# USC Creative Portfolio List



## googoomuck

[Screenwriting]

What are you guys doing about this "Creative Portfolio List"? I'm sure I can't be the only one who has never had anything published or produced. (If you have, obviously, you'd put that stuff down.) I have written (completed) a handful of novel-length manuscripts, should I put those on there? Is this just to get an impression of our evolution over time as a writer, what kind of projects we like, etc.? Like should I also include stuff I wrote back in high school? (I'm only in my 20s--senior year was when I finished my first "novel", and I did get a high school award for writing, which I think I should include.) I'm guessing I should not include CURRENT, incomplete projects.

I don't expect definitive answers but I'm curious what everyone else is gonna be doing about this...


----------



## lady-vengeance

Hi! I'm a screenwriter applicant for USC as well. A little about myself: I'm twenty-two and I just graduated from uni, so I haven't had time/opportunity to have anything published/produced. I'm listing two scripts, some poems, and a short story. I don't have any awards that are really extraordinary to list, but I do have a few. I wouldn't list anything incomplete; there's something more concrete about submitting something that's finished. 

I think that, yes, they might want to see what you've done in the past. According to USC's FAQ, it's to demonstrate creative abilities that you may have that may not be in the realm of screenwriting.


----------



## googoomuck

Ah, interesting. Maybe they want to see that you can see a project coherently through to completion. For the record, mine will probably end up with three novels and one feature screenplay.


----------



## Point Break

Hey Everyone,

I'm in my first semester for USC's MFA Screenwriting program. I just checked my creative portfolio list from last year and I submitted my experience working on student films and commercials. I didn't have any published literary work either, but I did mention my first script was accepted to a small noir festival in my curriculum vitae.

I agree with what was said earlier about submitting completed work. Also, if you're proud of what you did in high school and it won something, I'd add it. My portfolio listed nine projects, but they were all within the last year, so I would say they're looking for consistency in your writing (or storytelling) efforts and additional experience that reinforces your writing - let me know if that doesn't make since


----------



## googoomuck

Thanks for the input Point Break. I think you're right about consistency. Lots of people start a million things at once and have never finished one. I didn't do my undergrad in film so I don't have that kind of student experience (I wrote a thousand research papers...but I don't think they want to hear about those! ) but I wrote on my own time all through college.

I know it's early days yet, but how do you like USC so far?


----------



## Chris W

googoomuck said:


> I know it's early days yet, but how do you like USC so far?


Yes a review on the *new review system* would be awesome. You can review anonymously too.


----------

