Film Studies

This course serves as an introduction to the study of film and related visual media, examining fundamental issues of aesthetics (mise-en-scene, editing, sound), history (interaction of industrial, economic, and technological factors), theory (spectatorship, realism, and indexicality), and criticism (auteurist, feminist, and genre-based approaches). The course also investigates how digital media change has been productive of new frameworks for moving image culture in the present.  Discussion section FILM UN1001 is a required corequisite.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 1000 INTRO TO FILM & MEDIA STUDIES.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 1000 INTRO TO FILM & MEDIA STUDIES.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 1000 INTRO TO FILM & MEDIA STUDIES.

This lab is limited to declared Film and Media Studies majors.  Exercises in the writing of film scripts.

This lab is limited to declared Film and Media Studies majors.  Exercises in the writing of film scripts.

This lab is limited to declared Film and Media Studies majors.  Exercises in the writing of film scripts.

This lab course is limited to declared Film & Media Studies majors.  Exercises in the use of video for fiction shorts.

This media lab is a hands-on exploration of producing video essays as an essential aspect of scholarly discourse in the digital age. The course challenges students to actively engage with a range of media projects, guided by the tenets of critical media practice. Through a mode of scholarship and research through the creation of media, students will acquire both theoretical understanding of critical media and practical skills such as scriptwriting, video editing, audio narration, and publishing. Drawing on case studies from media and film studies, students are invited to review and deconstruct video essays, podcasts, interactive essays, and digital storytelling. 

The course aims to encourage students to think beyond traditional written formats, explore new methods of critical analysis and argument, and to create publishable or presentable video essays. It supports the conception and production of new knowledge through media, constructing critical insights that utilize the expressiveness of our contemporary audiovisual networks. 

The Artemis Rising Short Course in Filmmaking is a two to four-week course offered each semester on a special topic of filmmaking presented by an Artemis Rising Foundation Filmmaker Fellow (ARFF). This series was endowed by the Artemis Rising Foundation to bring world-class filmmakers with hands-on experience and fresh perspectives to Barnard to connect with students interested in filmmaking as a vocation and media literacy.

It can only be taken for pass/fail for 1 point. Students must attend all four class sessions and write a final paper in order to receive credit for this course. To see the dates/times that the Artemis Rising Short Course will meet this semester, the current course description, and the biography of the visiting filmmaker, please visit the ARFF website: https://athenacenter.barnard.edu/arff.

The Artemis Rising Short Course in Film Production is a one-point credit short workshop presented by an Artemis Rising Foundation Filmmaker Fellow (ARFF).  It consists of four workshops on a special aspect of film production and one final project. This series was endowed by the Artemis Rising Foundation to bring world-class filmmakers with hands-on experience and fresh perspectives to Barnard to connect with students interested in filmmaking as a vocation and media literacy.

It can only be taken for pass/fail for 1 point. Students must attend all four class workshops and produce one final project in order to receive credit for this course. To see the dates/times that the Artemis Rising Short Course will meet this semester, the current course description, and the biography of the visiting filmmaker, please visit the ARFF website: https://athenacenter.barnard.edu/arff.

Prerequisites: FILM BC3201 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 12 students. Priority is given to Film Studies majors/concentrations in order of class seniority. Corequisites: (Since this is a Film course, it does not count as a writing course for English majors with a Writing Concentration.)

This course is ideal for writers of their FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD screenplays. The first several weeks will focus on STORY: What it is, what it isn’t, how to recognize the difference. How to find your own individual stories that nobody else in the universe can tell.

From there we will make the transition to the highly individualized techniques, the strengths and limitations, the dynamics of telling a SCREEN STORY; what to leave in, what to leave out. As Michelangelo puts it—starting with a block of marble and chipping away everything that isn’t David.  Through studies of existing screenplays and films in coordination with and hands-on writing exercises which we will share in class, we will develop our skills in all aspects of screenwriting; building fascinating characters, dialogue, story construction (The BIG PICTURE) and scene construction (The Small Picture)

Perfection is not the goal; but rather it is to be able to say truly at the end of each day’s writing, “I did the best I could with what I had at the time. (Phillip Roth quoting heavyweight champion Joe Louis)

Prerequisite: FILM BC3201 or equivalent. First priority enrollment is given to senior Film Studies majors/concentrations. For more information on this semester's visiting instructor from the Artemis Rising Foundation Filmmaker Fellowship Program, visit: https://athenacenter.barnard.edu/arff

This screenwriting seminar provides students an in-depth understanding of the short form which will help them turn their ideas into a short film script (up to 10 pages in length). With a focus on studying contemporary international short films students will learn to write their own short screenplay, as well as learn to give and receive feedback and receive tips on revising their scripts. Homework assignments will include watching films, reading short stories, writing exercises and reading screenplays.

Prerequisites: FILM BC3201 or equivalent. Sophomore standing. Priority is given to Film Studies majors/concentrations in order of class seniority. If you are accepted into this course, attending the first day of class is mandatory. If you do not show up, you may be dropped.

This workshop introduces the student to all the cinematic tools necessary to produce their own short narrative work.  Using what the student has learned in film studies, we'll break down shot syntax, mise-en-scene and editing strategies. We'll include scheduling, budgeting, casting, working with actors and expressive camera work in our process as we build toward a final video project. 

Prerequisites: FILM BC3201 or equivalent. Sophomore standing. Priority is given to Film Studies majors/concentrations in order of class seniority. If you are accepted into this course, attending the first day of class is mandatory. If you do not show up, you may be dropped.

This workshop introduces the student to all the cinematic tools necessary to produce their own short narrative work.  Using what the student has learned in film studies, we'll break down shot syntax, mise-en-scene and editing strategies. We'll include scheduling, budgeting, casting, working with actors and expressive camera work in our process as we build toward a final video project. 

[Prerequisite: FILM BC3201 or equivalent. Please note that since this is a Film Studies course, it does not count as a creative writing course for English majors with a creative writing concentration.] This course will focus on the primary pillar of television production: the teleplay. Through a number of creative exercises, students will learn the intricacies of the unique screenwriting formats that are the half-hour and hour-long teleplays. Together we will cover the differences between an episode arc and a seasonal one, the requirements of A/B/C story plotting, and how to write an effective show bible. We will survey the existing pantheon of great television writing in order to help students narrow in on their individual sensibilities. By the end of the course, students will have a written original pilot and a mini series bible.

Prerequisites: both FILM BC3201 (or equivalent) and FILM BC3200 (or equivalent). Digital Production offers visual storytellers an incredible medium to connect and build an audience. It is an inexpensive, accessible platform to launch micro-budget concepts. Developing the storytellers voice  inexpensively is critical to the evolution of any student, no matter their starting point. The Digital Series course is intended to take students from story ideation through creation of an independent digital series. Emanating from a writers room setting, all steps of the process will be explored and supported by in-class discussion, examples and workshops. This hands-on class revolves around the TV series production model: breaking story, writing pages, preproduction planning, filming and post-production review. We will emphasize the writers voice, construction of series storytelling, and establishing realistic scopes of production.

This course examines the portrayal of significant themes in international cinema. Through a selection of diverse cinematic works from various countries, students will analyze different cultural, historical, and political perspectives. The course aims to enhance students' understanding of complex topics, their impact on individuals and societies, and the ethical questions they evoke. Through critical analysis and discussion, students will engage with a range of cinematic works that offer alternative narratives and perspectives.

In this class, we will focus on recurring themes and questions of contemporary queer cinema by engaging with a number of film genres and forms, and explore how filmmakers create queer visions of the world through their cinematic practices. We will also consider how these queer films are informed by various local, national, cultural and political contexts. Through a comparative, transnational and intersectional approach that takes into consideration the particularities of each filmmaker’s context, we will aim to answer the following questions: How do various cultural, national, linguistic, religious contexts affect the way queer identities are defined and depicted visually? How do these filmmakers create queer narratives that contest, complicate or reify dominant narratives of gender and sexuality? How do they play around with cinematic and genre conventions?

Films, directors and genres studied are subject to change but will likely include directors such as Celine Sciamma, Cheryl Dunye, Pedro Almodovar, Todd Haynes, among others; and various genres such as drama, romance, thriller, mockumentary, thriller and experimental film. 

Traditional film history has consigned a multitude of cinema practices to an inferior position. By accepting Hollywood’s narrative model as central, film scholars have often relegated non-male, non-white, non-Western films to a secondary role. Often described as “marginal” or “peripheral” cinemas, the outcomes of these film practices have been systematically excluded from the canon. Yet… are these motion pictures really “secondary”? In relation to what? And according to whom? This course looks at major films by women filmmakers of the 20th Century within a tradition of political cinema that 1) directly confronts the hegemonic masculinity of the Hollywood film industry, and 2) relocates the so-called “alternative women’s cinema” at the core of film history. Unlike conventional feminist film courses, which tend to be contemporary and anglocentric, this class adopts a historical and worldwide perspective; rather than focusing on female directors working in America today, we trace the origins of women’s cinema in different cities of the world (Berlin, Paris, New York) during the silent period, and, from there, we move forward to study major works by international radical directors such as Lorenza Mazzetti, Agnès Varda, Forough Farrokhzad, Věra Chytilová, Chantal Akerman, Lina Wertmüller, Barbara Loden, Julie Dash, and Mira Nair. We analyse how these filmmakers have explored womanhood not only as a source of oppresion (critique of patriarchal phallocentrism, challenge to heteronormativity, etc) but, most importantly, as a source of empowerment (defense of matriarchy, equal rights, lesbian love, inter- and transexuality...). Required readings include seminal texts of feminist film theory by Claire Johnston, Laura Mulvey, Ann Kaplan, bell hooks, and Judith Butler. Among the films screened in the classroom are silent movies –Suspense (Lois Weber, 1913), The Seashell and the Clergyman (Germaine Dulac, 1928)—, early independent and experimental cinema –Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, 1931), Ritual in Transfigured Time (Maya Deren, 1946)—, “new wave” films of the 1950s and 1960s –Cléo from 5 to 7 (Varda, 1962), Daisies (Chytilová, 1966)–, auteur cinema of the 1970s –Seven Beauties (Wertmüller, 1974), Jeanne Dielman (Akerman, 1975)–, and documentary films – Ellis Island (Monk, 1982) and Paris Is Burning (Livingston, 1990).

Advanced Film Production Practice is an advanced production and lecture course for students who wish to obtain a deeper understanding of the skills involved in screenwriting, directing and producing.  Building on the fundamentals established in the Labs for Fiction and Non-Fiction Filmmaking, this seminar further develops each student’s grasp of the concepts involved in filmmaking through advanced analytical and practical work to prepare Thesis film materials.

This course explores the richness--formal, political and thematic--of post-World War II Polish cinema, with a focus on the films of Andrzej Wajda ("Ashes and Diamonds"), Krzysztof Kieslowski ("Decalogue"), and Wojciech Has ("The Hourglass Sanatorium"). 

This course examines how globalization and the global success of American blockbuster films have affected Hollywood film production, stardom, distribution, and exhibition. The course will analyze blockbuster aesthetics, including aspects of special effects, 3-D, VR, IMAX, sound, narration, genre, editing, and AI. The course will also explore the effects of new digital technologies on Hollywood and the cross-pollination among Hollywood, art house, and other national cinemas. Finally, the course will examine the effects of 9/11, the “war on terrorism,” climate change, Covid, AI, and other global concerns on marketing, aesthetics, distribution, franchise, and other aspects of this cinema.

Some of the most exciting theoretical moving image work in recent years has centered on the problem of the acoustic sign in cinema and especially around the relation between image track and sound “track.” This course rethinks the history and theory of cinema from the point of view of sound: effects, dialogue, music. From cinematic sound recording and play-back technologies through Dolby sound enhancement and contemporary digital audio experiments. Revisiting basic theoretical concepts from the pov of sound: realism (sound perspective, dubbing), anti-realism (contrapuntal and dissonant effects), genre (the leitmotiv), perception (the synaesthetic effect). The silent to sound divide considered relative to the *19th* century Romanticism of the classical Hollywood score associated with the Viennese-trained Max Steiner to the scores of John Williams.

This course provides an overview of experimental film and video since the early 20th century European art movements (abstract, Dada, Surrealism), including the emergence of American experimental film in the 1940s, post-World War II underground experimental films, structuralist films and early video art in the 1960s and 70s, post-1960s identitarian experimental work, the emergence of digital video in museums and online in the 1990s to the present. The course surveys and analyses a wide range of experimental work, including the artists Hans Richter, Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali, Joseph Cornell, Maya Deren, Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, Michael Snow, Martha Rosler, Vito Acconci, Barbara Hammer, Su Friedrich, Julie Dash, Isaac Julien, Matthew Barney, Ilana Harris-Babou, and others. The course will study the structural, aesthetic and thematic links between mainstream and avant-garde cinema, theater, and art movements, and will place the films in their economic, social, and political contexts.

The seminar will explore the genealogies, key debates, and transmutations of cinematic realism: the diverse “realisms” on which it draws, and the range of meanings, uses, and abuses of the term. Questions of realism have been carried over from the traditional arts and literature, but have undergone a sea-change with the advent of photography and cinematography. While the concept of realism seemed bracketed by post-modern discourses and digital culture, the realist aspiration still haunts the cinematic imagination and the media at large. The claim to presence; the cultural conventions of mimesis and illusionism; the shifting values of document, witness, testimony; the relation of the material and the referential, of the authentic and the simulated – all ensure the continued fascination with realism in its myriad forms through our time. Traversing fiction and documentaries, mainstream and experimental forms, the seminar will consider both classical cases and challenging examples from diverse cinemas and cultural moments, and examine the political implications of realism and its capacity for transmutation and revival. Screenings will include Wyler’s Best Years of our Lives, Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, Kiarostami’s Life and Nothing More, Jia Zhangke’s The World, Leigh’s Meantime, Farocki’s Workers Leaving a Factory, and more.

This course focuses on the origins, form, and social relevance of reality television. Specifically, the course will examine the industrial, economic, and ideological underpinnings of reality television to gesture toward larger themes about the evolution of television from the 1950s through the present, and the relationship between television and American culture and society. To this end, the class lectures, screenings, and discussions will emphasize (but are not limited to) topic of race, gender, sexuality, and class. 

Disucssion section for Film GU4953 Reality Television: This course focuses on the origins, form, and social relevance of reality television. Specifically, the course will examine the industrial, economic, and ideological underpinnings of reality television to gesture toward larger themes about the evolution of television from the 1950s through the present, and the relationship between television and American culture and society. To this end, the class lectures, screenings, and discussions will emphasize (but are not limited to) topic of race, gender, sexuality, and class. 

Disucssion section for Film GU4953 Reality Television: This course focuses on the origins, form, and social relevance of reality television. Specifically, the course will examine the industrial, economic, and ideological underpinnings of reality television to gesture toward larger themes about the evolution of television from the 1950s through the present, and the relationship between television and American culture and society. To this end, the class lectures, screenings, and discussions will emphasize (but are not limited to) topic of race, gender, sexuality, and class. 

“It could have been otherwise.” -Noël Burch
With this brief yet generative statement from a foundational film theorist we are introduced to a major theme of this course, a graduate level seminar concerning the still-in-formation field of media archeology. Pursuing the material traces left by false starts, wrong moves, misbegotten speculation, and dead formats, this course will dig into the historical past in order to better understand our current media ecology, prepare for the computational future, and imagine how things could be otherwise. Archeology in this sense refers to the study of a technical object through investigating its origins (its arché), as a means of breaking down traditional linear accounts of history and reconstructing them along new, more lacunary, less teleological lines. This will be our goal. We will be introduced to media archeology as both a method and an aesthetics. Our approach will look for the old in the new and the new in the old, while locating recurring topoi, ruptures, and discontinuities. Marking a departure from more hermeneutical, text-based film and media studies models, we will instead focus on questions of hardware, materiality, and physical inscription—technological research that sticks close to the signal of mediatic events, close to the metal, close to the silicon. We will perform close reading and thick description, as in established humanities disciplines like literary studies and anthropology, but with radically different, non-phenomenological, non-discursive object formations. Topics we will consider include, for example, analog waveforms and digital pulses, mathematical versus narrative modes of epistemology, and what Thomas Elsaesser calls a “poetics of obsolescence.” Our readings will draw from the corpus of media archeology studies as well as consonant fields such as material culture studies, computer engineering, and the history of science.
 

This new class will provide Writing for Film & Television students with a foundational experience in TV Writing in the second semester of their first year at Columbia.  They will have studied feature writing in their first semester, and this class will explore how TV is different from the feature form, the unique structure of TV when compared to features, plays, and novels, the key elements of a good TV show and pilot, the different worlds of network and streaming and the current marketplace, how to structure a TV pilot, and how to write and begin revising the pilot episode for an original TV show. 

This is a specialized course designed to provide prospective producers with a nuanced framework for understanding the screenwriting process.  The course will explore all the ways a producer might interact with screenwriters and screenplays, including coverage, script analysis, notes, treatments, and rewrites.  Each student will complete a series of writing and rewriting assignments over the course of the semester. Required for all second-year Creative Producing students and only open to students in that concentration.

Pre-Production of the Motion Picture teaches Creative Producing students how to breakdown, schedule and prep all aspects of a low budget independent feature film.  Using one shooting script as a case study, the class will learn to think critically and master each step of the pre-production process. Students will prepare script breakdowns, production strip boards, call sheets and a full production binder.  Topics will include state tax incentives, payroll services, union contracts, deal memos/hiring paperwork, casting, labor laws, hiring BTL crew, legal, insurance and deliverables. Additionally, students will become proficient in Movie Magic Scheduling. Required for all second-year Creative Producing students and only open to students in that concentration.

This 7-sess­­ion master class examines the craft of thematic expression and social engagement by filmmakers who are successfully bringing non-dominant voices to the screen and working in regions with people whose stories are rarely heard. Through film screenings, lectures, critical analysis, and Q&A with guest filmmakers, the class aims to raise awareness, foster discussion, and instruct on visual storytelling techniques that integrate themes of social change, cultural heritage, and environmental transformations in Asia today, with a special focus on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China.

The class opens by surveying the emergence and development of the Tibetan New Wave Cinema movement, represented by filmmakers such as Pema Tseden, Sonthar Gyal, Lhapal Gyal, Dukar Tserang, Khyentse Norbu, Tenzin Seldon, Khashem Gyal, and others. Together, we will examine how Tibetan filmmakers bring lived realities, identity, spiritual traditions, and social tensions to the screen. We will analyze narrative strategies, visual poetics, and the ethical responsibilities of representing communities "on the ground."

This class also explores the intersection of cinema and mindfulness. Through selected films, readings, and reflective practices, students will engage with film not only as a medium of storytelling but also as a space for introspection, contemplation, emotional awareness, and shared experience.
 Mindfulness here is not confined to meditation but understood as a broader, integrative approach to being attentive, ethical, and present at every stage of filmmaking. It is a way of honoring the people, places, and processes that make cinema meaningful.

In the early 1960s, a number of new film movements in national cinemas around the world. Inevitably called “new waves” or “new cinemas,” these movements, usually made up of young filmmakers, would challenge both the cinematic industrial structures in each of their respective nations, as well propose often radically different approaches to filmmaking and to cinematic storytelling. This course will explore three important examples of this development—the French New Wave, the Japanese New Wave and the Brazilian Cinema Novo—and detail both the commonalities among these movements (aesthetic, social, political) as well those factors which made each unique. A special concern will be the relationship of the “new waves” to simultaneous radical experiments in visual arts, theater, literature and music. The course will begin with a consideration of Roberto Rossellini’s VOYAGE TO ITALY, a watershed work between Neorealism and subsequent cinematic modernism, and will conclude with Andrei Tarkovsky’s MIRROR, described by Andras Balint Kóvacs as “the last modernist film.”

With the pilot as a focal point, this course explores the opportunities and challenges of telling and sustaining a serialized story over a protracted period of time with an emphasis on the creation, borne out of character, of the quintessential premise and the ongoing conflict, be it thematic or literal, behind a successful series.

Early in the semester, students may be required to present/pitch their series idea. During the subsequent weeks, students will learn the process of pitching, outlining, and writing a television pilot, that may include story breaking, beat-sheets or story outline, full outlines, and the execution of either a thirty-minute or hour-long teleplay. This seminar may include reading pages and giving notes based on the instructor but may also solely focus on the individual process of the writer.  

Students may only enroll in one TV Writing workshop per semester.

With the pilot as a focal point, this course explores the opportunities and challenges of telling and sustaining a serialized story over a protracted period of time with an emphasis on the creation, borne out of character, of the quintessential premise and the ongoing conflict, be it thematic or literal, behind a successful series.

Early in the semester, students may be required to present/pitch their series idea. During the subsequent weeks, students will learn the process of pitching, outlining, and writing a television pilot, that may include story breaking, beat-sheets or story outline, full outlines, and the execution of either a thirty-minute or hour-long teleplay. This seminar may include reading pages and giving notes based on the instructor but may also solely focus on the individual process of the writer.  

Students may only enroll in one TV Writing workshop per semester.

With the pilot as a focal point, this course explores the opportunities and challenges of telling and sustaining a serialized story over a protracted period of time with an emphasis on the creation, borne out of character, of the quintessential premise and the ongoing conflict, be it thematic or literal, behind a successful series.

Early in the semester, students may be required to present/pitch their series idea. During the subsequent weeks, students will learn the process of pitching, outlining, and writing a television pilot, that may include story breaking, beat-sheets or story outline, full outlines, and the execution of either a thirty-minute or hour-long teleplay. This seminar may include reading pages and giving notes based on the instructor but may also solely focus on the individual process of the writer.  

Students may only enroll in one TV Writing workshop per semester.

The course seeks to bridge two intimately related studies that currently exist within the Film Program: 1. intensive academic analysis of filmmaking practices/principles and, 2.  the practitioner’s creative/pragmatic application of those practices/principles in their own work. Students will study, through screenings, lectures and personal research, an overview of various directing forms/methodologies (conventional coverage, expressive directing, comedy directing, subjective directing, objective directing, multiple-protagonist narrative, etc.) with a primary focus on the Western classic narrative tradition. The visual grammar, axiomatic principles, structural necessities of a variety of directing forms/genres will be analyzed and compared with works of art from other disciplines (poetry, painting, sculpture, etc.) and cultures.  The ultimate goal is student implementation of these principles in their own work, exposure to and examination of some works of the established canon, as well as a greater understanding of the context in which creation occurs.

Podcasts are an opportunity for writers and creative producers to showcase their talents in new ways and in an easily producible format. This course is a hands-on workshop in which students will learn the basics of every aspect of narrative podcasting (fiction and non-fiction) including topic research, market research, pitch writing, script writing, audio interviewing techniques, workflow and organization. By analyzing a case study podcast, the students will study story structure and pitch decks for scripted and non-scripted podcasts. After learning how to construct episodes, each student will record, edit and mix their episode. Students will leave this class understanding the mechanics of audio storytelling and with one proof-of-concept episode in their desired form. 

What happens when we reject the classic hero’s journey in favor of new myths? From folktales to franchises, this course from the Digital Storytelling Lab will explore transportive worlds and the methods used to create them. Collectively, we will deconstruct the idea that World-Building is a private practice and instead, uplift the notion that it is a creative tool to strengthen stories and expand ideas. As Author and activist Clarice Lispector writes: “Creating isn't imagination, it's taking the great risk of grasping reality,” but what happens when we use World-Building to shift the systems that govern our reality?

Leveraging storytelling techniques of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and Role Playing Games (RPGs), we will collectively build a world that transcends the classroom and moves into the outside world, ultimately bringing participants together to tackle complex issues and redefine solo authorship as a collaborative space. This course culminates in the collective experience of each other’s worlds and the Alternate Reality experiences therein. There are no prerequisites for this course.

An overview of the history, organization, management, and purposes of film festivals, and their roles in launching films and filmmakers, facilitating industry dealmaking and networking, and nurturing cinema culture. The course is centered around a series of guest speakers, including festival directors and programmers, filmmakers, distributors, publicists, and more. Students are required to research and complete two individual presentations: (1) Festival Presentation, examining a lesser-known film festival, and (2) Film Presentation, tracking the trajectory of a recent film that utilized festivals as a key part of its sales or release plan.

Screenwriting concentrates who are focusing on Screenwriting MUST take Screenwriting Thesis Workshop with their advisor at least once during Research Arts matriculation in order to graduate. Students may take this class with their advisor whenever it is offered.  They should consult with their advisor if they are considering taking Thesis Workshop at the same time as Script Revision or TV Revision.

Screenwriting concentrates who are focusing on Screenwriting MUST take Screenwriting Thesis Workshop with their advisor at least once during Research Arts matriculation in order to graduate. Students may take this class with their advisor whenever it is offered.  They should consult with their advisor if they are considering taking Thesis Workshop at the same time as Script Revision or TV Revision.

Screenwriting concentrates who are focusing on Screenwriting MUST take Screenwriting Thesis Workshop with their advisor at least once during Research Arts matriculation in order to graduate. Students may take this class with their advisor whenever it is offered.  They should consult with their advisor if they are considering taking Thesis Workshop at the same time as Script Revision or TV Revision.

Screenwriting concentrates who are focusing on Screenwriting MUST take Screenwriting Thesis Workshop with their advisor at least once during Research Arts matriculation in order to graduate. Students may take this class with their advisor whenever it is offered.  They should consult with their advisor if they are considering taking Thesis Workshop at the same time as Script Revision or TV Revision.

FILM AF 9120 TV Revision

The goal of TV Revision is to bring in a completed pilot and then completely revise it in one semester. Students will initially present their full scripts for feedback in class discussion, then map a plan for rewriting with their instructor. Deadlines throughout the semester will focus on delivery of revised pages.

The work can range from an intensive page 1 rewrite to focus on selected areas in a script. Reading of all scripts in the workshop and participation in class discussion is required.

There is an application process to select students for the class.

A great TV series starts with a great pilot episode. You have one chance to intrigue an audience and stand out from hundreds of other series—599 were released in 2022, and that only includes the English language releases! This course will share the building blocks needed to write the next compelling series, starting with the pilot. Not all buyers want to read a finished pilot, but as the creator, you’ll need to know your pilot inside out and become an expert in your series’ genre if you want to sell it. This course will be a combination of pilot outlining and scene writing with an exploration of character and theme. All this through the lens of the marketplace and your authentic, lived experience—the magic combination for a winning series. We will workshop your outlines and scenes in class. Any assigned readings, screenings, and exercises will be focused as much as possible on inspiring material that relates to your pilot/series idea. This course will support you if you want to write a full pilot script. However, the main objective is to finish the course having written a pilot outline and key scenes, as well as other material that's vital to a successful pilot and series such as character and season one breakdowns. You should come to the first class with at least two original logline/elevator pitches for series ideas to which you have a strong personal connection. Existing ideas that you feel would benefit from this coursework are also welcome.

Internship for Film Research Arts Students Only

Internship for Film Research Arts Students Only

Internship for Film Research Arts Students Only

Internship for Film Research Arts Students Only