BA (Hons) Screenwriting

AI Creative Practice

This module introduces you to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within contemporary creative practice. It is designed to develop awareness, confidence, and a basic critical understanding of how AI is used across creative disciplines. 

You will be introduced to the ways AI intersects with areas such as writing, media production, performance, audio, and visual design. Early teaching provides an accessible overview of key ideas including authorship, originality, bias, and ethical considerations. 

Following this, you will undertake an individual exploration into the use of AI within a chosen creative context or area of practice. This exploration may involve practical experimentation, comparison of outputs, or a combination of both. 

The emphasis of the module is on exploration rather than technical mastery. You will be encouraged to try out AI tools, observe their effects, and begin to recognise your own judgement in relation to the outputs you produce. 

Foundations of Screen Story 

This module introduces you to the fundamental principles of narrative design for the screen. Lectures and screenings deconstruct how stories are built, sustained, and resolved across a wide range of screen narratives and forms.  

You will learn the core underpinnings of screen story – character, structure, conflict, theme, and genre – while appreciating how different disciplines (production, directing, writing, audio, VFX, production design, editing, cinematography, etc.) contribute to and shape narrative meaning. Core focuses concern the nature and importance of creative collaboration, artistic vision and voice, and ‘influencers’ from the past and historical contexts. 

The module is not practice-based in production terms, but analytical and creative, encouraging a critical eye and a passionate engagement. It prepares you to write better scripts, shoot more purposeful coverage, design more expressive sound and visuals, and critique media more intelligently.

Conflict and Subtext

This module introduces you to character-driven storytelling, focusing on how psychological foundations shape behaviour on screen.

You will explore the relationship between character, conflict, and subtext, developing an understanding of how internal motivations are expressed through action and dialogue. 

Through a series of practical writing exercises and workshops, you will investigate how characters are constructed, including the role of backstory, desire, flaw, and internal contradiction.

The module emphasises the translation of psychological depth into observable behaviour, encouraging you to move beyond exposition and towards “showing” character through dramatic action. 

You will analyse selected screen texts to identify how character operates within scenes, with particular attention to tension, stakes, and shifting power dynamics.

You will apply these insights to your own work, producing short scenes that demonstrate an emerging control of character voice, interaction, and subtext.

The curriculum is structured to support iterative development, with opportunities for peer discussion, feedback, and redrafting.

You are encouraged to reflect on your creative decision-making, developing an awareness of how choices around character and behaviour shape audience engagement.

By the end of the module, you will have developed foundational skills in constructing character-led scenes and an understanding of how psychological frameworks underpin effective screen storytelling.

Writing the Short Film

This module introduces you to the craft of writing for short film, focusing on how ideas are translated into concise, visually driven screen narratives. 

The short film is explored as a distinct storytelling form with its own conventions, including economy of storytelling, clarity of premise, and effective audience engagement. You will be encouraged to think in terms of action, behaviour, and visual storytelling, rather than description or exposition. 

The module is designed for students from a range of creative disciplines, including screenwriting, film production, performance, and media. It provides accessible entry points for those with little or no prior writing experience, while also enabling more experienced writers to develop and refine their practice. 

You will develop two original short screenplay projects, allowing you to explore different narrative approaches and apply core storytelling principles across multiple ideas.

Screen Development and Audience

This module aims to introduce you to the relationship between screen genres and audience expectations across film, television, and digital content.

It focuses on how genre conventions such as narrative, character, and visual style are used to engage audiences and how these conventions are repeated and adapted over time.

The module also introduces you to the idea that screen content is developed with particular audiences in mind, using genre as a starting point for both analysis and creative thinking.

Screen Structure

This module introduces you to the principles of narrative structure in screenwriting, focusing on how stories develop, escalate, and sustain audience engagement over time. 

You will learn how to construct a coherent narrative around a central character, exploring how conflict, stakes, and turning points shape story progression.

The module considers structure as a means of shaping audience experience, emphasising the relationship between character and narrative. 

A range of structural frameworks are introduced, including Vogler’s Hero’s Journey, Hauge’s Identity to Essence, and Yorke’s Five-Act Structure. These are presented as analytical tools through which you can explore, interpret, and refine your own work. 

In this module, you will develop a structured short screenplay, demonstrating narrative progression, coherence, and transformation. 

Projects

The module provides a structured framework within which you will undertake a suite of specialist projects appropriate to your degree programme, developing independent working practices.

You will be expected to respond to multiple project briefs (typically 2-4) across two semesters, managing time, resources, and creative or research-based workflows. 

The projects support the development of discipline-specific technical, creative, and analytical skills to a standard appropriate for progression to major projects and career preparation. Most projects will require team/group work and collaboration, sometimes between degree pathways, reflecting industry practice wherever possible. 

You should engage with non-practical forms of inquiry (e.g., essays, reports, case studies, critical analyses) alongside practical production, fostering critical reflection and research literacy. 

The module prepares you to evaluate your own work against professional, academic, or audience-facing criteria, articulating strengths, weaknesses, and lessons for future practice. This will in most cases involve team/group work on the projects themselves, and working to fixed delivery deadlines across both semesters. 

Alongside the project(s) outcomes, be that written or practical, students document and critically reflect upon their research, creative influences, production processes, and final outcomes through a structured individual portfolio. 

All productions/projects should be analysed using the BFI Albert Sustainable Production Framework.

Arcs and Theme

This module explores how character transformation creates meaning within screen storytelling, focusing on the relationship between a writer’s perspective and how this is expressed through character behaviour, conflict, and change. 

You will develop ideas that connect to your own interests, values, and perspectives, and translate these into character-driven narratives. The module emphasises that theme emerges through action, decision-making, and consequence, rather than being treated as an abstract concept. 

Through development work and scriptwriting, you will learn to design character arcs, construct thematic conflict, and communicate meaning through narrative progression.

TV Series Development and Pitch

This module introduces you to the development of original television series, focusing on the creation, shaping, and communication of ideas for long-form screen storytelling. 

You will work collaboratively to develop a series concept, exploring character, world, and narrative structure across multiple episodes. The module emphasises development as an iterative creative process, requiring you to generate, test, and refine ideas in response to feedback and constraints.

Alongside this, you will develop the ability to articulate and position your ideas, considering audience, genre, and industry context. 

The module is suitable for students from a range of creative disciplines, including screenwriting, performance, and production, supporting collaborative approaches to storytelling. 

Writing the TV Script

This module focuses on the development and writing of a complete television episode, enabling you to apply your understanding of character, structure, and series design within a sustained piece of screenwriting. 

You will develop an original pilot episode for a television series, addressing both the demands of a contained narrative and the requirements of an ongoing series. The module emphasises narrative progression, character-driven storytelling, and the craft of writing for television. 

The module introduces and develops key principles of character, structure, and series design, enabling you to shape an original idea into a structured television screenplay. 

Prioritising drafting and redrafting, it will encourage you to refine your work through feedback and iterative development. 

Adaptation

This module explores adaptation as a process of interpretation, transformation and creative authorship, examining how source material is reshaped for screen, digital, and interactive storytelling.

You will analyse and reinterpret a wide range of materials (fiction, non‑fiction, real events, folklore, and existing narrative frameworks), investigating how meaning can shift when a story is transformed for a new audience, form or medium.

A key focus is on decision-making in adaptation, including perspective, theme, structure, originality versus familiarity, and how to balance innovation with recognisable elements.

The module also examines why stories are adapted at all, drawing on adaptation theory, folklore evolution, and the changing function of stories through history.

Adaptation is presented not as direct translation but as creative construction, encouraging you to develop your voice through interpretation, reframing, and narrative transformation.

Dissertation

You will undertake a substantial, self-directed project (group or individual) that represents the culmination of your undergraduate study.

It will require you to synthesise, where applicable, technical skills, theoretical knowledge, creative vision, and professional practices to produce a substantial piece of original work (group or individual) accompanied by an individual portfolio exploring research methodologies and underpinned by critical reflection. 

The dissertation is defined not by a single format, but by its significance, ambition, and rigour. You will propose and execute a project that aligns with your discipline while demonstrating an understanding of its context within the broader screen arts landscape. Unlike traditional written dissertations, this module accepts diverse outputs—from films and screenplays to audio dramas, sports documentaries, essays, media campaign analyses, or technical portfolios—as long as they are underpinned by systematic research and critical reflection. 

All productions/projects should be analysed using the BFI Albert Sustainable Production Framework.

Audio Story

This module explores storytelling through sound within a collaborative production environment, requiring students to develop and realise an original audio drama. 

You will work across disciplines to conceive, write, perform, and produce a fully realised audio narrative. The module focuses on how character, narrative, and meaning are communicated without visual elements, emphasising dialogue, pacing, and the expressive use of sound. 

Narrative development remains central to the process, evolving through rehearsal, sound exploration and, where appropriate, performance.

You will engage in an iterative development process in which scripts are tested, refined, and realised through production, reflecting industry practices in audio storytelling. 

Writer Identity

This module supports you in developing and articulating a clear and coherent sense of your identity as writers. It focuses on the articulation of voice, theme, and creative perspective, enabling you to define and communicate what characterises your work. 

You will engage in a sustained process of reflection on your writing across the programme, identifying recurring patterns, thematic concerns, and areas of interest. This understanding is translated into professional materials suitable for industry contexts. 

This module does not assess academic research undertaken within the Dissertation, but instead focuses on the professional articulation and positioning of the student as a creative practitioner. 

The module emphasises the integration of critical reflection and practical application, supporting you in articulating and positioning yourself as an emerging creative practitioner within a professional landscape. 

Industry and Pitching

This module prepares you to communicate and position your creative work within a professional and industry context. It focuses on the articulation of ideas under real-world conditions, enabling you to present the value of your work with clarity, confidence, and purpose. 

You will develop and present your Final Major Project (or closely related work) within a live pitching and networking environment.

The module emphasises audience awareness, adaptability, and the ability to respond to professional expectations, requiring you to engage with the demands of presenting work beyond the academic context. 

Alongside the development of pitch materials, you will refine your ability to structure and communicate ideas concisely. The live pitching experience forms a central component of the module, providing an opportunity to test how your work is received and to engage directly with audience response. 

Through reflective analysis, you will evaluate your approach to communication, considering how effectively you articulate your ideas, how you adapt to feedback, and how you position yourself as an emerging practitioner within a professional landscape. 

Gaming and Interactive Narratives

This module explores video games and interactive media as complex narrative systems, examining how story, play, technology and culture intersect within contemporary gaming environments. 

You will investigate how narrative operates within interactive forms, engaging critically with the combination of narratology versus ludology, player agency, avatars, worldbuilding and choice‑based storytelling.

Alongside narrative design, the module situates games within wider media ecologies, exploring game genres, fandoms, economies and the use of addictive or persuasive technologies. 

The module balances practical creative development and critical enquiry. You will develop an original game or interactive narrative idea through a professionally produced pitch document or slide deck, supported by a research portfolio that situates your concept within theoretical, cultural and industrial contexts. 

The module is suitable for students interested in writing, narrative design, interactive media theory and immersive storytelling, and encourages independent research, critical thinking and creative experimentation.