
Directing and Producing Television Entertainment
- Course overview
- Recent credits and successes
- What you will study
- Fees & funding options
- Showcase
- Entry requirements
- How to apply
Location Beaconsfield
Duration 2 Years
Commitment Full-time
Next intake January 2022
Application deadline 08 Jul 2021
Scholarships available
Begin your applicationOverview
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
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)
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).
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