Screenwriting

Overview

The MA Screenwriting postgraduate degree at University of Hertfordshire provides an exciting opportunity to learn screenwriting in a highly productive culture of filmmaking, in tandem with students learning to produce, directing and filmmaking craft techniques. The course has been designed to offer students opportunities to initiate, develop and realise original and advanced level work in screenwriting – including story development, characters, dialogue and narratives. The structure of the program is designed so that production is informed b the ideas of the writer, and writing is informed by the practicalities of production and post. The program aims to: 

• Enable students to initiate, develop and realise distinctive and creative work in the fields of film production and post-production 
• Gain detailed knowledge and understanding of key production processes and professional practices relevant to the film industry 
• Understand the structure and operation of the film industry, its global scope, regulatory frameworks, business practices, markets, and audiences. 
• Develop a range of transferable and entrepreneurial skills which equip students to respond to the and future career challenges 
• Gain an understanding of sustainability within the film industry, the impact of production on climate, and the ways in which the industry can impact positively in this area, through a BAFTA albert accredited series of lectures and workshops. 

The MA Screenwriting postgraduate degree provides a practical and intensive study of screenwriting in an environment that encourages experimentation, professional development, and new ideas. The combination of creative, technical, practical and management skills – and shared tuition and collaboration with the Film Production pathway, in which filmmakers and screenwriters learn key skills – make this course unique.

Programme structure 

The structure of the programme is designed so that production is informed by the ideas of the writer, and writing is informed by the practicalities of production and post. Modules in film practice feature lectures and seminars on a range of concepts, practices, genres, and theories, which students discuss and develop in practice-based workshops in a range of settings, and with regular access to actors.  Students will create a portfolio of shorts, writing for the screen and see that work realised in the shoot and edit, as well as learn about the relationships between the script, the director, and actors, through weekly production and post-production activity.