Happy MA in Screenwriting graduates

MA in Screenwriting is a joint masters programme arranged by University of Salford (Manchester, UK) and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK).


Who is the programme for?

Those who have scriptwriting potential and wish to develop their film writing skills to professional standards.

Programme rationale

The rationale for the programme is the need to shift away from the European "Fine Art" attitude to film storytelling and towards a more trans-atlantic approach to issues of story, creativity, genre and commercial viability. The recent history of script development and subsequent film production in Europe has been one dominated by auteur writer/directors strongly subsidised by public funding. The consequence of this has been films of artistic value but with little commercial value and a series of national film industries across Europe that do not produce the film scripts needed to enhance their long term viability and which provide little creative or economic support to the screenwriter.

The MA in Film Screenwriting is, we believe, unique in its desire and ability to address these issues. The film industry is nothing without story. By making our students address issues of language (you unfortunately can't break into the mainstream American film market with European language features), genre, economic viability and artistic merit within the process of script development and script production, we hope that our programme can strengthen the European film industry by increasing the economic and creative viability of European writers.

There are four study modules, the two first in Tampere and the other two in Salford:

• Form and genres in film
• Storytelling and the Moving Image: The Short Film
• Storytelling and Moving Image: The Feature Film
• MA Film Project

The programme is taught entirely in English. Semester One will be taught in Tampere and Semester Two in Manchester. Semester Three, where the students write their MA Film Project, may be completed in either the UK or Finland.

The course will run from September 2011 until January 2013. Deadline for applications of Finnish students is May 16th 2010.

Application info (in Finnish)
Application info (University of Salford, non-Finnish applicants)
More posts about MA in Screenwriting (in English)
Blog posts about MA in Screenwriting (in Finnish)