Graduate & Professional Degrees

|

The Writing for Screen and Television Certificate is awarded for one year of study.

Applicants must be recognized writers outside of the field of screenwriting.

The course of study is no less than 16 units total, over two semesters. Writers, both U.S. and international, should appeal directly to the chair for admission in the fall semester.

Admission is granted to only one or two scholars a year, and is of the highest selectivity. Applicants must have earned an undergraduate degree with at least a 3.0 GPA. Additionally, candidates must show compelling reason for not applying to a formal degree program.

The general course of study is as follows:

|

The Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing for Screen and Television is an intensive two-year degree program that concentrates on writing for narrative film and television. During the course of their studies, students benefit from a wide array of internship and mentorship opportunities available as a result of the university’s close links to the Los Angeles film industry’s top screenwriters, directors, production companies, and studios.

Course work includes practical instruction in everything a working writer needs to learn about the filmmaker’s art and craft. Writing is taught in small workshop-style classes. The approach focuses on the visual tools of storytelling, developing stories from characters, and then on an Aristotelian three-act structure. Fractured narratives, ensemble stories, experiments with time and points of view, as well as other idiosyncratic styles of storytelling are also addressed. The curriculum covers other professional concerns including legal issues, agents and the Writer’s Guild, as well as the history and analysis of cinema and television. Classes are taught by working writers with a wide variety of skills, experience, and approaches.

Each Fall, 32 students are selected to begin the Graduate Writing for Screen and Television Program; there are no Spring admissions. Applicants must submit a supplemental application and materials to the Graduate Writing for Screen and Television Program. For specific instructions, contact the Cinematic Arts Office of Admission, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211, (213) 740-8358 or online at cinema.usc.edu.

A total of 44 units is required. A minimum of 30 units must be 500-level or above.

|

The Youth Advocacy certificate provides an opportunity for students, professionals and paraprofessionals to gain comprehensive training in addressing critical social issues related to community safety, with a particular emphasis on the well-being of youth throughout their life cycles, including systems-involved youth. The certificate offers a range of courses and educational experiences that foster an interdisciplinary approach to public safety, covering a spectrum of cultural, legal, historical and social aspects. Collaboration among students, professionals, community members, youth and other stakeholders is prioritized, equipping graduates with the values, knowledge, skills, and relationships essential for frontline intervention, advocacy and the advancement of community safety.

The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work offers university certificates that provide students advanced practice or research training through a social change and intercultural competence lens that emphasizes community advocacy. Certificates are designed to complement and deepen training provided through our degree programs by focusing on experiential application of concepts in relation to particular client populations, settings, and systems. Each certificate consists of at least 12 units, which may in part be satisfied by courses completed for a degree program. Certificates are also available to graduate students from other disciplines and to employed professionals.