MA in Screenwriting

Looking to build your future in the screen industries? MetFilm School is the perfect place to turn your passion into practice. Working closely with leading industry professionals, we offer you a career-focused, cutting edge, practical learning experience.

KEY FACTS

MA SCREENWRITING

• One-year full-time postgraduate course.
  
  
• For students who want to develop writing skills for creative screen industries.
  
  
• Build an impressive portfolio which includes a short film script, treatments for genre feature film, pilot screenplay for TV series or mini-series, two industry-standard script reports, synopses, outlines, project pitches and a long form Master’s Project script (feature or TV).
  
  
  

WHY TAKE THE COURSE?

The MA Screenwriting course equips you with professional skills to develop your own voice and produce marketable and commercially successful scripts for film, television and web series. During your studies, you’ll do a unique industry project for an external client.

• Practical. Work with professional actors who will perform your script in front of you, pitch your script to a panel of industry experts at the end of each key module, and receive professional script development support from leading UK film and TV production companies.
  
  
• Comprehensive. Learn about writing for different platforms: film, television, web, radio and games.
  
  
• Industry awareness. Learn from award-winning tutors and guest speakers with extensive professional experience as writers, directors, producers, showrunners and script developers for film, TV, radio, gaming and online.
  
  
• Career-focused. Write a script for an external client while working together with other MA students on an industry-integrated project. Receive real-life screenwriting experience and improve your communication, teamworking and pitching skills.
  
  

WHAT YOU WILL STUDY

• Screen Lab. You will participate in seminars and workshops covering a range of topics, including practical filmmaking skills, creative brainstorming, a survey of concepts underpinning moving image theory, and the state of the creative industries. At the end of the module, you will shoot a mini filmed project on an iPhone/Android, focusing on the primacy of content in the Say Something! exercise.
  
  
• Screenwriting Boot Camp. You will study key creative and craft skills a screenwriter needs in today’s entertainment industry, including fundamentals of dramatic structure, storytelling design and conceptualisation, characterisation and character design, and scene construction and analysis.
  
  
• Feature Film, Genre and Audience. You’ll look at the genre as a key method for developing and classifying films, and the relationship between audience, genre and screenwriting. You will gain an understanding of target audience, key genres, hybridisation of genre, plot and character mechanics of genre, and audience psychology in relation to the film viewing experience.
  
  
• Writing Across Platforms: TV, Online, Radio and Advertising. You will explore various screenwriting platforms and how the content and commissioning process varies across film, television, radio and online platforms. Topics covered will include formatting structures, narrative design, the development process for various platforms, and what screenwriters need to know about the range of visual formats available to them. You will also have an opportunity to develop a TV Pilot Script.
  
  
• The Business of Screenwriting. You will learn how screenwriters work within today’s entertainment industry, including the script development process, working with directors and producers, the role of agents, legal contracts and agreements, navigating festivals, competitions and writing schemes, and career opportunities for screenwriters.
  
  
• Research and Project Methods. You will begin to prepare for your final Master’s Project by exploring key research methods including defining problems, identifying areas of academic enquiry, formulating hypotheses, collecting, organising and evaluating data, developing and assessing conclusions.
  
  
• Master’s Project. This is a largely self-directed module during which you will work under the guidance of a faculty advisor towards the development and completion of a final screenplay or scripted project for film, television, or online content.
  
  

ADMISSION

How to Apply:

We accept applications and offer places on a rolling basis throughout the year. As our MA programmes are competitive we encourage you to apply as far ahead of your intended start date as possible. We are accepting applications for all future intakes listed.

Contact our Admissions Team on +44 20 8280 9119 or info@metfilmschool.co.uk

Entry Requirements:

To apply for the MA course you will need to be 18 years of age or older at the time the course starts. Applicants must have a minimum 2:1 honours degree from a UK university or overseas equivalent. Applicants without this qualification, but possessing relevant work experience, are also invited to apply. Each application is considered on its individual merits.