Masters
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Key details

Location Beaconsfield

Duration 2 years

Commitment Full-time

Next intake January 2020

Application deadline Contact Registry

Scholarships available

Overview

Could you develop, finance and produce a feature film or major TV drama?

This course trains creative producers in the four key skills they will need to succeed in the industry: creative development; hands-on producing; finance and business affairs; and distribution/sales.

Recent Graduate Emily Morgan won this year’s BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a Writer, Director or Producer for I Am Not A Witch.

Our students lead teams made up from the other disciplines at the School to produce at least three films to industry standard – with all production costs being met by the NFTS. They also undertake a Cannes Festival work placement and are individually mentored by a successful producer through the second year of the course.

Course alumni move on to work as producers or as executives in the UK and internationally. Typically, new graduates combine their own project development with paid employment in various roles across the film and TV industries (assistants to producers, development associates, producing short commissions).

All NFTS students can attend the School’s masterclasses programme, with recent guests including Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, The Dark Knight, Interstellar), Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here) and Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, Veep, The Death of Stalin).

Recent credits and successes

Graduate Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly's credits include Lady Macbeth and My Generation.

Graduate Anna Higgs' credits include High Rise, Frank and 20,000 Days on Earth.

Graduate Emily Morgan won a BAFTA for I Am Not a Witch in 2018.
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What you will study

Development skills: script analysis and script editing; developing a project from source material; working with writers and directors; pitching; negotiating the deal.

Producing skills: budgeting and scheduling; casting; managing the production; post-production techniques; editing, sound and music, business skills: publicity, marketing; sales, distribution; financing, co-production and legal/business affairs.

Television-specific strands include: developing a drama proposal to a broadcaster’s commissioning brief; understanding the television commissioning process; financing a TV drama series; the international market for UK drama; HETV tax credits.

Industry placements for students are encouraged in the summer break of the First Year, and Second Year students are formally teamed with individual industry mentors as well as undertaking work placements at the Cannes Film Festival. More than 30 senior industry tutors contribute to the course with specialist seminars over its two-year span, and students undertake visits to leading companies in the market such as Aardman Animation, NBCUniversal and ITV.

 

Download programme specification

Download course outline

 

 

Current or recent tutors

Chris Auty

Chris Auty

Head of Producing; Course Leader, Creative Business

Credits include Stealing Beauty, Blood and Wine, Crash

Karin Bamborough

Karin Bamborough

Visiting tutor

Credits include Food of Love and The Children

Myf Hopkins

Myf Hopkins

Visiting tutor

Producer and former Head of Production at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop

Tabitha Jenkins

Tabitha Jenkins

Visiting tutor

Producer and former Head of Production at Ealing Studios

Fees and funding options

Fees for this course are as follows:

Home/EU/EEA £14,800 per year

Overseas £31,000 per year

We also welcome EU/EEA students on the same rate as our UK students – and those enrolling onto a two-year MA in January 2020 will continue to pay home fees for the second year of their MA. However, we are currently unable to confirm if this will remain the case for those starting their first year in 2021.

In the last year, 8 in 10 UK MA students received support, with more than £800,000 given out in total.

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. As a part of our admissions selection process, successful applicants are required to attend a selection workshop for five days, which has a fee of £150. 

The School covers the accommodation and air fares for students attending the Cannes Film Festival and makes a contribution towards additional travel and subsistence costs. Students are expected to provide their own laptops and to pay for their travel for work placements and to occasional London-based seminars and events. International students will need to pay for any visas that may be required for attendance at non-UK festivals as part of the course.

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 students produce a number of short films.

 

Entry requirements

We’re looking for people with a lively and proven interest in film, television and the world about us. The ideal candidate will have a strong personality; good communication skills; a commitment to story-telling; and the ability to work collaboratively. The role of producer is a many-sided one that encompasses creative intelligence, team leadership, and problem-solving skills, and this course equips alumni to succeed equally well as producers or as successful executives in the film and television 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.

For international students, more information about our entry requirements, including Visa and English language requirements, can be found here. 

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

How to apply

Application deadline: Contact Registry

 

The deadline has now passed for our January 2020 intake. For any queries please contact the Registry team on info@nfts.co.uk 

Applicants should supply the following:

  • A proposal written by you for a feature film or TV drama, either original or adapted from a novel or other source. Tell us why you would like to make it and what you believe its audience appeal could be. If it is an adaptation please give us the title and author of the source material (one side of A4).
  • A brief analysis of three films or television programmes that you have seen in the last 12 months. Include comments on the directorial style (one side of A4).
  • An analysis of a favourite film or television programme and your personal response to it (one side of A4).
  • Choose a British or European producer (film or TV) whom you admire, explain why (one side of A4).
  • Describe briefly key lessons about producing you have learnt from any book about producing or producers that you have read. Please name the book. (One side of A4).

 

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