The Best Online Screenwriting Colleges

Regent University operates the School of Communication and the Arts which offers the Master of Fine Arts in Film – Television: Script Writing. This is both an on-campus and online terminal degree program, consisting of 44 total credit hours.

Course topics include:

• Aesthetics for the Contemporary Communicator
• Redemptive Film
• Story Structure for Stage and Screen
• Playwriting

Upon graduation, students should expect to have a portfolio of three full-length scripts minimum. Other similar degree programs offered at the undergraduate level include the Bachelor of Arts in Animation, and the Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies with a concentration in English.

Southern New Hampshire University, one of the most prolific and largest online schools in the U.S., offers the Online Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and English: Screenwriting degree and the Online Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing: Screenwriting degree.

The online Screenwriting bachelor’s degree teaches students how to write creatively for different genres of film, including:

• Feature-length and short films
• Television episodes and miniseries
• commercial and internet-based video

Online students learn how to create the structure of stories, and how to develop characters. SNHU offers students the opportunity to publish their writings in their online journal called The Penmen Review.

SNHU doesn’t require SAT or ACT scores, and also doesn’t require an application fee.

Program Length: 120 credits

SNHU accepts up to 90 credits in transferred classes, and offer credit for prior learning, which can be an advantage for students.

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Grand Canyon University is a non-profit university with many online degree options. The College of Fine Arts and Production offers the Online Bachelor of Arts in Digital Film: Screenwriting program. This comprehensive undergraduate degree requires 120 credits. These include:

• 34-40 general education credits
• 60 major credits
• 20-26 open elective credits

Students will cover a variety of class topics, including:

• Acting, financing, budgeting and distribution
• Audio production and design
• Advanced screenwriting
• Development and production of television commercials
• Visual storytelling and the creative team

Online courses run seven weeks in duration. Upon graduation students can apply to entry level potions in advertising agencies, digital design agencies, corporate film production agencies, and other creative entities.

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National University offers the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. This MFA is an online program with no residency requirements. The faculty who teach the screenwriting classes are professional screenwriters, and all live and work in Los Angeles, and are actively engaged in the tv and film industry.

Online students take 5 core classes, with 3 being about writing screenwriting, creative nonfiction, poetry, and fiction, in preparation for their thesis.

This MFA in Creative Writing can potentially prepare students for job opportunities in these fields:

• Independent film
• TV writing and development
• Commercial and/or industrial film
• Educational and/or instructional media
• Digital entertainment media

Azusa Pacific University offers the online Master of Arts in Screenwriting degree. This program is 30 credit hours, and students take most classes online in the spring and fall semesters. There are a few classes that are taken on campus, technically making this a hybrid program.

Selection of required courses:

• Directing for Screenwriters
• Screenwriting: Story and Character
• Writing the Feature Screenplay

• Adaptation for Film and Television

Azusa Pacific University is in close proximity to Hollywood, allowing for students to learn from lectures and collaboration opportunities with industry professionals.

The mission of the School of Motion Picture and Television at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco is to foster “creativity and independence in film-making as an art” in all of its students.

All of the degrees offered, from the Associate of Arts through the Master of Fine Arts, are taught by industry experienced professors who work in conjunction with over 60 of the top online entertainment specialists. This brings quality curriculum to all students.

The various fields of study offered include:

• Cinematography
• Directing
• Editing
• Screenwriting
• Producing and Production Design

Screenwriting is available online as an Associate’s or Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. For the bachelor’s, a total of 132 units are required for graduation. This includes 36 core units, 42 major units, nine elective units, and 45 liberal arts units.

Through the UCLA Extension online students can choose from three online Certificates in Screenwriting:

• Television Writing
• Feature Film Writing
• Screenwriting: Film and TV Comprehensive

The Television Writing Certificate is for students who want to write for short or long screenplays for television. Students take four required courses, with two electives. The courses include:

• Half Hour TV I
• One Hour TV II
• Half Hour Intensive
• Special Topics for Film & Television Writers

The Feature Film Writing Certificate is for online students who want to learn to write up to two screenplays for films. Students learn how to write for scenes, dialogue, and also learn the business aspects of feature films. There are four required courses and two electives. Courses include:

• Feature Film IV
• Feature Film I
• Beginning Feature Film

The Screenwriting: Film and TV Comprehensive Certificate combines the other two Certificates, creating a comprehensive instruction for TV and Feature Film. There are eleven required courses, which includes four electives from which to choose.

Courses include:

• Pre-Production and Production for Film and Television
• The Business of Entertainment
• Feature Film I
• Advanced Feature Film

Online students learn pre and post-production in filmmaking.

For the Certificate in Screenwriting from the School of Media Studies at the New School in New York City there is no formal admissions process. Students must meet basic eligibility requirements with most being accepted to the program. There are six total courses, with four required sequential classes:

• Script Analysis
• Screenwriting 1: The First Act
• Screenwriting 2: Writing the Screen Play
• Screenwriting 3: Rewrite and Polish

The additional two elective courses may be selected from the Screenwriting or Film Studies curriculum. Examples of these courses include:

• Sitcom Writing 1: Writing the ‘Spec’ Script
• Sitcom Writing 2: Writing the Original Plot
• Episodic and Procedurals: Crafting the Original One-Hour Pilot
• Screenwriting for the Web

Missouri State University offers a Graduate Certificate in Screenwriting for Television and Film. To apply for the program, students must submit a writing sample of five to ten script pages, or five to ten pages of prose. Once granted admission, students get a 15 hour graduate type of experience, which prepares the students’ script portfolio for working submissions on a professional level.

Students who wish to further their education may pair the Graduate Certificate training nicely with terminal degrees such as the Master of Professional Studies: Producing and Screenwriting, Master of Arts in Communication, Master of Arts in Writing, or the Master of Arts in English.

The passion and mission of the New York Film Academy is to prepare its students to succeed in all areas of the visual and performing arts. As such, screenwriting is at the heart of the curriculum. New York Film Academy offers online workshops in Screenwriting.

Online screenwriting workshops include:

• Story and Structure workshop
• Television Spec workshop
• Television Pilot workshop
• Writing for Comic Books

Online workshops typically run for 15 weeks with weekly classes. Instructors will provide feedback between sessions and may be available for live Skype discussions upon request.