Ucla tv writing program

Earn college credit and gain insight into college life. Explore the UCLA academic units behind Summer Sessions' endless possibilities - courses and programs across every academic discipline. Under the guidance of a professional TV writer, students learn how to identify and capture the tone, characters, dialogue, and themes that make their story unique.

Students at the introductory level write a series document, pilot outline, and the first act of the pilot script. Students will participate in person at UCLA, experiencing all that our campus has to offer during their summer program. All tracks offer nine units of UCLA credit. Please note that students of all specializations are expected to spend a minimum of 25 hours-per-week writing outside of class meetings.

Introduction to TV Writing: The Introduction to TV Writing specialization is designed for students with little to no previous experience in writing for television. Students are introduced to the pilot format, covering style and content as well as the principles behind network needs and how pilots are chosen across broadcast, cable and digital platforms.

Students write a series document, pilot outline, and the first act of the pilot script. Students outline and write the first draft of an original pilot, and develop the series outline as a pitch document. Open to works in progress and rewrites. As part of the Summer Institute, students tour a major Hollywood studio. A networking mixer for students and alumni takes place on the last night of the program and the film projects from the film production and animation tracks are shown.

Demystifying the Script Coverage Process: Script coverage is ubiquitous in the industry. A main job duty of interns and assistants will be writing script coverage. Understanding and writing excellent coverage not only provides an important career skill, it allows a writer to put themselves in the shoes of the reader to aid in their writing. This workshop will introduce the basics of script analysis and the different formats of coverage reports, discuss industry uses of coverage, and familiarize students with the roles that most utilize this skill Script Reader, Story Editor, Development Exec.

How to Pitch: In this workshop, students will get the inside scoop of how projects are pitched and sold in Hollywood taught by a seasoned industry professional. With an eye toward the final pitch panels at the end of the session, students will learn what goes into a pitch, the elements that make it compelling, how to apply it to their own material in a way that will keep their listeners on the edge of their seats.

As a culmination of the TV Writing program, students have the opportunity to pitch their own TV show idea to a panel of accomplished industry professionals. The panel allows students to practice their pitching skills, building off of what they learned in the How to Pitch Weekend Workshop. At the end of the pitch, the panelists give feedback to each student, drawing on their extensive insight and experience in pitching and development.

The program has application requirements for admission. Eligible applicants who submit all requirements successfully and timely, will be reviewed and notified via email of an admission decision within 3 weeks. See Application Requirements below for more details. Early application is strongly encouraged. Applicants are required to provide the following during the online registration process:. David was born with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair or crutches.

David is frequently a judge for the Nickelodeon Writing Program and has been an expert judge for the Sentinel Awards, a ceremony — held by the Norman Lear Foundation — that honors accurate depictions of health and science topics in television. He has three Emmy Nominations for best writing and a Golden Globe award.

Campaigns included, "Got Milk? He spent his twenties performing in a noisy indie-rock band and has seen nearly every state in the country through the cracked window of a Ford Econoline. He also co-created and wrote the critically acclaimed comic book Freshmen , authored the novel City Under the Moon , and has two Emmy nominations and an Annie Award for Robot Chicken. Just like the Fresh Prince, he was born and raised in West Philadelphia.

So… call it a draw? Amy is a veteran TV writer, having written on the staff of ten shows, including Friends and Grounded for Life. Most recently, she has several projects in development and is in post-production on a documentary. Box office receipts of the aforementioned films total in excess of a billion dollars internationally. He's currently producing a feature film comedy, The Brag , for 5x5 Media.

John is currently writing a television pilot, Over the Top , for the Freeform network, featuring several YouTube stars. She has taught a series of lectures at UCLA for the Professional Program in Producing and is currently an in-house writer in the Disney live action program. As a Masters student, Rick won several awards including the William J.

Along with his writing partner, Rick recently served as a staff writer on the Nickelodeon show Bella and the Bulldogs. While working at Nickelodeon, Rick and his partner sold a pilot, which they are currently developing.

Rick's greatest love is writing and sharing his knowledge with students. Just kidding -- it's bourbon and being sarcastic. Danielle credits include several series for Marvel Television, prime-time dramas for Fox, several web series, and Kyle XY Continuum , which received a nomination for an Interactive Media Programming Emmy.

Her writing has also appeared in several publications , and her debut collection of short fiction, Mass Ave, was published. Skip to content. In addition to being a writer and teacher, Kelly is sometimes a story consultant and always an auntie. Weed is his family name, Speed is a nickname his father gave him the day he was born. Writing for television. We have returned to on campus classes!

Apply Now. Deadline Dates. The Lecture Series. The Workshop. In Fall Quarter, students write a spec teleplay of an existing television show in their chosen track.