Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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COM FT 724: Screenwriting III
Advanced screenwriting for 2nd year Graduate Screenwriting Students. Based upon lectured material, the feedback received during workshops, and one-on- one consults with the professor, students will write and revise a full feature-length screenplay. Students will be expected to have a firm grasp on narrative structure, character development, and cinematic storytelling. The material covered in the first year of the graduate screenwriting program will be applied to this intense workshop atmosphere. -
COM FT 725: Creative Producing II
CREATIVE PROD 2 -
COM FT 727: Creative Producing I
This course takes students through the process of creating non-fiction TV programming. Think talk shows, reality programs, and documentaries. How to create a concept, write a proposal, cast a program, and develop a marketing reason to do the program. It's all part and parcel of being a creative producer. -
COM FT 728: Creating New Ideas
This course provides students with the practical entrepreneurial tools and strategies needed to test and refine a new venture concept or existing product innovation that will eventually serve as their Thesis Project for the Media Ventures program. Students will take this idea from concept to working model/wireframe and will present to investors and industry executives at the end of the Media Ventures Program. -
COM FT 729: Script Analysis
A detailed and exhaustive analysis of selected screenplays through which we will focus on the cultivation of critical skills leading to a sharpened perception, and a heightened awareness of how a screenplay can be vastly improved. Utilizing these analytical skills, students will provide in-depth analysis for participating production companies who are in need of pre- production revisions. Each student will examine the chosen scripts, write coverage, write a more in-depth report for some of the production companies and meet with representatives from each project. Using the model of our workshops, the class will conduct story meetings with writers, directors and producers involved in each project. Students will be expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner through both their written reports and their verbal consultations. In addition, students will look at how source material, such as short films, stage plays and/or books can be adapted for the screen. Each student will then design a pitch based upon chosen source material and do pitch presentations. -
COM FT 730: Screen Adaptation I
Graduate Prerequisites: (COMFT713) - More than half of Oscar nominated films are literary adaptations. This course analyses the current commercial and artistic reasons behind the surge in adaptations, touches upon adaptation theory, and studies novels and short stories that have been adapted for film. Students present papers on film adaptations and begin the adaptation of a short story. -
COM FT 731: Screenwriting IV
Graduate Prerequisites: (COMFT730) - Restricted to Graduate Screenwriting students. Through a rigorous writing schedule, the students complete a feature-length screenplay. A solid first draft of a new feature-length screenplay and two sets of revision. -
COM FT 736: Film Theory
In-depth survey of key debates in film and digital theory between film practitioners, involved observers, and theoreticians and philosophers. Part I surveys theories of medium specificity and of film exhibition (cinema of attraction, film as mass culture) and of film as art (Gestalt theory, French Impressionism) and as a revolutionary tool (Soviet Montage). We study the debate around the relation between film and reality in theories of realism. Part II covers film theory form the 1960s to the 1990s. Topics include structuralism and semiotics, apparatus theory, genre and authorship, psychoanalytic film theory, and the impact of debates in gender, sexuality, and race on film theory. We survey theories of oppositional gazes in their struggles against sexism, racism, classism, and colonialism. Further, we cover discourses in phenomenology, cognitive film theory and the theory of affects. Part III focuses on recent developments related to digital media. We will investigate the relationship between the digital image and reality (theories of simulacra) and consider the role of infrastructures and economies of digital distribution. -
COM FT 825: Thesis Project
Creation of an original work in any one of four areas: producing; scriptwriting; directing/production; or a research paper. One-on-one advisor supervision throughout the entire process. -
COM FT 851: Thesis Preparation
This course, required of second semester film production graduate students, explores the aesthetic and technical parameters of the short film format with the goal of celebrating the short form as a genre unto itself. Students also develop and write their thesis scripts in preparation for thesis production the following year. -
COM FT 852: Thesis Project
Devoted to completion of thesis projects in film production and film studies. -
COM FT 951: Directed Studies
Graduate Prerequisites: consent of supervising faculty and department chair. - Individual projects: opportunity for advanced graduate students who have completed a major portion of their degree requirements to engage in in-depth tutorial study with specific faculty in an area not normally covered by regular curriculum offerings. -
COM FT 952: Directed Studies
Graduate Prerequisites: consent of supervising faculty and department chair - Individual projects: opportunity for advanced graduate students who have completed a major portion of their degree requirements to engage in in-depth tutorial study with specific faculty in an area not normally covered by regular curriculum offerings. -
COM FT 953: Internship 1
On the job professional experience in media industries: television stations, film and video production studios, networks, cable television operations, advertising agencies, digital media companies, and related corporations. -
COM FT 954: Internship 2
On the job professional experience in media industries: television stations, film and video production studios, networks, cable television operations, advertising agencies, digital media companies, and related corporations. -
COM JO 150: History and Principles of Journalism
This course deals with the events, institutions and individuals that have shaped journalism in this country. Using a thematic approach, students learn about the role the press has played in history. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Historical Consciousness. -
COM JO 155: Reporting for Social Media
This course immerses students in producing compelling news stories specifically for social media, using vertical videos and other shooting methods for platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, and Bluesky. Students will report, shoot, and edit breaking news, feature stories, and explainers across beats such as community reporting, politics, and sports. Students will also learn how to optimize their videos and grow their audiences. In addition, this course will cover misinformation, algorithms, and ethical reporting. We will have guest speakers who will share their expertise in social media reporting, storytelling, and search engine optimization. By the end of the class, students will leave with a strong professional portfolio showcasing impactful, platform-tailored news stories. This class will operate as an actual newsroom. Your work will be judged on quality, timeliness, clarity, and engagement. Treat this class like a job- be on time and attend every class. -
COM JO 200: Newswriting
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) and COMCO 201. - Students acquire fundamental newsgathering and writing skills needed to thrive as a journalist working in any platform. The course is based in the classroom, but students are expected to learn and adhere to professional newsroom standards. The course focuses on essential practices and principles that apply to reporters, photographers, bloggers, producers and editors at newspapers, magazines, radio, television and online media. The class emphasizes news judgment, storytelling and reporting skills as well as writing clearly and quickly. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Critical Thinking, Research and Information Literacy. -
COM JO 205: Visual Storytelling
Required of journalism majors. An introductory course designed to provide students with a basic working knowledge of the media required for professional journalism, including photography, sound, video, and editing for production of multimedia packages. No previous experience in visual media is required. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation. -
COM JO 210: Reporting in Depth
Undergraduate Prerequisites: JO 200 and JO 205 - In J0210 you will learn and practice in-depth reporting in a community. You will develop sources, walk the streets, cover a beat, attend meetings, shoot photos and provide readers with public interest journalism. This is a working newsroom. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Writing-Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy.
