Screenwriting

Screenwriting is the craft of storytelling through the specific conventions and possibilities of film and television, a form of writing that is simultaneously literary and spatial, concerned not only with what characters say but with what they do and how that action can be shown on screen. A screenplay is not a finished work but a blueprint for a collaborative process involving directors, actors, and crews, and understanding that collaboration, and how to write within its demands, is central to professional screenwriting practice. The best screen stories find universal truths in specific, precisely observed human situations.

At Suffolk you will study this three-year full-time degree, developing your craft across the forms and formats that contemporary screenwriting encompasses. You will write short films, features, television episodes, and pilots, developing your understanding of structure, character, dialogue, scene construction, and the visual grammar of the screen. You will also engage with the professional context of screenwriting: how the industry works, how writers get representation, what the commissioning process looks like, and how to develop your own voice while writing within genre and format conventions.

Reading and analysing existing scripts and watching films and television with a critical eye are as important as the writing itself.

Screenwriting graduates pursue careers as screenwriters for film, television, and streaming platforms, as script editors and development executives, as story producers in factual and reality television, and in adjacent roles in broadcasting, advertising, and digital content creation. The writing, storytelling, and narrative analysis skills the degree develops are also valued in publishing, journalism, public relations, and any creative or communications role where compelling narrative matters. Many graduates supplement their screenwriting practice with teaching, facilitation, or other writing work.

Postgraduate study in screenwriting, creative writing, or film practice is a natural route for those who wish to develop their craft further.