MFA in Screenwriting Low-Residency Program

As The Walt Disney Company’s first-ever Chief Brand Officer, Asad Ayaz '00 oversees the global marketing and management of the Disney brand and its portfolio of franchises. In this role, he leads holistic marketing campaigns, digital strategy, corporate alliances and synergy, franchise priorities, consumer research and analytics across Disney’s multitude of brands including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Disney+ and Hulu.

Asad has been recognized as one of Forbes’ Most Influential CMOs, Fast Company’s CMOs of the Year, and one of its Most Creative People in Business. His work has earned multiple industry honors, including Variety’s Marketing Visionaries Award and The Clio Marketing Mastermind Award.

Tracy Katsky Boomer ’91 is an actor and veteran Hollywood film and comedy television producer whose career includes executive roles with HBO, Fox, Nickelodeon, and now her own production company, KatCo. Her development credits include Santa Clarita Diet, Arrested Development, Malcolm in the Middle, and many more.

Debra Eisenstadt ’91 is a writer, actor, director, editor, producer, and teacher who has helmed four award-winning feature films, including Daydream Believer, winner of The Independent Spirit Award, "Someone To Watch," and The Grand Jury Prize at The Slamdance Film Festival; The Limbo Room with Melissa Leo and Peter Dinklage; Before The Sun Explodes; and Blush.

Melissa Rosenberg ’86 is a television writer, producer, and prolific screenwriter nominated for multiple Emmy awards. She was the creator and showrunner of the critically acclaimed Marvel’s Jessica Jones, for which she won a Peabody Award in 2015. She wrote the screenplays for the film adaptations of the Twilight series and served as head writer and executive producer for the television series Dexter on Showtime.

Sekka Scher ’90 graduated from Bennington with a degree in History. Co-founder and Principal of Ellipsis Entertainment, Sekka has launched and cultivated the careers of multiple Oscar and Emmy winners/nominees, including Michael K. Williams, who played the iconic Omar in The Wire. In 2019, Sekka was honored with the Hudas Schwartz Liff Outstanding Volunteer Award in connection with her work launching the Spencer Cox '90 Field Work Term Fellowship for Public Action, inspired by her dear friend and classmate Spencer’s work as a citizen scientist and pivotal AIDS activist. In 1995, Sekka was one of the first women to compete in the New York Daily News Golden Gloves tournament. She won silver gloves against a prison guard in a nationally televised fight. A fourth-generation New Yorker, Sekka lives in NYC with her husband, Steven Williams, and daughter Sydney.

Julie Tucker '89 is a two-time Emmy Award-winning casting director who served from 2020 to 2025 on the Board of Directors for the Casting Society. Upcoming projects include Sheriff Country (CBS), Doc (Fox), and Netflix's The Beast In Me. Her past television credits include: The Affair, Six Feet Under, Damages, Rescue Me, Nurse Jackie, and the first three seasons of Law & Order: SVU. Recent film work includes the Oscar-nominated short Red White & Blue.

• Renowned Legacy: Join Bennington’s longstanding tradition of educating influential writers and storytellers.
• Serious Craft Training: Gain deep experience in feature writing, television writing, adaptation, rewriting, analysis, and pitching.
• Industry Immersion: Connect directly with acclaimed professionals through coursework and residencies in Los Angeles.
• Real-Time Collaboration: Workshop scripts in live sessions that mirror the collaborative creative process of professional film and television production.
• Designed for Working Adults: Low-residency structure without sacrificing rigor or community.
• Portfolio-Focused: Graduate with multiple polished scripts that ready you for professional work.

• Intend to pursue a professional career writing for film or television;
• Value structured mentorship, classroom learning, real-world exposure, and a creative peer community;
• Seek the creative, inclusive community that Bennington is known for;
• Have demonstrated drive and initiative in their artistic lives; and/or
• Possess a clear artistic voice and deep engagement with storytelling but not necessarily any prior screenwriting experience.

Year 1

• Two original feature screenplays
• Spec television episode (episode of an existing show)
• Original television pilot and series bible

Year 2

• Advanced feature or pilot
• Full rewrite
• Thesis screenplay or pilot
   

First Year Curriculum

Summer Residency: Bennington

Writing Workshops
Fundamentals of Imagination: Memory, experience and observation.
Fundamentals of Scene Writing: Externalizing character, emotion, and thought and dramatizing human experience.

Acting for Writers Workshop
How actors bring words to life for the screen.

Summer/Fall Semester

Introduction to Writing the Feature Film (10 weeks)
Selecting feature material, finding its basic shape (a short treatment), and writing a first draft.

Introduction to Writing for Series (10 weeks)
Understanding the dramatic structure of episodic series, outlining an episode, writing in another’s voice, and writing and rewriting an episode of an existing series.

Winter Residency: Los Angeles

Writing Workshop
A Portfolio of Possibility: Identifying and drawing stories from different sources and discriminating feature ideas from episodic series, serialized series, and limited series.

Introductory Analysis
Fundamental storytelling principles and patterns in features and series.

Winter/Spring Semester

Intermediate Feature Film Writing (10 weeks)
Selection and detailed development of an idea, outlining, and writing a first draft. Analysis of well made feature films from around the world.

Intermediate Series Writing (10 weeks)
Selection and development of an original series, writing a bible and first draft pilot. Analysis of well made series from around the world.

Second Year Curriculum

Summer Residency: Bennington

Scene Writing Workshop
Advanced Scene Writing: Study and lab work on different scene types, problems, and tools and to write emotional and unforgettable scenes.

Pitching
Understanding, expressing, and communicating the essence of a feature or series to collaborators and buyers. Presentation techniques.

Summer/Fall Semester

Advance Feature Film OR Advanced Pilot (10 weeks)
Adaptation/non-fiction/or original material. Selection of feature material, finding its shape (short treatment), and outlining and writing a first draft. Analysis of well made feature films or series from around the world.

Rewriting: Feature Film OR Pilot (10 weeks)
Rewriting techniques and rewriting a feature screenplay or pilot and bible written previously in the program. Analysis of well made feature films or series from around the world.

Winter Residency: Los Angeles

The Business of Screenwriting
Understanding the structure, institutions, relationships, and dynamics that make up the screenwriting business and developing a personal plan for launching a career.

Directing Workshop
Bringing scenes to life on the screen. Students shoot scenes they’ve written.

Winter/Spring Semester (one twenty-week course)

Thesis - Pilot OR Feature (20 weeks)
The culminating experience of the program. Work with a single instructor across twenty weeks in which the student writes and rewrites either an original feature film or an original series bible and pilot. Analysis of well made feature films or series from around the world, specific to the material of the thesis.

Spring Showcase Residency: Los Angeles

Showcase
Students present work to agents and managers.