Screenwriting
Sam Zalutsky leads Workshop.
In the Film Production Workshop students film, direct, and edit theor own short scripts. Here are the videos from our Spring 2011 residency.
The Intern by Roland Mann, fiction
Birthday Revelation by Kaleb Gregory, screenwriting
Joint Custody by Frances Butler, screenwriting
Anna the Virgin by Ruby Berryman, playwriting
Next by Jeff Whitfill, screenwriting
About the Screenwriting Program
Designing a Course of Study
During the Spalding residency, screenwriters (film and TV) attend workshop discussions offering both peer and faculty feedback on scripts by workshop members. Students also attend lectures on the writing for film, TV, and theater, view films, TV shows, and filmclips as the basis for discussion, hear readings by professional actors of student scripts and plays, plan their future writing and reading/viewing in consultation with their mentor, and attend plenary lectures about principles that apply to all forms of creative writing. Residencies include a production component that gives students hands-on experience moving short scripts into actual films and videos as they take turns assuming roles directing, acting, filming, and editing. Professional staged readings give dramatic writing students the opportunity to see their work performed out loud.
While residing at home, students send their mentors five installments of their work at regular intervals. An installment typically consists of a student’s original scripts—new and revised versions—and short critical essays focusing on their reading/viewing of professional scripts. The student’s scripts, films, and TV shows selected for study may vary in length and mode, from very short to feature length, from thrillers to art films, from half-hour comedy to hour-long drama, from fantasy to documentaries, from comedies to tragedies. Students are encouraged to experiment in different modes.
Whether the student chooses to begin a semester in Louisville or abroad, all residencies provide an exciting learning environment and a nurturing community. Students form important friendships and professional connections among writers not only pursuing screenwriting for film and TV but in our other areas of concentration—fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, and playwriting. All students participate in cross-genre reading and writing opportunities and in experiencing the interrelatedness of all the arts. Residencies provide the added stimulation of interacting with the local culture.
Students film, edit, produce short scripts into film.
Choosing Among Fall, Spring and Summer Semesters
Students should choose a combination of spring/fall study if they
● wish to complete the program in two years
● prefer residencies in Louisville, a culturally rich, easily accessible American city
● choose to spend 25 hours a week on their studies
Students should choose summer study if they
● want to enrich their studies with international travel
● can participate in a residency more easily in summer than in spring or fall
● prefer a longer semester with a less intensive writing schedule at home (15 hours a week)
● would like to spread tuition costs over a longer period of time
● want to complete the program in four years
Students who wish to study in the longer semester without traveling abroad may attend the spring residency.
Students who mix the summer and spring/fall semesters can finish the program in about three years.
Designed for mature people who wish to obtain the MFA (a terminal degree, like the PhD), the Spalding program features intellectual stimulation, emotional support, and the opportunity to do a great deal of writing with individualized instruction from a professional teacher-writer. Our students and faculty come from all parts of the U.S. as well as some foreign countries. Our youngest entering student was twenty-two; our oldest graduate was eighty-two.
Summer residency destinations (past and upcoming) include London/Bath (2008), Barcelona (2009), Buenos Aires (2010), Rome/Tuscany (2011), and Paris (2012).
In addition to features discussed above, all the Spalding MFA semesters include
● the opportunity to apply for TV and screenwriting scholarships/assistantships or federal student loans
● low student-faculty ratio
● a choice of housing accommodations
Application Deadlines
Application deadlines are January 15 for the spring semester, February 1 for the summer semester, and July 1 for the fall semester.
What Our Graduates Say
David B. Carren (UTPA Associate Professor, University of Texas-Pan American): “The program was a joy for me. I worked on five projects, two of which I eventually sold or optioned. The environment created at Spalding is incredibly supportive and productive.”
Wayne Crawford (Faculty, University of North Carolina, School for the Arts): “I was a writer when I started. Now, after the Spalding experience, I’m a much better writer. If you want an intellectual and artistic workout—Spalding is the place. The program is rigorous and exciting. It’s a terrific program that has informed my teaching.”
Keith Nixon (Script Analyst, Hart/Lunsford Pictures) :”The MFA in Screenwriting program at Spalding University is both rigorous and exciting. I believe that working with qualified mentors, who care about my critical and creative work, has made all the difference in the world.”
Recent Guests
Oscar-winner Bobby Moresco, co-writer of CRASH. MFA guest
● Archie Borders (Paper Cut)
● Sabrina Dhawan (Monsoon Wedding)
● Jonas Goodman (We Don’t Live Here Anymore)
● Ed Hart (Diminished Capacity)
● Elliot Greenbaum (Assisted Living)
● Gil Holland (The War Boys)
● David Kipen, author of The Schreiber Theory
● Bobby Moresco (Crash, Million Dollar Baby)
● Marsha Norman (‘night Mother)
● Kevin Willmott (C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America)
Faculty, current and recent
● Sheila Callaghan (staff writer on The United States of Tara, Showtime)
● Charles Gaines (Edith Wharton’s Summer, Pumping Iron, Pumping Iron II: The Women, Stay Hungry)
● Helena Kriel (Skin, Heated and The Other Woman; adaptations of The Good Soldier, The Arabian Nights, Tsotsi, Valley Song, and Wuthering Heights
● Brad Riddell (American Pie Presents Band Camp, Slap Shot Three: The Junior League, sequels to franchise films such as Josie and the Pussycats and Road Trip)
● Charles Schulman (The Apollo Comedy Hour)
● Sam Zalutsky (You Belong to Me, SuperStore Stefan’s Silver Bell, Boy’s Briefs, Smear)
Click here for a pdf of the screenwriting brochure.
More Film Production Workshop videos
Music Therapy by Kat Shehata, writing for children and young adults
It’s A Sign by Toni Wiley, playwriting
D3 by Nick Hartman
Bible Belt by Karin Goodwin
Acorns by Amy Hanridge
Contact us:
MFA Office: (502) 873-4400 or (800) 896-8941, ext. 4400
FAX: (502) 992-2409
MFA in Writing
Spalding University
851 South Fourth Street
Louisville, KY 40203
