Screenwriting Department

All great movies and television shows - drama, comedy, action-adventure, thriller, or reality, begin with the story served by the written word. It is the mission of the LMU | School of Film and Television Screenwriting program to provide the best possible education in the art and craft of creating those stories and writing those words.

Students begin with a solid foundation in the liberal arts, taking classes in the university core that range from college writing, literature, and history, to mathematics, philosophy, theology, and the social sciences, in order to deepen and broaden their capacity to communicate their world perspective to audiences.

Once students begin their screenwriting major, they are encouraged to delve deep into their imaginations and their personal lives to come up with stories that will entertain, amuse, uplift and even challenge audiences. In order to actualize these stories, students are introduced to the basic elements of screenwriting, learning about character, dialogue, plotting, visual writing, and classic and alternative structures. In intermediate and advanced courses, students write and rewrite feature length screenplays, study genres, take classes in sitcom and dramatic television writing, and learn how to adapt stories to suit different mediums.

Our screenwriting faculty is committed to helping each student find his or her unique, creative voice, and express it cinematically and professionally in an environment that is supportive, constructive, realistic and fun.

For complete course description download the Undergraduate Bulletin. Bulletin requires Acrobat, click here to download from the Adobe website.