MFA in Screenwriting Low-Residency Program

• Four 10-week online courses per year, each focused on either feature film or series writing

• First-year projects: two original features, a spec episode of an existing series, an original pilot + series bible

• Second-year options: original or adapted work (feature or series pilot), a full revision (feature or series pilot), and a thesis project (feature or series pilot)

• Students engage in ongoing critical analysis of film and television and build cultural and historical literacy alongside craft

• All coursework is taught synchronously—with scripts read aloud, discussed, and refined in real time— preparing students for the collaborative nature of the profession.

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.

The MFA in Screenwriting is for individuals who:

• Intend to pursue a professional career in film or television writing

• Value structured mentorship, classroom learning, real-world exposure, and a creative peer community

• Have demonstrated drive and initiative in their artistic lives

• Possess a clear artistic voice and deep engagement with storytelling but not necessarily any prior screenwriting experience.

• A pedagogical model designed for the future of both education and the screen industry

• Intimate class sizes and individualized mentorship

• Deep engagement with industry leaders during LA residencies

• Integration of acting and directing into writing program

• Professional-grade portfolio upon graduation

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.

In his dual role as President of Disney Entertainment Marketing, Asad’s remit includes global campaigns for streaming, film, and television, leading all aspects of marketing for creative brands including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Disney+ and Hulu.

Over his 20-year career, Asad has led campaigns for more than 200 film releases, including 26 films that have passed the $1 billion mark at the global box office, most recently with “Lilo & Stitch,” “Inside Out 2,” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” as well as numerous hit television shows including “Andor,” “Daredevil: Born Again,” and “The Mandalorian.” Asad leads marketing for some of the top franchises in the world including Frozen, Toy Story, Avengers, Star Wars, and Avatar, as well as key company campaigns such as Disney100, which celebrated The Walt Disney Company’s 100th
anniversary, and the launch of Hulu and ESPN on Disney+.

An award-winning marketing leader, 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. He was also named an Adweek Marketing Vanguard and featured in both the Adweek 50 and The Hollywood Reporter’s Top Marketers of 2025. Additionally, 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 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 2020-2025 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.