screenwriters include into the descriptional paragraph? How do we write dialogue with more layers than just people giving information? What do we learn about the characters and their circumstances through their deeds and choice of words? And—in distinction to theater—how does the scene heading (the supposedly simple choice of place and time) add to the cinematographic form? The James K. Binder Lectureship in Literature is made possible by Mr. Binder's generous bequest and honors his wishes that we bring leading European intellectuals to UC San Diego to provide a forum for rigorous discussions of literary topics.