Registration Resources

Mondays, 2:30pm-5:15pm
The prerequisite for Crime and Mystery TV is FT303. This course satisfies the Television Studies requirement.

The reporting, narrativization, dramatization, stylization, and analysis of criminal acts, criminal actors, crime fighters, and victims/survivors of crime have been mainstays of popular media for decades. This course is concerned with the ways crime and detection are mediated—how these processes are shaped, passed around, and reshaped across television series, non-fiction TV genres, and podcasting. Areas of focus include but are not limited to genre, narrative strategies, representation, violence, and governmentality. Our screenings will include police dramas, sitcoms, and procedurals; mystery-thriller limited series; and true crime docuseries and narrativizations. Through a combination of readings, screenings, and discussion, we will contextualize and analyze the circulation of crime and mystery narratives across audio-visual media.

Thursdays, 3:30-6:15pm
The prerequisite for Writing the Web Series is FT310.

The proof-of-concept for emerging filmmakers or television writers, the short film or short form web series, offers students an opportunity to produce their own work and distribute it directly on YouTube, Vimeo or streaming platforms. This course studies successful produced, short-form web series (episodes of 8 – 12 minutes) before distilling the methods for creating and writing a short-form show bible. Students’ concepts are pitched, discussed and ultimately their series bibles are workshopped. Series bibles include the pilot episode, character descriptions and episode summaries. In discussing student work, we cover structure of episodes and the entire season, characterization and their arcs, effective dialogue, economic action/description and producibility.  Show bibles are made available to Production II and Production III students in hopes that the pilot episode of the series will be produced.  

Wednesdays, 6:30-9:15pm
The prerequisite for Late Nite Laughs is FT310.

Late Nite Laughs is a mega comedy writing class. If you’ve ever wanted to write for late-night TV, or just get a sense of what it’s like, then you’ve come to the right class. We look at what it takes to write for some of the major network “comedy-variety” shows, like Last Week Tonight, with John Oliver, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Saturday Night Live, to name a few. We’ll look at what makes good monologue jokes, as you write a ton of your own – and get feedback on them. You will scour the topical news stories of the day to come up with comedy “rants,” like what you’ve seen in Full Frontal, with Samantha Bee. We do many creative comedy writing exercises, as well as group work, sketch writing and some video projects. You will also outline ideas for your own late-night show.

Wednesdays, 2:30-5:15pm
The prerequisite for Advanced TV Genre Writing is FT514 or FT516

An advanced, reading- and writing-intensive course in which students develop and write an original hour or half-hour television pilot in a chosen genre. Possible genres include – but are by no means limited to – procedural drama, murder mystery, political satire, horror anthology, dark comedy, and children’s sitcom. After studying the conventions of their chosen genre, students will pitch a show concept and then write a treatment, outline, and pilot script. Students will also create a leave behind document detailing where the pilot goes in series. In lectures, discussions, and script workshops, we will examine current television genres and also explore story structure, character development and other essential screenwriting tools.

Wednesdays, 2:30-5:15pm
Advanced Editing is Application Only. Please reach out to filmtv@bu.edu for application details.

This course immerses students in the art and craft of editing for narrative and documentary short films and sizzle reels. Designed as a collaborative, practice-oriented experience, participants will have the opportunity to work on real work-in-progress projects produced by fellow BU students with the goal of preparing them for festival submission and building a creative portfolio. Students will edit a two minute sizzle reel from Craig Shepherd’s Creative Producing I class in addition to a short film/documentary of their choice. We will engage in dynamic discussions about advanced editing techniques and their uses contextually by genre and format. Additionally, we will learn to give and receive constructive feedback and master the art of rewriting in the edit. By the end of the class, students will emerge with the expertise and confidence needed to excel in the editing room for advanced production courses and in their future careers. This class requires an application and is open to 1) students who have completed FT 565 or 2) students who have completed Prod II, III, Adv Doc and want to further refine their own edits and find future collaborators. 

Fridays, 11:15am-2:00pm
The prerequisite for AI in Non-Fiction Production is FT353.

In this class, students will delve into AI generative tools and explore their potential to enhance and invigorate non-fiction content while remaining faithful to reality. Students will be encouraged to be pioneers in researching and applying cutting-edge AI platforms and exploring their applications in non-fiction or documentary filmmaking. The course will culminate in the production of several short final films that aim to infuse non-fiction stories with a fresh and creative visual style.

Mondays, 6:30-9:15pm; Thursdays, 9:30-11:15am
The prerequisite for The Musical is FT250. This will not satisfy the Additional Studies requirement.

The class charts the history of the musical from its beginnings to the recent past and examines the musical in terms of genre theory, investigating how the genre’s inherently hybrid form has sprouted various permutations over its history. Drawing on regular feature presentations and numerous excerpts, the course gives students a historical overview mainly over US-made musicals. We also pay attention to how source materials have shaped various subgenres including the Broadway musical, the juke box musical, the dance film—and within these genres, we will trace a range of creative traditions, such as the influence of jazz and other African-American musical tropes, the creative stamp of certain auteurs of the genre (such as Bob Fosse) and of certain composers (such as Andrew Loyd Webber), as well as the significance of dance and choreography, which varies a great deal in the contemporary musical. Films include Gold Diggers of 1933, Show Boat, The Pirate, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Bandwagon, Silk Stockings, West Side Story (Original and remake), Cabaret, Dirty Dancing, Saturday Nigh Fever, Hairspray (Original and Remake), Chicago, Moulin Rouge (2000), and others. Students will also be able to inform the class of their favorite musical subgenre through in-class presentations.

Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:20-2:05pm
The prerequisite for 70s NYC Film is FT250. This will not satisfy the Additional Studies requirement.

1970s New York City gets a bad rap for its crime, corruption and decay. But the films of that era capture much more. A key part of the “New Hollywood” movement, the visionary films convey a kinetic city where the challenges of everyday life become larger-than-life dramas. Other NYC films of that era also show a place for new dreams and  new personas. Featured films may include Midnight Cowboy, Shaft, Klute, The French Connection, Serpico, Taxi Driver, Girlfriends, Dog Day Afternoon, Saturday Night Fever, The Warriors and Manhattan, among others.

Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:10-11:55am
The prerequisite Latin American Melodrama is FT250. This will satisfy the Additional Studies requirement.

In the introduction to her seminal book, Home Is Where the Heart Is, Christine Gledhill states that “from the turn of the [twentieth] century through the 60s melodrama had been conceived in predominantly pejorative terms.” Despite its immense popularity during the so-called Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, melodrama in Latin America has likewise been relegated to the corners of “unserious” cinema, often criticized for mimicking the lowbrow telenovela format so popular across the region. In this course, we will investigate key aspects of melodrama as a mode and as genre following debates in film studies and applying this genre theory to Latin American cinema. Our goals will be to trace melodramatic traditions, innovations, and deviations in Latin American cinema as well as to find melodrama in film texts labeled otherwise.