Writing for the Screen
Our world class MFA Writing for the Screen program trains and launches writers specializing in feature length storytelling that capture a global audience. Experienced, award winning faculty who are working writers in the industry guide students in developing a dynamic body of work that are reflective of their distinct voices that can garner professional representation by managers and agents. Writers will hone their pitching skills in preparation for selling projects to major studios, networks, and streaming platforms. The intimate and commercial screenplays crafted during these three years can also serve as samples for Open Writing Assignments. Our students gain real-world experience through industry interpersonal connections and build a vibrant professional network that can provide access to the multitude of creative opportunities in Hollywood and beyond.
Message from the Program Director
"At the start of my very first screenwriting class, my late life-long mentor laid out on the table over a hundred traditional and contemporary figurines of storytellers collected from all around the world. It was a breathtaking community of wordsmiths in front of our very eyes. That moment which lifted me to find my purpose will be what I hope you will discover here at LMU, one of the top M.F.A. programs in the world for writing feature-length movies as a profession.
We are global storytellers. At our Playa Vista Campus neighboring legacy and innovative Hollywood studios, you will create emotional, intimate, as well as spectacular narratives for screens of all sizes, to connect with humanity, threading a vast array of cultures and diaspora. In honing the craft of screenwriting and nurturing the creative soul from the bare core of your heart, the stories created will be ones you must and need to tell from the specific perspective formed by your lived experiences that compose your original “voice”.
I welcome you to join the community of storytellers. Here, we unite through imagination and narratives during uplifting and fractured times to express who we are, where we have come from, and what we might become."
– Weiko Lin, Graduate Director of Writing for the Screen
Course Requirements
-
Fall Semester
- SCWR 510 - Production Fundamentals for Screenwriters
- SCWR 540 - Elements of Feature Screenwriting
- SCWR 635 - Advanced Motion Picture Script Analysis
Spring Semester
- SCWR 541 - Writing the Feature Screenplay
- SCWR 660 - Writing the Drama TV Spec Series or
SCWR 670 - Writing the Comedy TV Spec Series - Film, TV, and Media Studies (FTVS) Elective
Total: 18 semester hours
-
Fall Semester
- SCWR 640 - Rewriting the Feature Screenplay
- SCWR 650 - Advanced Feature Screenwriting
- SCWR 685 - The Business of Entertainment
Spring Semester
- SCWR 641 - Feature Film and Television Adaptation
- SCWR 651 - Rewriting the Advanced Screenplay
- SCWR 598 / 698 - Writing Elective or
SCWR 661 - Writing an Original Drama Pilot or
SCWR 671 - Writing an Original Comedy Pilot
Total: 18 semester hours
-
Fall Semester
- SCWR 690 -Thesis Screenplay Project
- SCRW 661 - Writing an Original Drama Pilot or 671 Writing an Original Comedy Pilot
- SCWR 598 698 - Writing Elective
Spring Semester
- SCWR 691 - Rewriting Thesis Screenplay Project
- SCWR 692 - Feature Film and Television Portfolio Workshop
Total: 15 semester hours
-
Thesis Project
A feature length original screenplay that has been re-written in advanced workshop during the third year.
Portfolio
Upon completing the third year of the program, the portfolio will include three original feature length screenplays which are rewritten in workshops, one episodic teleplay, and at least one original pilot for television. Students may also generate additional writing samples for the industry through electives such as transmedia, video-game writing, podcast audio drama, or playwriting.