LFS aims to encourage writing as a continuous practice, to stimulate reflective and critical approaches and to provide a specific historical background to film narrative, genres, and dramaturgy
AN INTRODUCTION TO OUR MA SCREENWRITING
An intensive one-year programme that develops the writer’s original voice, embeds professional practice and enhances employability.
At LFS you will gain expertise and experience that form the foundations of your professional screenwriting practice. You will forge relationships and develop networks that propel you into the film and television industries.
MA Screenwriting focuses on the development of the individual screenwriter’s voice. You will be supported and challenged throughout your one year MA as you explore that voice through your screenwriting.
You will work collaboratively within a diverse, international cohort and within the conservatoire atmosphere of LFS.
The development of your feature screenplay, at the heart of your MA, is undertaken in small Feature Development Groups of 3 or 4 students, chaired by a tutor. Regular Group meetings are structured around the giving and receiving of feedback and the deep exploration of your feature project from initial idea through several draft screenplays.
The ambition and variety of students’ screenplays reflect both the depth of their creativity and the breadth and diversity of their backgrounds and interests. In addition to your feature screenplay you will have opportunities to write short screenplays and to develop a television series idea.
Screenwriting is filmmaking and MA Screenwriting situates screenwriting in filmmaking, collaborative, industrial and cultural contexts. You will join filmmaking students for screenings and discussions and you will have opportunities to collaborate with them and to script edit their screenplays.
You will be supported with workshops that introduce you to a range of creative writing exercises and to pitching, empowering you to generate and develop ideas, produce scripts and take them out into the market place with confidence.
You will read and discuss numerous screenplays, exploring aesthetic, craft and industrial issues in classes run by the Course Leaders. You will be introduced to - and encouraged to read - a range of theories and approaches to screenwriting. Your tutors will support and challenge you from a variety of perspectives but you will be encouraged to identify and develop your own preferred approaches to screenwriting.
You will consider screenwriting and filmmaking from historical and cultural perspectives and as well as developing creative work you will also produce a Work and Research Journal. The Journal invites you to explore, analyse and reflect upon your concerns as an emerging screenwriter. This underlines the School’s belief that analytical and reflective film-makers are better prepared to navigate - and to exploit the opportunities arising within - contemporary moving image industries.
MA Screenwriting embeds professional practice and industry involvement in the course, whilst developing screenwriters’ entrepreneurial capacities and enhancing their employability. Your course tutors are experienced, practising professionals and include screenwriters, producers, directors and development executives. They are also experienced educators.
Along with your course tutors you will be exposed to a wide range of high-profile visiting industry professionals who will share their expertise and insights. Recent visitors include Tony Grisoni, Jed Mercurio, Frank Spotnitz and colleagues from Big Light Productions, Howard Overman, Mick Audsley, the postgraduate, Berlin-based Serial Eyes television series writing programme and many others. In your third term you will be assigned an industry mentor who will support you as you make the transition from student to practising screenwriter.
MA Screenwriting is a demanding, intensive course and its rewards are considerable. LFS invites applications from creative, entrepreneurial and resilient writers who are committed to writing professionally for the screen; writers who may have a background in another medium, screenwriters who wish to burnish their existing credentials, or filmmakers who wish to master the mysteries of the screenplay. The screenwriting course will challenge you but it will also equip you to write professionally for screen-based media, with the lifetime of fulfilment that offers.
Graduate Testimonials:
“LFS teaches in a creative way: it focuses not on rules but on creating a methodology and supportive framework within which the student can flourish. The LFS experience is about finding one's own path, developing the necessary skills for a professional career, and building confidence as an artist. One of the great benefits of the course is graduating with your own feature project. Mine, the 'Tightrope', was offered by my LFS mentor, British producer Luke Schiller (The Souvenir PI, II). Now we are bringing the Tightrope to a fruition. On 'Tightrope' I am also collaborating with the course leader Sophia Wellington, who helps me with supervision of the script.
Connections and peer support is one of the great strengths of the LFS. Applying to study at LFS was one of the best decisions I ever made.”
Anisa Sabiri, 2020, Chevening Scholar and Screenwriter and Director
"LFS not only provided me with a fantastic toolbox of screenwriting techniques but also a chance to discuss my work with the most insightful tutors and classmates I ever met. I can only label my year here as a magnificent experience".
Gonzalo Maza 2017, Screenwriter of Academy Award Winning Best Foreign Language Film 'A Fantastic Woman'.
“I came to LFS following a 25 year career as an actress, so needed something that would challenge me. The intensity of the course was perfect training for the industry. By the end of the year, our writing muscles were as honed as Olympic athletes, and I felt well prepared for the marathon that is a screenwriting career. I'm always proud to tell people that I'm a graduate, and have noticed that the name has a lot of respect out in the industry whenever I casually drop it into the conversation! LFS was genuinely the best thing I could have done for my writing career.”
Angela Franklyn, 2018, Screenwriter of ‘Mozart’s Don Jane’
'I wouldn't be the writer I am without you and everything I learned during my time there.'
Samuel Jefferson, MA Screenwriting graduate 2014, BAFTA/Rocliffe award for Comedy Writing
"I have come to feel the impact of my LFS days on the filmmaker I am today. LFS is an immersive environment that instilled in me a passion for films that has only continued to grow. I used to love films blindly and intuitively. The lessons, discussions, and exercises at LFS changed that. They paved the way for me to look at films in depth and analytically. Now I love watching and making films even more."
Chi Mai, Screenwriter of 'My Mr. Wife'
“I always speak very highly of the Screenwriting MA at LFS when prospective students email me. I learnt so much there and have it to thank for a lot, so thanks!”
Ben Cleary, MA Screenwriting 2011, Short Films Oscar Winner for STUTTERER
Updated 15 Feb 2023
