Learn it today, act on it tomorrow. In just 12 months, Full Sail’s Creative Writing MFA program can help you expand your professional skills.
We’re living in a golden age of media, and the demand for effective storytellers is greater than ever before. Students in Full Sail’s Creative Writing MFA program are rising to provide content for consumers who crave good stories across the world of entertainment.
“The ideal candidate for our program is someone who is already a good writer and wants to broaden the scope of the different kinds of writing they can do,” says program director Noelani Cornell.
Beginning with a course in leadership and personal brand development, new students learn the art of project management by looking at how different types of writing help shape the world of media.
Students often come in with either a project in mind or already in progress. The program aims to provide time and space for them to foster those projects while expanding their skills in other writing processes. They learn how to craft stories for different formats – from episodic and serial writing in film and television to writing for games. Along the way, the faculty encourages an agile approach, allowing students to pivot between writing for different types of media.
“A student might come in with an idea for a screenplay. They might find along the way that it works better as a comic book. We’re giving them the tools to be able to adapt and evolve their ideas depending on the market,” says Cornell.
She adds that unlike traditional creative writing programs, Full Sail places a strong emphasis on visual storytelling. Because of the accelerated nature of the program, candidates are expected to come in with both strong writing skills and a passion for seeing their work realized visually, often through collaboration with peers in industries like filmmaking or design.
As they study different facets of the business, students build a writing portfolio that functions as a showpiece for future employers. The goal is to show versatility and thus meet the growing demand for creative writers who can write across different industries.
“The focus is on their creative work, but these are skills that translate well to adjacent industries like marketing,” says Cornell. “By developing a sense of how narratives work, good writers can tell the story of a brand or business just as effectively.”
The program ends with a course on the business of creative writing, where near-grads learn how to market themselves and submit their work for publication. Cornell says she and her instructors hope their students leave with a broader definition of themselves than when they started.
“I tell students all the time, ‘You’re not a television writer or a writer for games. You’re a writer.’ In fact, I prefer the word storyteller. It speaks to the fact that the power of stories exists everywhere – not only in this industry but in everything we do as a people.”
