Screenwriting

This is a Connected Degree

Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.

Overview

Blend your love of film with your passion for writing on our BA (Hons) Screenwriting degree course.

You’ll explore theories and genres of film and writing through history, study how they might evolve in the future, and experience the craft of filmmaking both as critic and creator. This unique combination will support and prepare you to write short stories, create scripts, and produce screenplays.

From your second year, you'll collaborate more widely and chose modules such as filmmaking, editing, and having your scripts brought to life on the main stage of the New Theatre Royal by fellow performance students.

You'll develop skills on this degree course that will set up for a career in the creative sector, particularly the film industry. Other career paths include journalism, scriptwriting, marketing, public relations and teaching.

Course highlights

• Take part in Portsmouth's annual Comic Con for the latest developments in creative writing and literature, popular culture, fan communities, and technology – course lecturers and students are panellists

• Get the opportunity to shadow theatre professionals and have your work performed on stage thanks to our links with Portsmouth's New Theatre Royal and other local theatres

• Deepen your learning from an experienced teaching team of published novelists and journalists, prestigious magazine editors, scriptwriters, academic researchers, and performance poets

• Build your writing portfolio by contributing to our course blog The Eldon Review and hyperlocal news zine Star & Crescent

• Gain valuable professional experience by taking an optional placement

• Experience another culture and way of learning by studying abroad for a year or a single semester

• Boost your lingual abilities by learning a language with our extra-curricular Institute-Wide Language Programme – and earn credits for it

Careers and opportunities
Alongside critical awareness and creative ability in film and writing, you'll also develop project management skills applicable to any career path you pursue. Your burgeoning screenwriting skills will enable you to work in other creative media besides film, television, and the stage, such as video games and graphic novels.

You can also continue your studies to postgraduate level or take further teacher training to work in education.

Graduate areas
Areas graduates from our Creative Writing courses have worked in include:

• creative writing (prose, poetry, script)

• advertising and marketing

• arts and events management

• local and community broadcasting

• teaching

• stand-up comedy

• travel industry

Graduate roles
Roles graduates from our Creative Writing courses have gone onto include:

• novelist

• poet

• playwright

• teacher

• copywriter

• journalist

• theatre manager

• editorial assistant

Year 1

• Telling Tales
• Tips, Tricks, Techniques
• Writing for The Film and TV Industries
• Film Craft
• Professional Development for Screenwriters
• Screen Debates
• Future Production

There are no optional modules in this year.

Year 2

Core modules

All modules below are worth 20 credits each.

• British Cinema
• World and Transnational Cinema

Optional modules

All modules below are worth 20 credits each except Film, Media and Communication Study Exchange, worth 60 credits.

• Fiction Film-Making
• Screenwriting
• Finding Form - Fiction
• Creative Writing for Film
• Institute-Wide Learning Programme (IWLP)
• Student Enterprise
• Creative Writing and Critical Thinking
• Professional Experience
• Engaged Citizenship Through Interdisciplinary Practice
• Factual Media Production
• Film and Ethics
• Film, Media and Communication Study Exchange (60 credits)

On this course, you can do an optional work placement year between your 2nd and 3rd years to get valuable experience working in the industry. We'll help you secure a work placement that fits your situation and ambitions.

You'll choose from the modules below to complete your work placement.

• Film, Media and Communication Study Abroad - Full Year (120 credits)
• CCI Work Placement - Full Year (40 credits)
• CCI Self-Employed Placement - Full Year (40 credits)
• CCI Placement Plus - Full Year (40 credits)
• Film, Media and Communication Study Abroad - Half Year (First Semester) (60 credits)
• Film, Media and Communication Study Abroad - Half Year (Second Semester) (60 credits)

Year 3

Core modules

For your dissertation, you'll choose one of the following modules. Each are worth 40 credits.

• Dissertation (Creative Writing)
• Dissertation (Film and Media)

You'll also have these core modules, worth 20 credits each:

• Professional Industry Skills
• Self Promotion

Optional modules

All modules below are worth 20 credits each.

• Gender, Sexuality and Cinema
• Advanced Screenwriting
• Media Fan Cultures
• Writing Project (with Publishing)