USC Film and TV Production MFA - role of screenwriting

[gibs9000]

I've been accepted into USC's film and tv production mfa, but as I look more into the program, I'm wondering about the role of screenwriting/screenwriters. How many courses can we take in screenwriting? Have screenwriters / TV writers, in particular, come out of the program? I know we never specialize in a specific discipline, but how much opportunity is there for an attendee to hone their screenwriting craft?

(I know USC has a screenwriting MFA -- how much does this interfere with/affect Production MFA students interested in screenwriting)

 

[Chris W]

I reached out to some members attending USC's MFA production program and hopefully they'll be able to help you.

 

[Aseer]

I've been accepted into USC's film and TV production MFA, but as I look more into the program, I'm wondering about the role of screenwriting/screenwriters. How many courses can we take in screenwriting? Have screenwriters / TV writers, in particular, come out of the program? I know we never specialize in a specific discipline, but how much opportunity is there for an attendee to hone their screenwriting craft?

(I know USC has a screenwriting MFA -- how much does this interfere with/affect Production MFA students interested in screenwriting)

Hi, I am just finishing up my MFA in production at USC. After the first year, you have around 8 credits, out of the total 52 required to graduate you can use towards writing classes. The production credits though are quite a lot of work in themselves so I would suggest applying for the MFA in screenwriting (Great program) if you truly want to focus on writing, but if not, then you can definitely get entry level classes in Screenwriting and will get the opportunity to have a feature writing and re-writing class or a comedy writing class, in total 2-3 classes for writing while doing your production program.

 

[directedbyme]

finishing up my first year:

There are 4 classes we have access to.

Hi, I am just finishing up my MFA in production at USC. After the first year, you have around 8 credits, out of the total 52 required to graduate you can use towards writing classes. The production credits though are quite a lot of work in themselves so I would suggest applying for the MFA in screenwriting (Great program) if you truly want to focus on writing, but if not, then you can definitely get entry level classes in Screenwriting and will get the opportunity to have a feature writing and re-writing class or a comedy writing class, in total 2-3 classes for writing while doing your production program.

This.

I’m finishing up my first year in production, and production students have access to 4 CTWR courses. We are not allowed to take the writing classes that the writing cohort takes, these 4 classes are specifically for production students to be able to dip their toes into the writing division and get some education on the process.

All of them revolve around either writing a feature or re-writing a feature. I’m actually taking one of them in the fall, I’m really excited about it. I can keep you in the loop on things if you want as the semester unfolds

Shoot me a DM on here and I can share my socials with you so we can stay in touch if you decide to come

 

[scaldwellkerson]

Late to this but agree with what was said. I took 3 writing classes while I was there and had two classes that I registered for get dropped, both were television writing classes. I would say it's doable but they seem to be making it harder for you to take more writing classes, but not impossible. It isn't as easy as taking editing or producing etc. because they have a writing MFA but no writing BFA so the production undergrads and grad students try to get into the classes and it can be overwhelming for the writing department because their school is mean to accommodate a much smaller cohort size. Ultimately, within your production degree that's really what they want you to focus on but again, don't let it deter you if you want to try your had at more than just writing because the writing program students only focus on writing. At least in production or as a Starkie you get to expand. In hindsight, I would have pushed for more writing classes for myself in general but the credit requirements do make it hard.

 

[coder-writer]

Screenwriting MFA here (going into second year). Just wanted to weigh in from the other side!

The classes in our department are very walled off: mainly bc the core classes are in a workshop style, meaning around 6 people per class, writing each week and giving feedback on everyone else's material. So like what other's have said, we only allow writing students. (A few exceptions to electives though, happy to talk more about that if you wanna DM and swap socials)

In terms of "honing your writing craft": fwiw there's plenty of ways out side of classes to meet us screenwriters. I've given plenty of notes to production peers on their scripts and vice versa. This is my own personal opinion so take it with a grain of salt, but I'd say the main vector of improvement in writing is iterating and getting feedback from other good writers (i.e. why our classes are workshop style). One benefit of going to USC is that you know you're among the best of the best. So as long as you're making friends/connections and working hard with them at whatever you want to improve, I think you'll be set tbh. The writing improvement comes with that, not necessarily the classes.