OVERVIEW

Program Overview

The three-semester Screenwriting & Narrative Design online graduate certificate program provides students with the knowledge, writing experience and hands-on skills necessary to become screenwriters for the ever-evolving media field, as well as narrative designers for game and interactive storytelling worlds.

PLEASE NOTE: there is no ability to transfer into the in-class Screenwriting & Narrative Design P400 program after the start date.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS This is a 100 per cent online program, irrespective of the current remote delivery for P400 in light of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. P410 will remain as a permanent online option. Therefore, students in this program do not come to Canada, and are not eligible for a study permit, and graduates will not be eligible for a post-graduation work permit upon completion of this program.

FULL DESCRIPTION

The Screenwriting & Narrative Design program educates students on the challenge of writing a well-structured story within linear and non-linear contexts. The elements of character, dialogue, scene, setting, texture, style and tone are rigorously explored. Students master the subtle variances of language employed through structured and open-world storytelling as they create memorable stories and scripts for film, TV, games and interactive media. Opportunities will be provided to work with fellow students (directors, actors and designers) on student-led projects as well as potential research projects.

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

The Screenwriting & Narrative Design program requires students to have access to:

• a laptop capable of running Final Draft and MS Office
• a Netflix subscription
• a stable/high bandwidth Internet connection

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

This online program is only available to study while remaining in your home country and does not qualify for study/work permit eligibility in Canada.

Your Field Education Options

Due to the online nature of this program, there will be no field education component attached to this program.

Program Learning Outcomes

The graduate demonstrates the ability to:

1. Produce linear and non-linear narrative content to industry standards using current and relevant software.
2. Create content employing traditional and non?traditional dramatic narratives with advanced application for entertainment writing within linear and non?linear mediums.
3. Articulate the differences between the varying mediums’ production processes and how the writer integrates into each process.
4. Investigate the varying guilds, associations, agencies and groups and how they interact with relevance to the different industries.
5. Differentiate the history of film, television, video games and interactive media from other media as well as the intersections between them.
6. Analyze the evolving landscapes for production, distribution and content creation in order to anticipate challenges and opportunities arising from technological change and consumer demand.
7. Prepare for employment in the field by evaluating the present business climate of the relevant film, television, video game, online, mobile and interactive industries, and using interview and presentation skills, resumé-writing skills, proposal and pitch development skills and portfolio preparation.
8. Conduct research using a variety of relevant research methods, including online and library resources to do effective world building and character creation.
9. Engage and invoke an emotional response from an audience, recognizing and using relevant style and narrative structures including plot analysis, characterization, setting, dialogue, point of view, structure, length and originality.
10. Evaluate personal and recognized works of entertainment writing for traditional composition techniques including “unity of effect” as these apply to both traditional rhetorical structures and narratives with branching structures and/or multiple narratively coherent conclusions.
11. Manipulate point of view to develop narratives, analyze form and structure to apply evolving techniques, and compare setting and atmosphere to adjusting narrative time within linear and non-linear narrative.
12. Assess personal and recognized works of traditional and interactive narratives for techniques in character development exploring limitations presented by traditional techniques in character development for non-linear and participatory character creation.