Screenwriting - BA (Hons)

University of Portsmouth

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

You'll write scripts, see your work produced on screen, study screenplays and hone your writing skills with industry-experienced lecturers and mentors. 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.

Through close integration with our film production degrees, you'll discover how screenwriting interconnects to other specialisms within filmmaking, preparing you to write short stories, create scripts and produce screenplays with industry-wide insight.

You'll have the chance to learn practical production skills (such as camera work and editing) that'll enrich your ability to tell stories through film and enable you to produce your own screenplays from start to finish. Collaborating with drama and performance students, you’ll see your scripts brought to life on screen.

Once you graduate, you'll have skills that will set you on the path for a career in the creative sector, particularly the film industry as a screenwriter, script editor, researcher, producer or showrunner. Other career paths include journalism, marketing, public relations and teaching.

Course highlights
Learn the skills essential for a screenwriting career, including script timing and editing, continuity, researching, and using industry-standard scriptwriting software
Be taught by an expert teaching team that includes professional screenwriters with national and international experience, plus published novelists and journalists, prestigious magazine editors, script editors, academic researchers, and performance poets
Collaborate with film production, television production, performance, theatre and other writing students within the thriving creative schools of Film, Media and Communication and Architecture, Art and Design
Discover how screenplays and scripts come to life by trying your hand at camera work, editing and short filmmaking, and have the option to achieve Avid Media Composer editing certification
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
Benefit from our active connections with children’s TV and soap opera creators, and local independent creatives at No6 Cinema and Making Waves film festival
Build your writing portfolio by contributing to our course blog The Eldon Review and hyperlocal news zine Star & Crescent
Take advantage of great transport links to London - ideal for networking with agents and industry contacts
Gain valuable professional experience by taking an optional placement in the creative industries
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

4 years sandwich with work placement