Creative Writing and Film and Screen Studies (Professional Placement Year)

Immerse yourself in a world of stories on this creative writing and film and screen studies course. You’ll join a vibrant community and explore theory, criticism and the relationship between culture and narratives.

• Your projects, your way, with our support. You’ll immerse yourself in practical learning and get the chance to contribute to literary festivals, publications and podcasts.

• Get ready for an exciting career on an industry focused course that combines theory with creative and professional practice.

• Find your voice and enhance your creative flair. You’ll explore your interests in a range of different genres across print and moving image.

If crafting stories and exploring narratives on both page and screen are your thing, this Creative Writing and Film and Screen Studies course is for you.

You’ll pursue your passions in an environment that encourages creative experimentation. Surrounded by wildlife and a beautiful 18th-century landscape, our beautiful Newton Park campus is perfect for creative inspiration. In addition, you’ll get the chance to use state-of the-art film facilities in our studios, with cameras, mixing desks and editing suites.

You'll explore your creative identity on a course designed to help you develop your writing craft and find your writing path. You’ll be taught by exceptional published writers with years of industry experience and knowledge to share with you.

In our workshops, you’ll find friends for life who, like you, are inspired to create and want to spend time in a world of imagination, creativity and experimentation.

You’ll develop a critical understanding of film and screen theory and criticism and to appreciate the relationship between film, media and culture. You’ll develop the tools for understanding how society and culture is shaped by cinematic, televisual and electronic images.

In choosing this course you’ll be starting on a journey of critical understanding of the institutions of film and screen production, distribution and exhibition. The analytical skills you’ll develop will feed directly into your creative writing practice and give you deeper insights into the cultural industries.

Through your modules, projects and assignments, you’ll leave with a portfolio of work that demonstrates your skills and abilities. Like so many of our graduates, you’ll be ready for a career in the creative industries or postgraduate study.

Please note Creative Writing and Film and Screen Studies is a combined honours award, to find out more information please refer to our website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/ug-creative-writing-and-film-and-screen-studies/

Combined Honour Awards
At Bath Spa University many of our undergraduate programmes can be combined, so you don’t have to limit yourself to one subject. If you choose to study a combined award then in Year One you’ll start by studying both subjects in equal depth. From Year Two you can choose whether to continue with equal numbers of modules from each subject, or whether you want to select additional modules in one or the other. Upon successful completion of the programme you will graduate with a joint degree.

More about the Professional Placement Year
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where you undertake a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between your second and final years of undergraduate study. You can engage in multiple placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) yourself, with support from the Careers team.

Year one
In your first year you’ll be introduced to the foundations of craft and how it shapes meaning. For your creative writing modules, you’ll begin experimenting with a range of different forms and genres and have your first experience of the BSU writing workshop where you’ll learn how to work with other writers, giving and receiving feedback.

You’ll start to examine film as an academic discipline, analysing how films are constructed and how meaning is conveyed through form and content. You’ll have an introduction to key theoretical and methodological issues involved in the study of cinema, equipping you to write analytically about film.

You’ll also attend lectures from visiting writers and members of staff who will talk to you about their writing lives and experiences in the industry.

Year two
In the second year of the course, you’ll have the opportunity to explore a range of different genres and time periods across both Creative Writing and Film and Screen, including, for example, you’ll take a mixture of core and optional modules from a list that includes, for example, genre fiction, form and listening in poetry, writing for screen and world cinema.

You’ll also have the opportunity to develop your own creative project, supervised by a member of staff as you develop the skills you need as a professional writer. You can also take part in organising LineUP, the annual Student Film Festival at Bath Spa University.

Year three

The final year of the course gives the opportunity for major projects in both subjects. You’ll have the option to create a long-form piece of creative work and extend your writing skills in a range of film and screen modules such as film journalism.

Alongside these, you’ll have a choice of career-focused modules which offer you the opportunity to develop your own industry-facing creative projects. You can also take part in organising LineUP, the annual Student Film Festival at Bath Spa University.

Assessment is based on 100% coursework (no exams). Most modules will require you to submit a portfolio of creative writing along with a reflective or contextual essay in which you describe what you have learned in class, what you have learned from the set texts and working on your own writing.