COURSE OVERVIEW
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.
Content Tabs
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.
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:
- Comedy landscape
- Radio comedy
- Sketches
- Panel shows and formats
- Characterisation
- Story structure
- Narrative TV comedy
- Script editing
- Topical one-liners
- Outlines and treatments
- Pitching
- Commissioning processes
- Working with performers
- Compliance issues
- Working with writers
- Writing briefs
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:
- Generate comedy programme ideas
- Create a narrative comedy, sketch show or comedy entertainment show
- Pitch ideas to commissioning editors
- Work with writers and help them develop their ideas
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.
If you have any questions, please email info@nfts.co.uk
The following item(s) should accompany your online application:
- Please submit, in one document, two TV sketches of no more than 350 words each. Write for: Lazy Susan and/or Famalam. Both shows can be found on BBC iPlayer. Please state at the top of the sketch which show you are writing for.
- Write two examples from Mock The Week 'scenes we'd like to see' segment. Please use the headings 'Unlikely lines from A TV detective show' or 'unlikely things to hear on a cookery show'
- Please write two one-liners suitable for a show like Have I Got News For You or 8 out of Ten Cats host script, based on the news story provided (you will have access to this as part of the application form).
Applications will close at 23:59 on the day of the deadline, shown at the top of this page.
Funding Available
The NFTS is actively seeking to improve diversity within the industry by encouraging applications from under-represented groups, and we have a limited number of scholarships bursaries available to help to support students.
Tutors
Student Showcase
Hear from past students about the Writing and Producing Comedy course and why they found it so valuable to their careers.
Graduate Success
Course graduates have gone on to work on a number of television and radio comedies as writers, researchers and producers.
Credits and successes include...
Rosie Jones
Comedian, writer and director
Graduate Success
Course graduates have gone on to work on a number of television and radio comedies as writers, researchers and producers.
Credits and successes include...
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Writer Alice Etches
Graduate Success
Course graduates have gone on to work on a number of television and radio comedies as writers, researchers and producers.
Credits and successes include...
Spitting Image
Writer Laura Major
Graduate Success
Course graduates have gone on to work on a number of television and radio comedies as writers, researchers and producers.
Credits and successes include...
Flatmates
Writer Kat Butterfield
