Department of Screenwriting
About the course
FTI Arunachal Pradesh, offers a two-year postgraduate course in Screenwriting designed to nurture the next generation of screenwriters. This intensive program will blend rigorous academic coursework with practical, hands-on experience, giving students a deep understanding of the art and craft of screenwriting. Students will engage with a multidisciplinary curriculum, including classes in narrative theory, character development, dialogue, and genre studies, alongside workshops and master classes with visiting professionals. The programme will emphasize the
importance of storytelling in film, television, and OTT, encouraging students to explore and refine their unique voices. With access to state-of-the-art facilities and a collaborative learning environment, students will be well-prepared to produce original, compelling scripts by the end of their studies.
Course Objective
The intensive curriculum integrates demanding academic study with practical, experiential learning, offering students a thorough comprehension of the art and technique of screenwriting. The primary goal of the two-year postgraduate
diploma in Screenwriting is to cultivate and support the artistic abilities of aspiring screenwriters, enabling them to create unique and captivating storylines for movies, television, and streaming platforms. Upon completion of the two-year course, graduates will have a thorough understanding of the screenwriting process, and the skills required to excel as versatile and adaptive storytellers in the media and entertainment industry.
Overview of Indian Screenwriting Landscape
The Indian screenwriting industry is complex and diverse, reflecting the country’s cultural, historical, and socio-political characteristics. Since it’s origins in the early 20th century, it has evolved to include various genres like drama, romance, action, comedy etc. Bollywood and South Indian films dominate the industry, while regional
language films add diversity and artistic quality. The rise of digital platforms and streaming services has significantly impacted screenwriting, enabling writers to explore innovative storylines. Web series have emerged as a new domain for narrative expression, offering more artistic autonomy. India produces nearly 200,000 hours of original content in television, OTT, and cinema. Global access to regional content is transforming storytelling, fostering cultural connections and unique experiences.
There is a constant need for innovative, diverse, and engaging stories that resonate with both local and global audiences.
Course structure
This is a two-year course to be delivered over four semesters.
The Screenwriting course introduces students to the history and production of audiovisual media, covering principles, techniques, and practices. It includes screenwriting essentials like formatting, character development, and dialogue writing. Students will analyze classic and contemporary films and screenplays, focusing on narrative techniques. They will learn genre analysis, format understanding, and episodic storytelling for TV and web series. The course aims to shape students into competent professionals through workshops and individual mentoring.
SEMESTER I (Common to all 3 Courses)
The first common semester intends to introduce students of all 3 courses to the history and aesthetics of audio visual media and its production. Laying the foundation of audio visual media practices, it will take the students through a comprehensive overview of the principles, techniques, and practices involved in the art and craft of audio visual storytelling. Through a combination of theoretical classes, practical exercises and projects, students will gain a fundamental understanding of direction, production, screenwriting, cinematography, editing and sound design.
Semester Ending Project: A 3 Mins / 10-Shot Exercise through Video Images, Edit
and Sound.[All 50 students will do an individual project]
SEMESTER II
In the second semester, the students will be acquainted with the fundamentals of
the screenwriting process. Course topics will include screenplay formatting, scene
and story structure, character development, and dialogue writing. Analysis of classic
and contemporary films and screenplays across various genres will allow students
to gain a firm holding on the understanding of narrative techniques in short and
feature film storytelling. The learning process will include lectures, screenings,
practical exercises, feedback sessions, workshops and masterclasses from industry
professionals. At the end of the semester the students will be proficient in the
basics of script writing softwares and its operation.
Semester Ending Project: Writing of a short fiction film of 10-15 mins length. [All 20 students will do an individual writing project.]
SEMESTER III
Based on the foundations laid down in the second semester, the third semester will take the students through writing techniques in the medium of TV and web series.
Course topics will include analysis of TV/OTT in principal genres and formats, mythology, folktales, melodrama in mainstream genres and fundamentals of episodic storytelling in writer’s room structure. Through workshops, demonstrations and interactions with industry professionals the students will be proficient in creating
episodic shows on Indian TV and OTT platforms.
Semester Ending Project: Conceiving a TV / Web Series show in Indian context in multiple episodes and writing the screenplay with dialogues of the pilot episode.[All 20 students will do an individual writing project.]
SEMESTER IV
The fourth semester of the course will prepare the students as competent professionals who are ready to step out into the industry. The course topics will include feature film screenplay writing and methods of script pitching for industry.
Specific workshops on feature film writing, pitching and individual mentoring will form the backbone of the semester.
Semester Ending Project: Ideating, Researching and Writing a Feature Film Script (of 80 mins- 90 mins in length) and creating and presenting a writer’s pitch docket for the same. [All 20 students will do individual feature film scripting and pitch docket preparation.]
Total No of Seats: 20 (Twenty)
UR 8 OBC_NCL 5 SC 3 ST 2 EWS 2
