COURSE CURRICULUM

The BA Creative Writing and Film & Theatre degree offers a rich blend of creative practice, literary study, film analysis, and performance studies, enabling students to develop as writers, critics, filmmakers, and theatre practitioners. In the first year, students build core skills through modules in creative writing, poetry, film studies, theatre analysis, and scriptwriting. They learn how to create, critique, revise, and refine their own work while exploring a wide range of literary, dramatic, and cinematic traditions. Modules introduce key concepts in storytelling, character development, narrative structure, theatre performance, and film interpretation, while optional subjects allow students to study drama, comedy, American culture, radical theatre, translation, comparative literature, and foreign languages. In the second year, students begin to specialise according to their interests. They can explore creative non-fiction, poetry, short-story writing, documentary production, television studies, Shakespeare, contemporary fiction, performance culture, and employment-focused placements. These modules deepen both creative and analytical skills while encouraging students to engage with issues such as identity, representation, globalisation, politics, culture, and media production. Students also gain practical experience in writing workshops, film analysis, documentary-making, and theatre studies, helping them connect theory with creative practice. In the final year, students undertake a major independent project through either a Creative Writing Dissertation, Film and/or Theatre Dissertation, or Creative Research Project, allowing them to develop an original body of work supported by critical research. Advanced optional modules provide opportunities to specialise further in areas such as scriptwriting for stage and screen, set design, musical theatre, adaptations across stage and screen, film festivals, screen bodies, Shakespeare on film, children’s literature, fantasy literature, Black and Asian British writing, literature and mental health, creative prose, and poetry masterclasses. Throughout the programme, students strengthen their storytelling abilities, critical thinking, research skills, collaboration, and creative confidence while gaining an understanding of how narratives function across literature, theatre, television, and film. Graduates leave with a strong portfolio of creative and analytical work, preparing them for careers in creative writing, publishing, screenwriting, filmmaking, theatre production, journalism, media, communications, arts management, education, cultural organisations, and the wider creative industries.