5 Top Online Screenwriting MFA Programs, Presented by Western Colorado University

Emerson College MFA in Writing for Film and Television | Boston and Los Angeles

Emerson’s program offers a rich, bicoastal experience to students who may not want to choose either coast permanently. The result is a more diverse group of students, with more unique stories to tell, says Jim Lane, the graduate program director for Writing for Film and Television.

“It really is cool to see the different perspectives that the students bring to the table,” he says.

This two-year course features four six-day, on-campus residencies, alternating between Emerson’s Boston home campus and Emerson Los Angeles. The first semester starts in Boston and focuses on Story and Shorts; the second is in Los Angeles and covers Pilots and Series Television/Cable/Streaming; the third goes back to Boston to cover Features and Cable Movies; and the fourth and final semester goes back to L.A. for a study of The Entertainment Industry, and how to navigate it.

“We have a good representation of students of color. We have a good representation of gender,” he says. “We have students who graduated right out of college, and students who are coming back after 25 years. The variety of interests and creative projects is really quite wide.”

He adds: “We have a student right now who lives in Wichita, Kansas. We have students living in West Texas. I’ve gotten students in Northern Florida, San Francisco, Los Angeles.”

The program also features peer group workshops and guest lectures, staged readings, and pitches.

Emerson’s rotating Semel Chair in Screenwriting is a successful screenwriter who conducts master classes, meets students, and leads screenings and discussions. Recent ones were Krista Vernoff, head writer and executive producer of Grey’s Anatomy, Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk, and Cheo Hodari Coker, showrunner of Luke Cage.

Even as a graduate of Harvard, with advanced degrees from UCLA, Lane says low-residency programs can provide advantages that brick-and-mortar schools can’t. For example, smaller online classes mean every student’s voice is heard.

“In an online format, you can’t hide. You have to respond,” he notes.

You can learn more here.

COST: $52,000

LENGTH: Two years

Keep reading for another of our Top 5 low-residency screenwriting MFA programs.

Lesley University MFA in Creative Writing: Writing for Stage and Screen | Cambridge, Massachusetts

Students focus on one of six genres, including Writing for Stage and Screen, but develop a well-rounded writing background by exploring the other five areas of study as well. (They are Fiction, Graphic Novels & Comics, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Writing for Young People.) It’s easy to see how knowledge of one genre fortifies your work in another: For example, a graphic novel is “like a storyboard in many respects,” notes faculty member Jami Brandli, a playwright who also writes screenplay and develops television shows.

Students gain exposure through Lesley’s close affiliation with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. And Lesley’s location in bustling, beautiful Cambridge — it’s a stone’s throw from Harvard — means low-residency MFA students can enjoy staged readings of their work with professionals. They also come out of the program with a minimum of four full-length scripts.

“We are one of the most rigorous programs in terms of creating content,” says Brandli.

You can learn more here.

COST: $42,875

LENGTH: Two years

Click ahead for more of our five top low-residency MFA programs in screenwriting.

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