Screenwriting

This is a Connected Degree

Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.

Overview

Blend your love of film with your passion for writing on our BA (Hons) Screenwriting degree course.

You’ll explore theories and genres of film and writing through history, study how they might evolve in the future, and experience the craft of filmmaking both as critic and creator. This unique combination will support and prepare you to write short stories, create scripts, and produce screenplays.

From your second year, you'll collaborate more widely and chose modules such as filmmaking, editing, and having your scripts brought to life on the main stage of the New Theatre Royal by fellow performance students.

You'll develop skills on this degree course that will set up for a career in the creative sector, particularly the film industry. Other career paths include journalism, scriptwriting, marketing, public relations and teaching.

Course highlights

• Take part in Portsmouth's annual Comic Con for the latest developments in creative writing and literature, popular culture, fan communities, and technology – course lecturers and students are panellists

• Get the opportunity to shadow theatre professionals and have your work performed on stage thanks to our links with Portsmouth's New Theatre Royal and other local theatres

• Deepen your learning from an experienced teaching team of published novelists and journalists, prestigious magazine editors, scriptwriters, academic researchers, and performance poets

• Build your writing portfolio by contributing to our course blog The Eldon Review and hyperlocal news zine Star & Crescent

• Gain valuable professional experience by taking an optional placement

• Experience another culture and way of learning by studying abroad for a year or a single semester

• Boost your lingual abilities by learning a language with our extra-curricular Institute-Wide Language Programme – and earn credits for it

Careers and opportunities
Alongside critical awareness and creative ability in film and writing, you'll also develop project management skills applicable to any career path you pursue. Your burgeoning screenwriting skills will enable you to work in other creative media besides film, television, and the stage, such as video games and graphic novels.

You can also continue your studies to postgraduate level or take further teacher training to work in education.

Graduate areas
Areas graduates from our Creative Writing courses have worked in include:

• creative writing (prose, poetry, script)

• advertising and marketing

• arts and events management

• local and community broadcasting

• teaching

• stand-up comedy

• travel industry

Graduate roles
Roles graduates from our Creative Writing courses have gone onto include:

• novelist

• poet

• playwright

• teacher

• copywriter

• journalist

• theatre manager

• editorial assistant