U.S. Southwest
University of Texas at Austin’s Radio, Television and Film Department (Austin, TX) – Page-Turning Screenwriting Training
The school offers a BS in Radio, Television, and Film, along with MFAs, MAs, and PhDs. It professes that its MFA Screenwriting program is “one of the most affordable, unique and successful programs of its kind in the country.”
The faculty is made up of working screenwriters who have sold screenplays to HBO, Warner Brothers, New Line Cinema, Walt Disney Studios, Dimension Entertainment, MGM, National Geographic, Paramount Pictures, Sony Entertainment, The Disney Channel, Lionsgate, and Happy Madison Productions. Students have won the 2017 Humanitas Prize in Screenwriting and the Academy Nicholls Fellowship in 2014 and 2010. They have placed highly in other screenwriting competitions, including the Austin Film Festival and HBO Access Writing Fellowship.
Past students have interned in L.A. at companies such as Miramax and Disney and locally at the Austin Film Festival and with filmmakers Richard Linklater and Terrence Malick.
Associate chair of the RTF Department, Professor Richard Lewis, says: “Educating students on the landscape in which they’re operating is really crucial for their success. Students need to move beyond thinking, ‘I have this creative vision and surely people will flock to see it.’ They should also think about where this movie or show is going to sell and who is going to see it.”
Recent Screenwriting MFA alumna Kat Craft, who is signed to CAA and is an HBO Access Writing Fellow of 2017, says:
“The faculty helped me develop and refine my voice, while also teaching me the ins and outs of feature and television structures. I wouldn’t have been able to write the scripts I wrote with them on my own. This program really prepares you to write a lot at a high quality. I loved that the screenwriting faculty basically has an open-door policy, and they are always happy to discuss your ideas and stories with you.”
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