Program Description
The major in scriptwriting provides students with a structured approach to understanding the craft of writing scripts for film, television, and other electronic media. By analyzing scripts and producing their own creative work, students learn character development, plot, structure, suspense, and tension, as well as the conventions of various genres.
Learning Outcomes
Successful graduates of this program will be able to:
- produce scripts that use appropriate industry standard for format
- produce scripts that employ the elements of storytelling for visual media (action, image, dialogue)
- produce scripts that demonstrate effective structural strategies
- produce scripts that present engaging characters
- produce scripts that combine suspense, tension and other techniques to affect an audience's emotional response
Portfolio Review Course Requirements
- EPMD 1000 Introduction to Media Production
- MEDC 1010 Introduction to Mass Communications
- MEDC 1050 Introduction to Media Writing
- SCPT 2900 Scriptwriting
- SCPT 3500 Writing Screenplays for Film or SCPT 3400 Television Scriptwriting
Degree Requirements
51 required credit hours
36 general education credit hours
41 elective credit hours
Required Courses
| EPMD 1000 Introduction to Media Production | 3 hours |
| MEDC 1010 Introduction to Mass Communications | 3 hours |
| MEDC 1050 Introduction to Media Writing | 3 hours |
| MEDC 2200 Ethics in the Media | 3 hours |
| MEDC 2800 Cultural Diversity in the Media | 3 hours |
| SCPT 2900 Scriptwriting | 3 hours |
| SCPT 3110 Script Analysis | 3 hours |
| SCPT 3400 Television Scriptwriting | 3 hours |
| SCPT 3500 Writing Screenplays for Film | 3 hours |
| MEDC 4100 The Law and the Media | 3 hours |
| SCPT 4400 Advanced Television Scriptwriting: Genres | 3 hours |
| SCPT 4500 Advanced Scriptwriting | 3 hours |
| MEDC 4620 Senior Overview* | 6 hours |
| *Capstone Course |
A minimum of 9 credit hours must be chosen from the following:
| MEDC 1500 Applied Media Aesthetics | 3 hours |
| FLST 1800 Film Appreciation | 3 hours |
| VIDE 1810 Video Production I | 3 hours |
| FLST 2050 History of Film | 4 hours |
| FLST 2060 Modern World Cinema | 4 hours |
| FLST 2160 Introduction to Film Theory and Criticism | 3 hours |
| FILM 2320 Filmmaking I | 3 hours |
| JOUR 2410 Introduction to Radio-TV Journalism | 3 hours |
| ENGL 3010 Playwriting | 3 hours |
| SCPT 3150 Topics | 3 hours |
| SCPT 4090 Screenplay Development | 3 hours |
| MEDC 4950 Professional Media Practicum | 3 hours |
| MEDC 5346 Writing for Media Communications: Scriptwriting (for seniors only) | 3 hours |
470 East Lockwood Avenue