UT Austin: Michener Center

The MFA in Writing is a three-year, full-time residency program, unique in its interdisciplinary focus. While writers apply and are admitted in a primary field of concentration—chosen from fiction, poetry, playwriting or screenwriting—they have the opportunity to develop work in a second field during their program of study. Students are typically enrolled in three courses each fall and spring semester; there are no summer classes. The 54- hour degree plan includes workshops and reading/studies courses in both chosen fields, flexible supporting coursework, and a thesis in the primary field of concentration.

Screenwriting is maybe the best-kept secret of the Michener Center’s top-ranked MFA and offers a unique opportunity to those interested in writing for film. Our emphasis is, first and foremost, on writing and on immersion in a community of creative writers, while still providing access to film studies and production offerings.

We admit one or two screenwriters every year from the smallest applicant pool of our four genres, so for talented screenwriters, the odds of acceptance are exponentially higher than in fiction, say, where the pool is several hundred. Our students take their core workshops with the several candidates admitted annually to the MFA in Screenwriting of U.T.’s Radio-TV-Film department, consistently ranked as one of the top 10 programs in the country. They also have access to RTF’s television writing workshops, film production courses, classes in film theory and history, and are involved in professional development opportunities in RTF, such as student productions, industry consultants, and script development sessions. Screenwriting candidates are encouraged to make dual application to both the MCW’s program and to the MFA in Screenwriting of RTF, and can contact our graduate coordinator for information about how to do this.