BA Hons Screenwriting & Producing

A full-time degree in Screenwriting & Producing for Film and Television.

Start date - September 12th, 2011The script is the cornerstone of television and film production - from the point of conception through to the realization of the final work, the script forms the spine, structure and design of the final creative project, and all production ideas, decisions and executions emanate from it.

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This three-year undergraduate degree programme is designed to develop the next generation of writers and producers for the screen, i.e., individuals who will work on both sides of the film and television industry.

In doing this it goes further and encompasses more than a pure creative writing or screenwriting degree, since it also trains and educates new young writers in the commercial and production side of the screen industry, and develops key skills which are essential for the career success of a writer or producer.

The Course Covers

Storytelling & narrative structure
Characterisation & character function
Use of arena and an understanding of the screen as a visual medium
Dramatic construction
Audience empathy
Genre and the psychology within stories
The structure and mechanics of the screen industry
How to judge ideas and convert them into screen productions
Marketing
Legal issues
Budgeting and financial practices
The ability to handle writers, directors, actors and agents

In addition the programme includes essential business skills and a detailed understanding of the production process and the roles of project developers, production executives, script editors, agents and distributors.

Industry Placement & Practical Film Project

The course will also contain an industry placement and a unit in which students will write, direct and produce their own short film.

Learning Methods

Delivery will be by lecture, seminar, workshop and tutorial, and students will have the opportunity to work both individually and in groups, thus replicating industry practice, to specialise in preferred script and production areas, and to write and hypothetically produce their own film in Year Three.

Who Should Take This Course?

The course is aimed at students wishing to work in the television or film industry as writer, producer, or both.

It is designed to attract those who want to increase their employability and their understanding of the industry by operating simultaneously on both sides of what has traditionally been falsely seen as a boundary between different skills.

Employment Opportunities from this course

The US and the UK, and therefore the English language, occupy positions 1 and 2 in the league tables of international film and television exports, with London a major centre of screen production. And with the creative industries in 2008 growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy and predicted to expand annually by 10% (as is the global creative sector also), opportunities for employment in the screen industry are at an all-time high.

This degree trains the new generation of writer/producers, giving them transferable and wide-ranging skills which will markedly increase their opportunities of employment and success whether they are operating in one or both of the two roles.