Film school offers alternative to master¹s

Wednesday, January 22, 1997

GRAD SCHOOL:

Professional programs are ‘springboard’ to advanced
screenwriting degreeBy J. Sharon Yee

Daily Bruin Contributor

Perhaps some of the best-kept secrets at the Graduate School of
Theater, Film and Television are its professional programs, created
in 1994.

Currently, the professional programs focus on screenwriting,
with both beginning and advanced programs as well as an online one.
Though modeled after the master of fine arts screenwriting program,
students in the professional programs do not receive a degree, but
rather a graduate-level certificate in screenwriting.

"A lot of people use the programs as springboards to get into
the master’s program," said Professor Tim Albaugh, who teaches a
three-hour screenwriting workshop which students in the program are
required to take.

According to Stephanie Moore, the professional programs
coordinator, the programs were designed in response to the
department’s inability to accommodate the "high volume of
applicants and very few spaces" in the master’s program.

Also, the programs aim to provide people who do not necessarily
want a master’s degree, but want to study screenwriting at UCLA,
with the opportunity to do so.

"UCLA has a great success rate so I figure if you’re going to
learn (screenwriting), you might as well learn from the best," said
Paul Castro, a student in Albaugh’s class whose screenplay entitled
"The Translator" is still in the works.

The students themselves come from a wide range of backgrounds
and ages, including recent college graduates to middle-aged doctors
and lawyers. For some, the screenwriting classes are simply a
hobby, while for others who hope to work in the film industry, they
lay the groundwork for future careers.

"A lot of the students are coming right out of college, so we’re
just kinda getting our foot in the door," says Aaron Siegel, a
recent graduate from Arizona State University who is also an intern
for the medical drama "Chicago Hope."

"(The professional programs) are the best way to learn how to
write a screenplay because I didn’t have the slightest idea,"
Siegel added.

The students are not required to take the same elective courses
as master’s students, but it is mandatory to attend a lecture in
addition to their screenwriting workshop every week. All of the
classes are held in the evenings to facilitate the part-time
students’ schedules.

At the end of the yearlong course, which costs $3,000, the goal
is to have completed two screenplays, as opposed to the advanced
screenwriting class in the master’s program, where students are
expected to finish one script every quarter.

At the end of the year, the professional program sponsors a
screenwriting competition limited only to its students, which Moore
said "is a really good way to get (the students) noticed by the
industry" and also to attract some publicity for their work.

After receiving the screenwriting certificate, some students
choose to reapply to the master’s program, while others decide to
enter the advanced screenwriting program.

The advanced screenwriting program costs $1,000 per quarter and
is exactly the same as the advanced screenwriting class in the
master’s program.

It is designed for students who, after being thoroughly grounded
in the basics, are serious about pursuing a professional career in
screenwriting. Like the beginning program, students attend a
one-hour lecture and a three-hour workshop every week, but can look
forward to smaller classes (eight people per class) and writing one
script per quarter, rather than two scripts per year.

The School of Theater, Film, and Television also offers a
mentorship program, new this year, for anyone who wants his
completed screenplay read and critiqued. The mentors can include
faculty members and second- or third-year MFA students, who read
the scripts from the very early stages to the final product.

The program is geared toward writers who want to market their
script and seek a professional analysis of it before it is sent to
an agent. It is not restricted to UCLA students, nor does it
require one to live in the Los Angeles area, since mentors are able
to communicate through mail or telephone in addition to personal
meetings.

Ellen Cohen, half of a husband-wife screenwriting team in
Professor Albaugh’s class, said one thing she enjoys about the
classes is that "there’s a concern that you become a better writer,
but at the same time, they’re very practical," giving tips on how
to "pitch" screenplays to producers and write "treatments"
(summaries of screenplays) in addition to helping to improve
writing skills.

"You usually don’t get that kind of combination," she added.

"When you write a screenplay, you get really close to it and
when you are no longer as objective as you should be … then you
bring your work into class and you get 11 different views of what
your work is all about and it opens up your eyes to what you
wouldn’t have seen otherwise," said Castro, when asked the same
question.

In Fall 1996, the professional programs introduced an online
version of its screenwriting classes. To participate, students log
on at a specific time and conduct class chat room-style, with
discussions involving both the students and instructor.

This year, the $3,000-per-year program boasts students from
places as far away as New York and Japan.

Despite the newness of the programs, many students have had
considerable success after receiving their certificates. Several
have been announced as quarter and semifinalists for the Nicholl
fellowships, given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences.

Currently, there are 14 students studying for their master’s
degrees who initially took the professional program in
screenwriting. Others continue to write on their own and
subsequently contact agents to promote their work.

Because screenwriting "isn’t something that you can start and
finish and voila, you have it," Moore said she hopes that the
students in the professional programs learn through the writing
workshops and lectures how to continually improve their writing.
Several students agreed that screenwriting is a continual learning
process.

"To me, (screenwriting) is writing the movie I have going on in
my head and (is part of the process) of making the movie I want to
see," said Cohen, when asked what she liked most about
screenwriting.

Siegel offered a different, more blunt explanation for why he
studies screenwriting.

"We’re writing for the people who don’t have good
imaginations."