The Certificate in Screenwriting & Story Development is offered to students who wish to pursue careers in writing for film and television or in story development for the entertainment industry and especially students interested in pursuing graduate studies in screenwriting. Students study an inclusive canon of landmark screenplays from a diverse range of professional screenwriters and develop their own portfolio of writing samples, including short scripts, script coverage, treatments, and either a completed feature spec script or television pilot script. Courses address narrative structure and foundational storytelling principles, script development, pitching, inclusive screenwriting, the history of scripting practices from an international perspective, and narratological theories of the screenplay.

To complete the certificate, students must achieve a minimum GPA of 2.75 in 28 credits of Digital Cinema coursework listed below.