# Screenwriting MFA - for career in Videogame writing?



## Gilgamesh (Sep 29, 2009)

Background: 24yo graduated this past May bachelor's in business administration, always secretly fancied working with creative media - and recently decided that corporate finance culture was not my cup of tea!

As it stands, much as I like the idea of dabbling in film and/or TV, I'm much more of a gamer and I'm looking at working in the videogame development industry, at least in terms of designing plot and/or narrative. I've read that the industry is actively hiring screenwriters to pad up the quality of storytelling in the games of today, so I'm thinking that a screenwriting MFA might work out for me.

Note: all of the above means I have zero experience at school or writing screenplays for my own interest.

Having read through a fair bit of the info on this forum, I can see that the USC SW program is a little more geared towards my needs, since they have a dedicated Game Writing module. I certainly don't think it's necessary for me to go somewhere just because of one module though...

USC is also hell of a ***** to get accepted into, so which other schools should I be looking at? I'm thinking UCLA and maybe Chapman - anything else? 

From what I've seen, I should probably not apply to NYU and Columbia, since their focus seems to be more on scripts of the theatrical type. Anyone agree?

(On that last note - I think it's a complete shame if NYU wouldn't work since Tisch Asia's Dramatic Writing program is basically right on my doorstep!! Oh well...)

Hope to see what you guys think about my plans! Let me know if I'm totally barking up the wrong tree by choosing screenwriting...


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## Jayimess (Sep 29, 2009)

There are video game writing classes, but there really isn't enough to make it your thesis or anything.  It's a dip in the pool, not swimming lessons.

I wonder if you would benefit from the actual interactive major...


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## Gilgamesh (Sep 30, 2009)

Thanks for the input!

I suspect the problem with the interactive major is that you have to be creative about the entire experience. It would be a fully hands-on experience in the same sense as Film Production majors - gotta deal with level design, programming, visual art, sound design, etc.

Maybe I'm just doubting myself too much, but my creative energy leans more towards envisioning plotlines and character interactions that engage the viewer, rather than trying to engineer an immersive experience in terms of gameplay. Am I contradicting myself?


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## Danielldrummond (Sep 30, 2009)

No,  you surely ain't.

In fact, I am also interested in working in Game Writing, especially considering the current scenario. Game developers are finally starting to realize that, above graphics and gameplay, the story rules. And, considering Games give much more  cretive freedom (in terms of new scenarios, characters, different worlds, etc.) it is only natural that a screenwriter would be interested in the medium.

I believe you would benefit from any writing course, screenwriting included. Even if games do not use the exact same narrative forms and devices films do, you would always benefit from good dialogue and character development for example.

But I think that, in order for you to write a good game, you MUST be at least involved in (or aware of)aspects such as level design, art direction, and even sound design, since these are all crucial parts of game storytelling (e.g. Bioshock)


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## Gilgamesh (Sep 30, 2009)

Thanks, Daniel! Yeah, game writers definitely aren't their own silo where they make up crazy stories to leave to the other designers to interpret. I definitely wanna be able to tell a story that has great synergy with the actual game design elements - Bioshock is a terrific example. I'm just not sure I'm up to learning x years of programming in order to achieve my goal!

The other thing about the interactive media MFA at USC is that it's 3 years, as opposed to 2 years for any SW MFA, and they take only... 12 students per year? Thus offering an even lower probability of entry than the already-low chance of getting into USC SW. Jayimess, any word on how popular the Interactive Media degree is?

If any screenwriting course should prove useful, should I be applying to all of the usual suspects (ie. USC, UCLA, AFI, NYU, Columbia, Chapman)?


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## Danielldrummond (Oct 1, 2009)

Well, I am going for a BA in Film and Media Studies, and am also considering a MFA in Screenwriting or Interactive Media.

Among all game-related areas, I believe programming is the least necessary when it comes down to writing, so I might somehow consider taking interactive classes as electives or something like that, I don't know. Haven't really looked into it.

I also believe that classes in Animation might come in handy as well.

Anyway, I think that, when considering a screenwriting course, you should always try the usual suspects hehe Specially NYU, USC and AFI.

You have a business BA right? So it would be interesting to have classes in Animation and Writing. So maybe a Film Production MFA could work as well, since it can englobe all these areas.


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## Jayimess (Oct 3, 2009)

Screenwriting programs will benefit your storytelling, of course...video games tend to tell episodic stories on a grand scale, so both feature and television writing will benefit you!

I don't know much about the interactive program, I'm afraid.


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## notroberttowne (Oct 28, 2009)

two cents:  Chapman doesn't have any kind of videogame or tv graduate anything, BUT there are a lot of undergrad classes in episodic TV writing, animation writing, and motion capture that a graduate student with a lot of initiative could take advantage of.  

Scratch that, a quick search of the catalog reveals an entire computer game program...  contact Chapman.

As to other schools, I agree that any screenwriting program would be helpful, and since videogames are more spread out than the film industry, you don't even need to limit yourself necessarily to schools in Southern California and New York (necessarily).


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## robot_m (Oct 28, 2009)

I'm also interested in writing for video games.

If anything, video games story arcs have more in common with TV story arcs than film...a series of separate but inter-related episodes that connect together in a grand, season-long/game-long story arc.

Of course I mean new, mostly dramatic shows like Lost and Mad Men. Not old shows like Threes Company. Ha.

A come and knock on our door....


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## notroberttowne (Oct 29, 2009)

though a mad men videogame would probably be awful.  "Press X to pitch copy, Press A to drink, Press B repeatedly to seduce floozies..."


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## tantalus (Oct 31, 2009)

Very good question.  I'd love to get into videogames at some time as well.  I have a few friends who work with video games, and this is their background.

One of them is a screenwriter.  He has his own small production/producing company based around his skills as a screenwriter.  I don't think he has an mfa in screenwriting.  He just went out to Hollywood, started writing movies, then got hired by some game companies on a freelance basis to work out dialogue kinks.  Now he does have film writing and half game writing.

Another is a producer.  He went to the Stark producer school for an mfa at usc.  He developed his own producing company and they do half film producing and half video game producing.  He started with films as well.

Another friend has an undergraduate film degree from usc and he's working for K2.  I think he's doing more marketing instead of design.

Most of these people obviously started out in film then moved to video games.  Whenever I've talked to people in the videogame industry, they always say that the videogame masters are up and coming, and much more important than any other degree.  I don't remember the schools that are good for this, but since they're starting to have their own specialized degrees, if you know you want to go solely into videogames, I would look into that.  You'll be able to network with other videogame makers and have a great tailored resume.


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## Danielldrummond (Nov 1, 2009)

> Another friend has an undergraduate film degree from usc and he's working for K2. I think he's doing more marketing instead of desig


 You mean 2K?


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