Masters
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Key details

Location Beaconsfield

Duration 2 Years

Commitment Full-time

Next intake January 2022

Application deadline 08 Jul 2021

Scholarships available

Begin your application

Overview

BBC Studios

Could you create a hit format like Strictly Come Dancing, The Apprentice or Gogglebox? Would you like to direct a rock band in our multi-camera 4K TV studio or shoot your show on location?

This innovative course is designed to fast-track students into the TV entertainment industry. We run our course like a production company –we are either in pre-production, shooting or in post-production – with our students pitching, producing and directing their own TV shows.

“I left with a fully-funded pilot as my calling card.” Graduate Sean O’Riordan

Students are taught by top industry professionals on location and in our state-of-the-art studio. In recent years, our students have sold entertainment formats to Warner Brothers Television and ITV and graduation projects have won prestigious awards from the New York Television Festival and the Royal Television Society.

​This course is industry recognised by ScreenSkills, the industry-led skills body for the UK's screen-based industries, and carries the ScreenSkills Select quality-mark which indicates courses best suited to prepare students for a career in the screen industries.

All NFTS students can attend Masterclasses. Recent guests include David Fincher (Fight Club), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave), Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Louis Theroux, Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here), Sam Mendes (1917), Asif Kapadia (Senna), Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir), Russell T Davies (Doctor Who) and Ricky Gervais (The Office).

Recent credits and successes

2019 graduation show Melting Pot has been optioned by Zig Zag Productions, one of the UK’s foremost independent television production companies. Read more here.

2017 graduate Jamie Minty's credits include Love Island and Strictly Come Dancing. Read more in our #NFTSStories blog.

2018 graduation show Control, directed by Webster Mugavazi and produced by Robin Pagnanelli, was selected for the New York Television Festival’s (NYTVF) Independent Pilot Competition. Read more here.

“Studying at the NFTS has helped me gain a whole load of technical skills” NFTS Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA graduate, Meera is working for Studio Lambert on Gogglebox as the Archive Researcher - read her #NFTSStories blog here.

“It’s great being at the business end of TV and I’m lucky to work with some of the most extraordinary minds in the industry” Lucy Smith graduated from the Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA in 2017 and is now working as Development Producer at Shiver (part of ITV Studios) - read here story here.

Becky Casey graduated from the Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA in 2011 and is now a documentary producer and director and was recently nominated for a BAFTA. Read here story here.
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What you will study

This intensely practical course focuses on major entertainment genres. Students learn to develop, script, direct and produce their own entertainment programmes either in the TV studio or on location – with all production costs met by the school.

Students experience the full production cycle from the brainstorming of an idea right through planning, budgeting, shooting and post production, with specifically tailored modules taught by top television professionals. Students also get to pitch their entertainment ideas to broadcasters, including SKY and the BBC.

This is an environment where students will be challenged and supported by staff and fellow students.

Download programme specification (PDF)

Download course outline (PDF)


Head of Department

The course is led by Head of TV Entertainment, David G. Croft (Crystal Maze, Shooting Stars, Live Aid). 

Current or Recent Tutors

Angela Ferreira (The Midweek National Lottery, Mobo Awards, Richard and Judy), Andrew Fettis (Top Gear, Greatest Cities of the World, Three Men in a Boat), Ben Kellett (Mrs Brown's Boys, The Armstrong and Miller Show, Hardware), Jamie Langton (The Only Way Is Essex, Come Dine With Me, The One Show), Nikki Parsons (Strictly Come Dancing, Top Gear, Robot Wars) and Graham Stuart (The Graham Norton Show, Blind Date, The Sarah Millican Television Programme).

Fees and funding options

Fees for this course are as follows:

Home/EU/EEA £14,800 per year (for January 2021 intake)

Overseas £31,000 per year (for January 2021 intake)

We also welcome EU/EEA students on the same rate as our UK students – and those enrolling onto a two-year MA in January 2021 will continue to pay home fees for the second year of their MA. 

The tuition fees for January 2022 intake will be confirmed in May/June 2021.

The NFTS has £900,000 of scholarships and bursaries available.

There is a compulsory, non-refundable £60 application fee for each MA application. A non-refundable deposit of £500 is required against the cost of your fees on confirmation of your place. 

All production costs are included within the course fee. Students are expected to provide their own laptops. The course fee does not include the cost of travel to and from work placements.

The NFTS is committed to ensuring it is open to students of genuine ability, no matter what their background or financial circumstances. We don’t want anybody to be put off applying for a place at the NFTS because of the cost, which is why we award more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK.

At the NFTS you will get far more time learning directly from tutors, in real production facilities and on real projects, than in the vast majority of film schools or universities – and we won’t charge you extra for the cost of productions or materials. The specialist nature of our courses mean that our students gain the relevant skills and experience they need to go straight into the industry.

Showcase

Every year, our second year students create their own TV pilots.

 

Entry requirements

Applicants must be able to demonstrate their passion, commitment and talent for developing a career in Entertainment Television.

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 (for instance, in theatre or other arts) or an alternative qualification.

For international students, more information about our entry requirements, including Visa and English language requirements, can be found on our What You Need To Know section of our Students From Abroad page. 

If you have any questions, please email info@nfts.co.uk.

How to apply

Application deadline: 08 Jul 2021

 

The following items should accompany your online application:

  • A short proposal for a television entertainment programme
    (no more than one A4 typed page)
  • a critical analysis of a current entertainment television programme or series (not drama)
    (no more than two A4 typed pages)
  • Vimeo links with samples of your work specifying your exact role in each. This work need not be in the entertainment area, as some applicants may not have a film or other programme-making background.

Applications open 4th January 2021.

We are happy to receive applications from 4th January until the midnight of the application deadline date.

Begin your application

More content that you may be interested in...

NFTS TV Entertainment Show, ‘Melting Pot’ Optioned by Zig Zag

Melting Pot, a show created by NFTS Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA students, has been optioned by Zig Zag Productions, one of the UK’s foremost independent television production companies.