Welcome to the MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage Program
Northwestern offers one of the best dramatic writing graduate programs in the country – a fully-funded immersion in the art, craft, and business of playwriting and screenwriting in one of the most exciting and creative cities in the world.
See Your Own Work Through Production
Over two years, you will write multiple full length scripts for screen + stage, collaborate with MFA actors, directors, and designers, connect with industry professionals in New York, LA, and abroad, and see your own work produced at our brand new downtown Chicago theatre center. Your time at Northwestern will be tuition free and provide you with health insurance and a living stipend so you can focus entirely on your creative work.
Faculty Teach from a Place of Practical Knowledge
In our workshops, you will study with some of the best writers in the country – our full-time faculty, guest artists, and the small group of talented MFA writers in your cohort.
Every member of the MFA writing faculty is also a working writer – creating television shows, writing and directing independent features, working in writers rooms and on studio development deals, and seeing their plays produced in Chicago, New York, across the country, and internationally.
Students Realize Their Own Voice
We have no "house style" at Northwestern – each faculty member, and each student, is encouraged to pursue an individual aesthetic and approach to the craft. Our goal is not to teach writers how to write like us, but to help each writer realize the best version of their own unique voice and talent.
Technical Skills Support Graduates' Careers
At Northwestern, you'll learn not just the art and craft of media writing, but also how to build a real career to support your vocation. You will have access to our first-class facilities including cameras, lighting, sound, and computer labs, as well as the performance and media spaces in our new downtown center. And in addition to guaranteed play readings and productions, you will receive a $5,000 grant in your second year to produce new work for stage or screen.
Our Cross-Disciplinary Model
Northwestern also offers the opportunity to work across disciplines – not just writing for the screen and stage, but through partnerships in our sister programs – the Theatre MFAs in Acting, Directing, and Design; the MFA in Documentary Media; the MA in Sound Arts and Industries; and the PhD in Screen Cultures. As a graduate student, you will be able to take elective classes in any department at Northwestern – from Creative Writing to Comparative Literature, from Anthropology to Art History. And in your second year, you will teach introductory screenwriting to undergraduates and earn valuable college teaching experience.
Learn more about our curriculum
Learn from Industry Leaders
Along the way, you will meet artists and executives from TV, stage, film, and new media.
Recent Mentors Include Industry Veterans From:
- HBO
- Verve
- NBC
- Anonymous Content
- Playwrights Horizons
- the Sundance Film Festival
Recent Guest Artists Include:
- Tony Kushner
- Stacy Osei-Kuffour
- George R.R. Martin
- Todd Solondz
- Kia Corthron
- Wallace Shawn
- Asghar Farhadi
- John Logan
- Doug Wright
- Maria Bamford
- Norman Lear
- Young Jean Lee