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Studies & Degrees in Screenwriting for Television and Film

Screenwriting is the craft of writing scripts for film, television series and other screen formats. A script sets out the story, the characters, the scenes and the dialogue that a production team then turns into images, so it is written to a fixed format and rewritten many times.

Courses teach by writing. Students learn to structure plots, build characters, handle conflict and write dialogue, and they develop their own projects from the first idea to a finished draft. They also learn the working methods of the industry: the writers' room of a television series, the series bible or proposal, and the pitch, in which a writer presents a project to producers.

Qualifications and levels

  • Bachelor's degree. Screenwriting is often one area inside a film or audiovisual degree. In Spain a bachelor's degree (grado) has 240 ECTS credits; the Grado en Creación Audiovisual at the Universidad de Navarra is an official degree of 240 credits and 4 years, taught in Spanish in Pamplona. In Brazil, the Cinema course at FAAP in São Paulo is a 4-year bachelor's degree in eight semesters that covers film language and scripts. In Mexico, the Licenciatura en Cinematografía y Medios Audiovisuales at CINEMA in Puebla lasts 8 semesters and takes students through directing, scriptwriting, production, cinematography, sound, art direction and editing. In the United States, the New York Film Academy (NYFA) offers an accelerated three-year, eight-semester BFA in Screenwriting.
  • Master's degree. Official master's degrees in Spain have 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits. The MFA in Screenwriting at NYFA is an accelerated two-year, five-semester, full-time programme. Its students build a portfolio with at least two feature-length screenplays, two scripts for existing television shows and at least one original series pilot, and the programme ends with a pitch session in front of agents, managers, executives or producers.
  • One-year and short courses. Film schools teach screenwriting as a specialised course. The Curso de Guion para Cine y TV at Septima Ars in Madrid lasts 1 year, has 45 ECTS credits and is taught on site; the school states that it leads to a university qualification of its own (titulación universitaria propia) awarded by UDIMA. Students design the bible of a television series and write the complete script of a feature film. NYFA's 1-Year Screenwriting Program, in which students complete two full screenplay drafts, leads to a credit-bearing certificate, and its 8-week television writing workshop ends with a pilot script.

Qualifications of this kind differ in status: some are official university degrees, others are the school's or a partner university's own certificates. Ask each school what recognition its qualification has in the country where the student plans to work or continue studying.

Where to study screenwriting

SpainExchange lists 11 active schools for screenwriting for film and television: 3 in the United States, 2 each in Spain, Australia and Mexico, and 1 each in Brazil and the United Kingdom. In the United States they include the New York Film Academy, the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies and Azusa Pacific University. In Spain the list has the Universidad de Navarra and the Escuela de Cine y Televisión de Madrid Septima Ars; in Mexico, CINEMA - Escuela de Cinematografía y Medios Audiovisuales and CINEARTE, both in Puebla; in Australia, the University of Melbourne and Holmesglen; in the United Kingdom, the University of Sunderland; and in Brazil, FAAP.

Scripts are written in the language of the industry they are meant for, so the language of instruction matters more than in most subjects. The programmes in Spain and Mexico named above are taught in Spanish, FAAP teaches in Portuguese, and the schools in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom work in English. NYFA teaches the one-year programme at its New York and Los Angeles campuses.

When comparing courses, look at how many complete scripts students write, whether scripts are produced by directing students, who the teachers are, what the qualification is and how the school connects students with production companies.

Careers

Screenwriters write feature films, television and streaming series, documentaries, web series and video games. Related roles include script editor, story editor, script reader and development assistant in production companies and broadcasters, and many writers combine scripts with advertising or other writing work.

Much of the work is freelance. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not publish figures for screenwriters alone, but for writers and authors as a group: they held about 140,300 jobs in 2025, 65% of them self-employed, and employment is projected to show little or no change from 2025 to 2035. According to the BLS, writers and authors typically need a bachelor's degree in English or a related field such as communications or journalism.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a university degree to become a screenwriter?

There is no regulated route. Universities and film schools offer bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and one-year or short courses, and the BLS reports that writers and authors typically need a bachelor's degree; a portfolio of scripts counts in every case.

How long does it take to study screenwriting?

From a few weeks to several years. NYFA offers an 8-week television writing workshop, a one-year programme, a three-year BFA and a two-year MFA; the course at Septima Ars in Madrid lasts 1 year, and a Spanish grado lasts 4 years.

What do screenwriting students write during a course?

Complete scripts. At Septima Ars students write a feature film script and a series bible; in the NYFA MFA the portfolio includes at least two feature-length screenplays and an original series pilot.