Whether it’s romantic tension, dizzying drama or memorable one-liners, the script is at the heart of film-making – and it’s an ideal way to turn a love for writing into a career.
While it can be tempting to quickly put pen to paper and fire your first attempt off in the direction of Hollywood executives, learning the mechanics of the craft is essential before embarking on a career in the industry. You’ll need to understand storytelling and dialogue skills, as well as a scriptwriter’s place within a film and television production.
In a dedicated scriptwriting study programme, you’ll often leave with a brilliant script in hand, complete with some production experience. Not only will you descend on the film-making world as a capable writer, but you’ll also have learned how to collaborate with directors and producers, and understand how the business works.
So if you’re a budding dramatic writer, itching to get started on the path towards writing for screen or the stage, with a fire in the belly that just won’t go out – here are five institutions across Europe that top the class.
La Fémis, Paris
Hailed by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the world’s top film schools, La Fémis aims to produce screenwriting graduates who can collaborate with the director and the rest of the team, both technically and artistically. The four-year screenwriting programme at the Paris-based school trains students across genres and narrative styles, and graduates will emerge with not one but four full-length screenplays. Between years two and four, screenwriting students also get the chance to study at Columbia University in New York.
There’s an average of only six students in each of the programmes (including screenwriting) probably due to the very competitive admission process: of the 1,185 candidates who applied for the various courses in 2013, just 61 were accepted. According to its website, the continuous presence of its students in film credits attests to its alumni’s professional integration in the industry.
Regent’s University London
“Stories live inside us all. Too often, talented writers from diverse backgrounds remain unnurtured and lost,” says Robert McKee, the screenwriting “guru of gurus” and partner on Regent’s Robert McKee international screenwriting scholarship. The scholarship offers £7,000 towards fees on the University’s BA (Hons) screenwriting and producing programme – designed to develop the next generation of scriptwriters in both the commercial and production side of the industry, incorporating a real-world work placement. The lucky recipient of the scholarship also gains a complimentary place on McKee’s highly regarded story seminar – hailed as “a rite of passage” for Pixar writers. The highly sought-after lecturer boasts more than 60 Oscar-winning students, so this seminar alone might just be an education in itself.
The Norwegian Film School (NFS), Lillehammer, Norway
The Norwegian Film School – the only national artistic film programme in Norway – has been training professional filmmakers for more than 20 years, many of whom have since gone on to work in the industry in Norway and Scandinavia. Scriptwriting students are trained across all genres and formats, with a heavy emphasis on practical exercises and exchanging experience, to create stories and ideas, as well as collaborate with directors and producers. They are encouraged to “try and fail” within its framework, and most of the school’s disciplines admit just six students every other year.
Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, Palermo, Italy
Western Europe’s oldest film school, Italy’s Scuola Nazionale di Cinema (the National Film School) – part of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Foundation – has been training filmmakers for 80 years. The three-year screenplay course at the school’s Rome campus examines traditional and contemporary writing methods, and students are encouraged to find their narrative voice. As part of the course, students help to produce a documentary and a short film, and write the script for a feature film. Students have been recognised in awards in both Italy and abroad, as have the teaching staff.
The Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Most of the artistic and production staff working in the Czech Republic’s film and TV industry are graduates from the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Famu). Former students from the fifth-oldest film school in the world include a number of Oscar-winning film-makers and scriptwriters. Graduates of the school’s screenwriting and dramaturgy programme (where they learn dramatic composition) will have a feature-length screenplay under their belt, having trained intensively in this discipline; they’ll also take part in production exercises with the other departments. The best students can continue at master’s level for a deeper dive. Each of the 11 departments related to filmmaking admits six students every other year.
