COURSE OVERVIEW
A creative alternative to an MBA, empowering leaders to build, finance, and grow future-facing businesses.
Whether you want to launch your own company or drive innovation within an existing one, this 1-year MA gives you the tools to do it.
You'll learn to lead, manage, finance and grow creative businesses across film, TV, games, music, publishing, live events, and digital media — and graduate with an investment-ready business plan.
What Our Graduates Say
Content Tabs
The entertainment industry is changing fast. To succeed, you need to understand how to take an idea from concept to audience - learning to develop, finance, manage, market, and distribute projects. This generates the profits that lead to bigger and better work, entertaining audiences, whilst building businesses that last.
This course will give you everything you need to:
- Create business and financing plans for individual projects. You’ll develop comprehensive plans to take a film, TV series, game, theatre production, or digital content from concept to audience.
- Launch your own production company, studio, or business – build it with a slate of projects, a realistic business plan, financial model, and investor pitch deck.
- Lead and manage within existing companies – progress to management or executive roles with the strategic thinking, project management, and leadership skills to lead teams and drive growth.
- Solve real business problems for entertainment companies – use consulting and project management techniques to transform creative organisations.
- Navigate a changing industry – such as using AI and emerging technologies to enhance storytelling or reduce costs, whilst building businesses that last.
How you'll achieve this:
- By learning from the people who've built the businesses you want to work for. Founders, executives, investors, and Industry leaders will teach you exactly how things work — and what they wish they'd known starting out.
- Mastering the business fundamentals. You’ll get structured training in finance, legal frameworks, IP strategy, and leadership from Industry practitioners.
- Working with NFTS creative departments. Partner with filmmakers, animators, and game developers to help turn their stories into sustainable businesses — exploring everything from merchandise to multi-platform expansion, like how Wallace & Gromit grew from shorts to feature films, TV series, and global licensing.
- Solving real problems for real companies. You’ll work in consulting teams on strategic challenges set by companies like ITV Studios, Sky Studios, and Territory Studios. Your recommendations will be presented to real Industry professionals.
- Building something new. Every module builds toward your final business plan — whether that's a project within your current organisation or a brand-new company, such a production company, games studio, music platform, or something no one's thought of yet.
1. The Business of Film, TV & Games
This module will cover how these industries work behind the scenes — the journey from idea to audience. You’ll be introduced to the foundational skills developed throughout the MA: financing, production, marketing, sales, and distribution. You'll also cover budgeting, legal frameworks, IP essentials, and how to pitch ideas professionally.
You'll study an existing company that fascinates you — analysing how its founders applied their mission, values, business model, and strategy to succeed (or sometimes fail). This research informs the business plan you'll develop later in the course.
2. AI, Digital Media & Innovation
You'll learn how creators are making money online right now, and how to evaluate which new technologies genuinely improve storytelling or increase profitability versus which are just hype. You'll explore how to use AI and digital tools to grow audiences, reduce costs, and improve return on investment.
3. Creative Leadership & IP Strategy
This module will show you how the likes of Wallace & Gromit, Peppa Pig, Barbie, The Last of Us and Pokémon became global franchises. You'll work directly with students across NFTS creative departments to turn their stories and ideas into professional business strategies. You'll also develop creative producing and leadership skills, including how to expand IP across theatre, immersive experiences, live entertainment, publishing, and music.
4. Project Management & Media Consulting
You'll learn how to solve real business problems for entertainment companies, with management consulting skills taught by tutors and firms including Deloitte and KPMG. You'll master problem-solving frameworks and project management techniques that get things done on time and on budget and learn agile methods to implement change successfully.
5. Media Entrepreneur & Executive Programme
You'll develop and refine your ideas to create your final business plan and pitch, ready for professional presentation. This could be:
- A new film, game, TV show, or YouTube channel with a complete development plan
- A production company with a slate and business model
- A studio with a unique approach and clear strategy
- A completely new business addressing a market opportunity
- A transformation strategy for your current company with an implementation roadmap
Alongside this, you'll also gain:
- Practical toolkits and templates you can use long after the course ends
- A collaborative peer group from across a wide range of industries
- Recommended reading for those who want to explore more deeply
You'll join a collaborative learning community where everyone is building knowledge, sharing ideas, and developing new approaches to make storytelling both commercially successful and culturally meaningful. You'll graduate with either a comprehensive business plan and investor pitch deck or a strategic report for your workplace, plus the confidence to navigate the rapidly evolving entertainment landscape – whether you're advancing your career or launching something entirely new.
This course is for ambitious people ready to build exciting careers at the intersection of creativity and business. This could be to run projects and companies in the creative industries or to apply creative approaches to transform any sector.
You might be:
- Growing your career toward executive level in an existing company
- Planning to launch your own production company or studio
- Building new platforms, apps, or creative services
- Leading a social impact or not-for-profit creative organisation
- Advising entertainment clients in law, finance, or strategy
- Moving into entertainment from another industry
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.
International students Visa and English language requirements
If you have any questions, please email info@nfts.co.uk.
The following item(s) should accompany your online application:
- Please submit one or more examples of material that demonstrates your entrepreneurial engagement. This could be: a commercial funding application, a business plan for a new project or business, a detailed description of a business challenge that you have taken on, or a full description of your role working with someone else setting up, financing or building a project or company.
- If your background has been as an investor or professional advisor, please submit an overview of your investment or advisory role, and at what level.
Applications will close at 23:59 on the day of the deadline, shown at the top of this page.
Funding Available
The NFTS awards more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK. If you’re successful at gaining a place on the course, you will be contacted by our funding team with details on how to apply for one of these scholarships.
Course Highlights
The Business of the Creative Industries
A creative alternative to a mini-MBA. Study how ideas and stories become sustainable businesses.
Out in the Industry
Visit studio headquarters and industry events to hear firsthand from the people shaping film, TV and games.
Industry Q&As
Leading professionals join the course for candid conversations that bring the reading and research to life.
Upcoming Events
Tutors
Department Graduate Success
NFTS graduates are equipped to pursue careers across filmmaking, television production, advertising and more. Graduates have gone on to set up their own companies, produce award winning films and succeed across the creative business sector.
Recent Creative Business credits and successes include...
Danny De Warren
Danny graduated from the Creative Business course in 2016 and is now Manager, Original Series Production, Global Franchises at Netflix.
Department Graduate Success
NFTS graduates are equipped to pursue careers across filmmaking, television production, advertising and more. Graduates have gone on to set up their own companies, produce award winning films and succeed across the creative business sector.
Recent Creative Business credits and successes include...
Jonny McCausland
Jonny graduated from the Creative Business MA in 2024, and is now running a new Development Lab at Hat Trick Productions.
Department Graduate Success
NFTS graduates are equipped to pursue careers across filmmaking, television production, advertising and more. Graduates have gone on to set up their own companies, produce award winning films and succeed across the creative business sector.
Recent Creative Business credits and successes include...
Victoria Fah
Victoria graduated from the Creative Business MA in 2022 and is now Manager at IPR Lab, a venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-impact entertainment.
Department Graduate Success
NFTS graduates are equipped to pursue careers across filmmaking, television production, advertising and more. Graduates have gone on to set up their own companies, produce award winning films and succeed across the creative business sector.
Recent Creative Business credits and successes include...
Fani Suan-Baum
Fani graduated from the Creative Business MA in 2023 and is now Acquisitions Manager (Europe) for Anton, a global content company creating, financing and distributing films, TV series, kids’ programmes, documentaries and short formats.
Department Graduate Success
NFTS graduates are equipped to pursue careers across filmmaking, television production, advertising and more. Graduates have gone on to set up their own companies, produce award winning films and succeed across the creative business sector.
Recent Creative Business credits and successes include...
Ali Rasoul
Ali graduated from the Creative Business MA in 2023 and has grown his Creative Agency with clients including Netflix, Disney & the Paris Olympics.
Department Graduate Success
NFTS graduates are equipped to pursue careers across filmmaking, television production, advertising and more. Graduates have gone on to set up their own companies, produce award winning films and succeed across the creative business sector.
Recent Creative Business credits and successes include...
Ashkan Dabbagh
Ashkan graduated from the Creative Business MA in 2022 and is co-Founder & CEO of Zero One Creative, creating the next generation of storytelling powered by AI, controlled with human-led creativity.
