Center for Digital Imaging Arts

Boston, MA 

 

What grounding/training in dramatic writing do you give your students? 

We do offer a one week story module that is exercise-driven and looks at scripts at the scene level. Since we’re a certificate/technical school, writing -- which, as you know, takes some time to really “get” -- is not as much of a priority as learning the methods of taking a script and actually turning it into a filmed scene. The focus of this module is for students to develop their independent projects. Through brainstorming sessions, writing exercises, and dedicated writing time, students are guided through the process of turning an idea into a final draft of a screenplay or a documentary film treatment.

 

Who are your instructors? What background do they have in terms of dramatic/screen/television writing? 

Our instructors -- in terms of writing (and for other modules) -- are all working pros, be it in doc, fiction, industrial, training films -- and, of course, the Web, where more and more work is taking place.

 

Do you offer professional practices or career-building classes?

Yes, we absolutely are geared toward prepping students for the workplace -- perhaps more than most schools in the area. Our placement/career services department is unique in its aggressive pursuit of work for our graduates. 

 

University of North Carolina School for the Arts

Winston-Salem, NC 

 

How long has your school had a screenwriting program?

Since the UNCSA School of Filmmaking was established (1993). 

What grounding/training in dramatic writing do you give your students?

The screenwriting curriculum begins with an emphasis on short films during the first two years while developing narrative techniques for developing feature screenplays. The last two years are focused primarily on writing features, although many screenwriting students choose to continue writing short scripts as well.

What courses are students required to take?

The first year focuses on basic screenwriting craft and developing the writer's individual voice. The second year focuses on story issues such as plot, structure, and in-depth characterizations. The third year focuses on writing feature scripts, while the fourth year is focused on preparing for a screenwriting career. There are also a variety of topic courses in the last two years, such as writing for television, adaptations, and genre studies.

What practical work are they required to do?

The minimum requirement for a graduating screenwriter is six short scripts, two features, and multiple film and/or television treatments and outlines.

Who are your instructors? What background do they have in terms of dramatic/screen/television writing?

Here is a link to our bios on the UNCSA site: http://www.uncsa.edu/filmmaking/facultyscreenwriting.htm

Do you offer professional practices or career-building classes?

Yes, we have two classes during the fourth year specifically on that topic, with other seminars and events sprinkled through the four-year program. We require each screenwriting student to complete at least one internship in order to graduate from our program. We don’t actually provide the internships, but there is strong support from the faculty and the school staff to help find good opportunities.

Do you have any events or programs that help bring your students' work to the attention of agents/producers/the industry?

Each year UNCSA sponsors an industry screening in L.A. showcasing films by graduating seniors. 

The professional landscape for screenwriters has been changing rather drastically in recent years. Traditional methods of professional entry -- selling spec scripts, getting a job as a staff writer on a TV show -- have been drying up. At the same time, some different forms of opportunities are opening up, including writing videogames, writing short films or homemade series for YouTube and the Internet, working as “story editors” on reality shows, wherein a writer’s job (although they are not called writers so as to avoid having to deal with the union) is to review real-life footage and construct narratives out of it. What are you doing, if anything, to prepare your students for this new world? Are you making your students aware that the traditional forms of entry may not be as available to them as they once were?  

Yes, this is addressed in several classes and several of our students have been involved with Web series.

Are you offering classes in writing videogames, writing for the web, working in reality TV? 

The film school already offers some classes in these areas and the screenwriting discipline is developing a course in writing for new media which will be available next year.

 

See Ray Morton's Training for the New Frontier in the September/October issue of Script.    

 

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