Minor in TV Writing
Our Minor in TV Writing offers students a creative path toward enhanced engagement with subjects in their major field of studies. Students will explore creating stories for the world of episodic and narrative television, learn to analyze current trends, and engage in creative and intellectual exploration of the issues and emotions that excite them. The minor is designed for students who wish to develop their creativity and expand their writing abilities while pursuing other studies.
With our emphasis on VISUAL STORYTELLING and VISUAL COMPOSITION, a Minor in TV Writing provides the visual literacy skills necessary in today’s marketplace. This distinct minor is designed to empower the aspiring TV writer to break into this growing and dynamic field and to offer students the necessary background to pursue writing on a graduate level. TV Writing minors should graduate with a SPEC SCRIPT and a REVISED PILOT SCRIPT, building a strong portfolio of creative work. In addition, students will learn how to pitch themselves and their stories to producers and networks. Students will be guided in storytelling technique designed to harness their imagination as they create compelling, authentic, and original stories for today’s audiences.
Faculty and graduate teaching assistants come from Stony Brook University’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Television Writing. This stand-alone MFA is one of a handful in the country to offer in-depth graduate studies in the burgeoning field of TV writing.
Program Director: Karen Offitzer
Karen Offitzer received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona,
and a Masters from NYU. She is the Founder and former Program Director of the MFA
in Creative Writing at National University, and has received grants and awards for
her short documentary work, most notably for her short, I Am Not Who You Think I Am, exploring the effect of a year-long free humanities education program on the lives
of those who were homeless and working poor. Her short fiction and nonfiction have
appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Phoebe, and Sonora Review and her book, Diners, is a pictorial chronicle of America’s roadside eateries.
Karen Offitzer, Director
Minor in TV Writing
Melville Library N3022
karen.offitzer@stonybrook.edu
- Academics
How Do I Earn a Minor in TV Writing?Your entryway to the 21-credit minor consists of three required courses: FLM 101, Introduction to Filmmaking and Television, FLM 102, Introduction to Film and Television Composi5on, and FLM 215, Scriptwriting for Film and TV. These three courses, open to everyone, invite you to participate hands-on in the experience of visual literacy and introduce you the nuts and bolts of visual storytelling.
The heart of the television writing experience is two advanced seminars, chosen from TVW 220, TVW 221, FLM 302 or FLM 303. In TVW 220, Advanced Television Writing, students can delve deep into writing, choosing from topics such as Comedy Writing, Writing the Web Series, or Writing the Drama Script. In TVW 221, The Writers Room, students engage in a collaborate writing workshop designed to mimic a professional writers room. Students work together to develop and write a TV show or web series.
Students can choose to enroll in FLM 302, Producing Practices for Film and TV, with topics such as Directing Actors for Film and Television and Understanding the Business of TV, or FLM 303, Podcasting, which explores audio podcasting as the essence of storytelling: listening to and communicating via the spoken word, person-to-person, and visualized exclusively through the imagery conjured via methods and choices specific to the oral tradi5on.
Minors also take one upper-level advanced theory course, FLM 310 Topics in Film and TV or FLM 320, Story Analysis for Film and TV writers, or an equivalent course from another department. Our FLM and TVW courses are taught by working writers who approach visual storytelling from the ground up, as fellow practitioners.
Our minor offers a cohesive approach to fulfilling Stony Brook's general education requirements, including SPK, ARTS, HUM, HFA+, and EXP. Even a single course in the art of television writing presents a rich complex of learning opportunities, not only for those in the arts and humanities, but those in any field: hands-on immersion in the narrative, analytical and technical skills required for cinematic expression will enable students to create visual stories about the issues at the core of their own studies, whatever they may be. At the conclusion of their studies, students will have the opportunity to choose a final course that best serves their interest. Students can enroll in the Capstone Project, offering an intensive pilot revision workshop, or complete an Internship, or can or enroll in an addi5onal advanced TV Writing workshop.
Students should declare the Minor in TV Writing sometime during their sophomore year, at which time they should consult with advisors of both their major and minor to plan their course of study. The objective is to fulfill the TV writing minor's requirements in a way that is coherent and complementary to the major. The minor can be declared online from within SOLAR. Please refer to the Academic Calendar regarding the deadline for submission of the Minor Declaration form.
For questions about the minor, or to set up an appointment to meet with an advisor, please contact us at tvw_undergrad@stonybrook.
The director of the TV writing minor is Karen Offitzer: Karen.offitzer@stonybrook.edu
- Courses
- Topics
- CREATE Series
- Learn More
- Minor Declaration
- Contact Us
CREATE Wednesdays
Capstone Festival
Student Showcase
