Manchester is first Russell Group university to offer MA Screenwriting course

The University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing is proud to announce the launch of a groundbreaking new postgraduate course, designed to equip emerging screenwriting talent with the practical skills required to succeed in the UK film and television industry.

Developed by our Centre for New Writing in partnership with industry experts, the MA Screenwriting course will offer no more than 12 places each year. Students will be taught through a rigorous combination of workshops, seminars, and one-to-one meetings with tutors and visiting professionals.

Successful applicants will also have the chance to gain hands-on industry experience through structured internship programmes with leading production companies including Red Productions (Last Tango in Halifax, Queer as Folk), Hammer Films (The Woman in Black, Let Me In) and BBC Films (Billy Elliot, Philomena).

The new Master’s course is the brainchild of Professor of Creative Writing and celebrated author Jeanette Winterson and Professor Tanya Seghatchian – a leading UK film producer and former Head of Development and Film Funds for the UK Film Council, whose credits include the phenomenally successful Harry Potter series. It is the first programme of its kind offered by a Russell Group university and has attracted an enviable list of experienced writers and producers to the advisory board, including Russell T Davies, Tony Garnett, Abi Morgan and Andrew Eaton.

Speaking about the launch of the new Manchester-based programme, Russell T Davies, Advisory Board Member said: “Manchester taught me how to write. These streets rattle with stories and songs and dark, brilliant jokes. I came here, at the age of 24, determined to meet writers, and to learn from them. And that’s never stopped!”

Advisory board member Abi Morgan said: “They say you can’t teach writing. But every writer needs space to write. The courses I have done have given me the time and affirmation I need to call myself a writer. The rest, as Hemingway said, is ’to sit down at a typewriter and bleed’. I can’t think of a better place to do it than in Manchester – which has produced some of the great writers of our time: Elizabeth Gaskell, Anthony Burgess, Shelagh Delaney, Robert Bolt, Jeanette Winterson, Russell T Davies, Jack Rosenthal and Paul Abbot to name but a few.”

MA Screenwriting is now open for applications. To find out more, including how to apply and available funding opportunities, visit the website and register for our postgraduate taught course open day on 18 March.

You can also join us this Sunday (1 March) at Cornerhouse for The Centre for New Writing’s latest In Conversation event, featuring Oscar and BAFTA nominated screenwriter Patrick Marber (Notes on a Scandal, Fifty Shades of Grey).