Hone your skills to become a confident and versatile comedy writer.
This unique part-time course will enable you to develop all forms of scripted and unscripted comedy including sitcoms, sketch shows and panel shows for television and radio.
Course Outline
The course is carefully designed to gear you up for a career in comedy writing and production so you become practised at juggling deadlines, talking about your ideas concisely, assessing your own work and those of others, and being part of a writers’ community.
There is an emphasis on ‘learning by doing’ at the NFTS, so you will experience professional actors and comedians reading your work and giving immediate feedback; you will pitch ideas to development producers and commissioners; and you’ll get a taste of a writer’s room atmosphere.
You will get the opportunity to grow an idea into a fully formed vision, whether that be a five minute teaser for a sitcom, a sketch, a professionally recorded radio snippet or a script reading. By the end of the course, you will have produced your own body of work, which will put you in good stead to approach industry professionals.
There will also be inspirational and informative talks from some of the most successful creators of comedy working today.
What You'll Study
The course is part-time (one evening a week and occasional Saturdays) over eighteen months and is delivered in central London. You will be expected to spend at least eight hours a week working on assignments for the course. You will be taught about:
You will leave the course with a portfolio of material, which could include a 10-minute taster tape of an idea you have developed, or a full script and some sketches and one-liners.
You will graduate being able to:
Entry Requirements
This course is open to UK applicants and EU/EEA Nationals with UK pre-settled/settled status (subject to meeting residency requirements) and applicants who are currently in the UK on a valid visa for the full duration of the course.
Applicants must have a proven talent for comedy and a desire to succeed in this competitive field.
While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an alternative qualification.
