About the Screenwriting MFA

Telling the stories that bring our lives into focus

The two-year Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting program encourages students to concentrate upon the challenge of writing a well-structured story inhabited by vivid, compelling characters. The elements of character, dialogue, scene, setting, texture, style, and tone are explored through an intensive workshop process.

About

"The great misconception among new and untested writers is that screenwriting is easy," says Professor and screenwriter Hal Ackerman, co-area head of the UCLA screenwriting program, "Trust me, it's harder than it looks. The beauty of a great artist, like a great athlete, is the ability to make something amazingly difficult and complex look easy."

Screenplay writing is a rigorous craft and, at its best, an art. In TFT's screenwriting program you learn all the key elements of creating scripts for feature film and television, including story structure, plot, scene development, characterization and dialogue. The goal is to prepare you to turn your stories into screenplays. A series of writing assignments guides you toward mastering the basics, which you use to conceptualize and begin work on your own scripts.

Established in 1965, the UCLA screenwriting program has provided a strong foundation for hundreds of alumni. Program graduates include Francis Ford Coppola (Patton), Dean Hargrove (Columbo), David Koepp (Spider Man), Josefina Lopez (Real Women Have Curves), Michael Miner (RoboCop), Brian Nelson (Hard Candy), Alexander Payne (Sideways), Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. (Norma Rae), Scott Rosenberg (High Fidelity), David S. Ward (The Sting), Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) and Caroline Williams (Miss/Guided).