Script Development

This is the only comprehensive vocational programme in script development in the UK.

“Whether you are a producer, a writer, or a development exec – this course is an experience that will pay dividends in bucket-loads for your future career.” Graduate Adam Polonsky, Producer/Head of Development at Focus Films

This part-time, evening course takes place over 16 months and aims to give students all the skills and expertise they need to develop scripts for film and television.

Students get access to new screenwriters and regular industry speakers, as well as working on a practical development project with a screenwriter.

All NFTS students can attend the School’s masterclasses programme, with recent guests including Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve), Asif Kapadia (Amy, Senna, Diego Maradona),  Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here, We Need to Talk About Kevin), Louis Theroux, and M Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Glass).

The Diploma offers the most comprehensive contemporary overview and on-going practical learning in an intensive professional environment. The programme combines lectures, seminars and workshops alongside talks and panel discussions with current industry practitioners, as well as supervised practical work with a screenwriter.

There are continuous written assignments (some assessed, some not) throughout the taught section of the programme which are mostly practical and designed to be useful to a career in development, as well as other areas of the film industry.

The programme consists of 30 taught sessions of two hours each held during term-time on a weekday evening (from 7pm – 9pm) running from September to July. The Final Project element of the Diploma is a six-month supervised development project, which begins at the beginning of the summer when students are paired with a screenwriter. The delivery of all assessed material for the Final Project is due in December.