Stephens College

Programme overview

Stephens College offers a low-residency Master of Fine Arts that centers female and underrepresented perspectives in TV and screenwriting. The program combines two weeklong, in-person residency workshops in Hollywood (one at the start of each semester) with predominantly online coursework and mentorship from working writers, most of whom are Writers Guild of America members.

What you'll study

Students complete three courses each semester over two years. Key elements described by the program include:

• Low-residency structure: a 10-day Hollywood residency at the beginning of each semester (first weeks of August and January) worth 3 credit units; the remainder of the semester is delivered online.
• Mentorship model: students choose mentors from practicing writers and work with at least four different mentors across the degree; mentors are experienced in online instruction and many are WGA members.
• First year: students have one mentor for television and one for a screenplay. Television mentorship changes between semesters because fall focuses on writing a spec script and spring on writing a pilot. The screenplay mentor supports development of an outline and Act One in fall, then completion and revision in spring.
• Second year: students write a second screenplay with a different mentor and produce a Thesis project, which can be a web series, a limited-series pilot plus bible, a group of short films, or a written academic thesis.
• History of Screenwriting: a sustained online course with weekly readings and film viewings, online responses, and an end-of-semester profile of a screenwriter.
• Industry-facing components: recurring panels with WGA writers, access to showrunners, development executives, agents and managers, and curriculum attention to the business side of selling scripts.

Entry requirements

Applications open each November and operate on a rolling-admissions basis until the cohort (typically 20–24 students) is filled. The Residency Workshop begins the first week of August and online courses begin the last week of August. The program notes that international students pay no additional tuition fees. Specific academic or portfolio requirements are not listed on the provided text.

Career prospects

Alumni from the program have gone on to write for television series including Ramy, 13 Reasons Why, Seal Team, Generations, Station 19 and The Equalizer. The curriculum’s mentoring, industry panels and business-focused instruction aim to prepare graduates for careers as TV writers, show writers/producers, and other scripted media roles.

Scholarships & funding angle (general)

Applications are rolling but candidates who want consideration for the Jan Marino Scholarship must be accepted and deposited by March 31. The college highlights affordability—Best Colleges listed Stephens as the #1 most affordable online film studies degree—and explicitly states that international students pay no extra tuition fees.