Columbia SOA MFA Directing & Screenwriting Fall 2025 (1 Viewer)

I interviewed with David and Eric--it was actually super fun and easygoing. They asked me to let my guard down a bit before we started and it made the whole process much more vulnerable and free. They did refer to my written materials which made me happy--I would recommend going back and reading your submission just to get in the mindset of it! We talked about what in my practice I want to improve on, what group of movies or shows I see my work moving toward, why do I want to get an MFA, etc. I also interviewed with NYU and CalArts and this interview felt the most fun, sincere, and personal.
 
Just had my interview. I've been stalking trends from previous years, and it seems like no one thought they messed up their interview... But I really think I did. I felt like one of the interviewers wasn’t interested in me—she asked the final question (questions for us) when we had only been chatting for 15 minutes.
It was truly conversational, and as others have said, they try to make you feel less nervous at the beginning. But still, it can be stressful process for non-native English speakers, or just me. I think my verbal skills were just broken. Good luck to the rest of you though!
 
I know they have said historically there's around like 800 applicants, but is there any info on how many apply to which modality? I'm curious about the applicants proportional to the concentrations like directing screenwriting, creative producing, and TV writing? I know the program only accepts 36/24/12 respectively, but... are most people applying for directing and screenwriting?
 
Just had my interview with Elizabeth Kling and Melina Leon for roughly 30 minutes.
For the creative materials, we only talked about the visual submissions (I submitted 4 or 5). They asked me about what I’ve been doing recently, my ideas behind the four of my works, directors and films that inspired me, what I want to focus on in my upcoming works. Since they were not very talkative, I expanded on each question quite a bit, linked to answers like my method for visual storytelling, why I’m doing MFA, what I’m excited about Columbia etc.
I’m happy with my performance overall, and Elizabeth was very kind and complimentary!
 
I interviewed with Andy and Laura and boy was I nervous! They pretty much asked questions similar to everyone else and genuinely wanted to know who I was and what inspired me. It's going to be a looong month. lol
 
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