Curriculum
The first semester of the program offers a prescribed curriculum to all students. In the second semester, writers focus on their specialty while continuing to cross-train in another medium of choice. Cross-training develops technique and increases professional potential. The program also emphasizes collaboration with production artists. This is especially intense in year two, when writers can work with filmmakers from the Graduate Film Department, with animators from the Animation and Digital Arts Department, or with actors and directors on work for the stage.
There are independent study opportunities and special seminars so that even while working in collaboration and digging into a thesis, the emerging writer can build a curriculum that allows further specialization in the other mediums.
In Professional Colloquium, during the final semester, writers engage with professional artists and people who work on the business side. Professional colloquium includes workshops to prepare writers for the professional world -- how to present yourself in the world of theater, how to pitch stories, what to have in a professional portfolio. At the end of the term, writers submit their theses for evaluation by a panel of professionals and present their work in performance. Leaving the department, the writer has a network of fellow artists and the skills and techniques to pursue a career as a professional artist.
The two-year, 68-72 credit program awards a Master of Fine Arts degree.
* Note - courses are subject to change.
- Sample Two Year Course Curriculum by Concentration:
- Playwriting
- Screenwriting
- Television Writing
