Screenwriting (Hons) University of Portsmouth

Overview

Through the Screenwriting (Hons) degree course from University of Portsmouth . you'll write scripts, see your work produced on screen, study screenplays and hone your writing skills with industry-experienced lecturers and mentors. You'll explore theories and genres of film and writing through history, study how they might evolve in the future, and experience the craft of filmmaking both as critic and creator.

Through close integration with our film production degrees, you'll discover how screenwriting interconnects to other specialisms within filmmaking, preparing you to write short stories, create scripts and produce screenplays with industry-wide insight.

You'll have the chance to learn practical production skills (such as camera work and editing) that'll enrich your ability to tell stories through film and enable you to produce your own screenplays from start to finish. Collaborating with drama and performance students, you’ll see your scripts brought to life on screen.

Once you graduate from the Screenwriting (Hons) degree course from University of Portsmouth, you'll have skills that will set you on the path for a career in the creative sector, particularly the film industry as a screenwriter, script editor, researcher, producer or showrunner. Other career paths include journalism, marketing, public relations and teaching.

Key facts

• Learn the skills essential for a screenwriting career, including script timing and editing, continuity, researching, and using industry-standard scriptwriting software
• Be taught by an expert teaching team that includes professional screenwriters with national and international experience, plus published novelists and journalists, prestigious magazine editors, script editors, academic researchers, and performance poets
• Collaborate with film production, television production, performance, theatre and other writing students within the thriving creative schools of Film, Media and Communication and Art, Design and Performance
• Discover how screenplays and scripts come to life by trying your hand at camera work, editing and short filmmaking, and have the option to achieve Avid Media Composer editing certification
• Take part in Portsmouth's annual Comic Con for the latest developments in creative writing and literature, popular culture, fan communities, and technology – course lecturers and students are panellists
• Benefit from our active connections with children’s TV and soap opera creators, and local independent creatives at No6 Cinema and Making Waves film festival  
• Build your writing portfolio by contributing to our course blog The Eldon Review and hyperlocal news zine Star & Crescent
• Take advantage of great transport links to London - ideal for networking with agents and industry contacts
• Gain valuable professional experience by taking an optional placement in the creative industries
• Experience another culture and way of learning by studying abroad for a year or a single semester

• Boost your lingual abilities by learning a language with our extra-curricular Institute-Wide Language Programme – and earn credits for it

Career opportunities:

The UK film and TV industries are thriving - production hubs have formed across the country in locations including Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff and Birmingham, and a record-breaking £5.6 billion has been invested in new content for the big and small screens since 2020 (British Film Institute). 

As well as preparing you for opportunities as a new screenwriter [soaps and children’s TV are both great starting areas for new writers], this degree will make you an excellent candidate for other related roles in this flourishing industry.

You'll have the critical awareness, creative ability and project management skills to go after graduate roles in script editing, researching, development production and showrunning, or to work in other creative media besides film, television and the stage, such as video games and graphic novels.

You can also continue your studies to postgraduate level or take further teacher training to work in education.

Graduate areas

Areas graduates from our creative industries courses have worked in include:

• film and television
• radio and theatre
• advertising and marketing
• arts and events management
• local and community broadcasting
• teaching
• stand-up comedy
• travel industry

Graduate roles

Roles graduates from our creative industries courses have gone onto include:

• script editor
• screenwriter
• novelist
• poet
• playwright
• teacher
• copywriter
• journalist
• theatre manager
• editorial assistant