The MS in Television: Creative Producing and Management curriculum is designed to give students the strategic, financial, and creative tools required to launch executive careers in the entertainment industry. The program emphasizes that the modern producer is the primary organizational and creative driving force behind television and streaming content. To succeed, an executive must master physical production logistics, possess sharp business acumen, and remain intellectually agile enough to adapt to a rapidly evolving global streaming economy.
Students must complete a minimum of 48 credits to receive the degree.
Learning Outcomes
Graduates of the MS in Television program will master execution-level expertise across four core areas:
- Professional Pitching & Development: Ability to conceptually build, package, and professionally pitch television ideas, lookbooks, and series bibles directly to studio executives and network greenlight committees.
- Industry & Programming Analysis: Ability to synthesize national media news, demographic trends, and algorithmic streaming data into actionable television programming, acquisition, and distribution strategies.
- Physical Production & Line Producing: Mastery of the practical mechanics of physical production management, including detailed script breakdown, union rules, scheduling, line budgeting, and studio risk mitigation.
- Cross-Format Narrative Evaluation: Ability to analyze, structurally manage, and evaluate professional television projects, creative proposals, and episodic series across multiple content formats.
The Curriculum
All standard courses are 4 credits unless otherwise noted. The curriculum is divided into 28 credits of foundational core requirements and 20 credits of advanced elective choices.
Required courses (28 credits):
These required courses build your foundational execution skills in physical production, management, and strategic media business models.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: FT353 - Any film- even a very short one- requires the making of thousands of decisions. How long do we shoot' How many mouths do we feed' How much will the props cost' This course offers systems for arriving at intelligent answers to these myriad questions. In covering logistics of getting a media production made, the course addressed how to catalog all the practical considerations that go into a production, how to schedule a shoot, how to budget a production and how to plan for distribution of the final product.
This course examines the history, evolution, and present scope of interactive media and related technologies from the perspective of design, theory, business, technology, and impact. Global trends, patterns, and themes are identified and discussed within the context in which they are created, experienced, and transformed.
CREATIVE PROD 2
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.
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.
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.
4 credits
This course will examine leadership issues facing today’s television executives and the varied management styles of high-profile decision makers. The current TV landscape, content development, revenue models, consolidation, negotiation, distribution, and ethical considerations are explored using lectures, in-class discussions, readings, and special projects.
Approved elective courses (20 credits):
Students tailor their professional profile by selecting 20 credits of graduate-level electives (500-level or above). These choices should reflect your specific career trajectory and support your final portfolio objectives.
Curriculum Note on Electives: Not all elective courses are offered every semester. Students may also petition to take other graduate-level (500+) courses offered across the College of Communication or other Boston University colleges, subject to approval by the Program Director.
Once a niche industry, gaming has grown into a dominant force in entertainment, generating billions of dollars annually and shaping global culture, with a projected 3.3 billion players worldwide by 2025. While games are primarily known for entertainment, gaming technologies, aesthetics, and design principles are also widely applied in teaching, training, and driving social impact. This class explores the history and evolving landscape of gaming, examining the industry’s ecosystem, player communities, technologies, genres, business models, and global trends. Students will gain an understanding of the video game industry, including its key players, challenges, and opportunities, while exploring the fundamental concepts of games, play, and fun. They will also learn about game design, production, technology, branding, and franchise development, with hands-on opportunities to pitch and design game-related products, services, and brand extensions. Effective Spring 2027, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Creativity/Innovation, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMFT353) a 3.0 COM GPA - Graduate Prerequisites: (COMFT707) a 3.2 COM GPA - Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 353; a 3.0 COM GPA Graduate Prerequisites: COM FT 707; a 3.2 COM GPA This is a class that operates as a student-run, client- driven production company. Projects include PSA's and web videos for local, national, and international non- profits. GPA of 3.0 or higher. 4 credits only. Application only. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU HUB area: Teamwork/Collaboration.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMFT201) COM FT 201 or Instructor Consent - Course presents the requisite strategies, processes, technology, and skills training to successfully create live multi-camera productions. Emphasizes the roles and responsibilities of the director and producer. Intended outcome is for students to demonstrate proficiency in the academic, practical, and professional components established for the course. 4 cr, either sem.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMFT310) - Deals with the process and techniques of writing a dramatic series for commercial network and cable television. Students will select a current prime-time drama, develop A, B, and (possibly) C stories for an episode, and complete a Writer's Draft and polished First Draft, suitable for a Writer Portfolio. Lectures will include the life of a working television writer, one-hour story, structure, genres, and character development. We will view and analyze TV series from the past and present, and focus on proper drama script format, character development and voice.
This course examines the critical financial and strategic challenges that businesses face whether they are in start-up, expansion, or exit mode. Students will use case studies to delve into the lives of the founders and CEOs of some of the world's most innovative and enduring brands and industry game-changers. We'll delve into each company's business model(s) and learn why some evolve to become industry gold standards while others fail.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMFT310) - Intense writing workshop learning how to write professional sitcom scripts. Elements of character, dramatic story structure, how comedy is created, how scenes build and progress a story, formal story outlines, dialogue, the business of sitcom writing, pitching, arc, comedic premise are analyzed. The class becomes a sitcom writing team for a current hit series and writes an original class spec script to understand the process of group writing employed on most sitcoms. Also, students write their own personal spec scripts with individual conferences with the professor.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT353 - Graduate Prerequisites: COM FT707 or COM CO722 - Given its central role in the filmmaking process, examining the way films are edited can reveal a lot about the inner workings of film and help students understand the art of filmmaking. Editing scenes from films, television shows, and other material in a classroom setting and then examining different versions of those scenes can help students become better editors and will help them evaluate/critique their future film and television work. The course is designed for students who have edited a number of exercises and films in previous classes. It provides an opportunity for students to develop advanced editing skills, while learning advanced digital editing techniques on the Adobe Premier. This is an advanced editing class, and not a course on how to use Premier. By editing scenes from episodic television shows, and other professionally shot footage, students will learn how to select (and reject) material, where and when to cut, how to create pace, how to control what the audience sees and does not see, how to add music and effects to increase the emotional content, and how to use visual effects to enhance the impact of the material.
BUTV1 is a credit-earning opportunity for members of BUTV10 & BUTV10.com, BU's student campus channel and website. Students work with at least one of the organization's productions or administrative departments. For undergraduates, one previous, not for credit, a semester in the organization is required, except with Faculty Advisor consent. This requirement does not apply to graduate students. All students must coordinate participation and be approved by the faculty advisor. 2 credits pass/fail, either semester.
This course will provide students with the practical knowledge and skills needed to heed the call of entrepreneurship. Classes will include guest speakers from various business sectors including venture capital professionals, angel investors, accountants, attorneys, marketing experts who are skilled in launch phases of PR, as well as media entrepreneurs who succeeded against all odds. Students will also participate in the development of a core business idea, from concept through the creation of a sound business plan as a final project/presentation. 4 cr. Fall
An introduction to the techniques of producing and directing video projects, including videography, lighting, editing, sound, and special effects. Emphasis is on execution and design of both "live" on tape and postproduced works using both field and studio equipment.
Recommended course progression
While students can customize their elective choices, the program typically follows this sequential roadmap to balance foundational training with active industry placement.
Semester 1: Foundation in Boston (Fall Term / 16 Credits)
Focus on foundational executive concepts. Students complete 12 credits of Core Requirements (including Creative Producing I and Television Management) and select 4 credits of approved electives to establish their analytical baseline.
Semester 2: Advanced coursework (Spring Term / 16 Credits)
Deepen operational skills on campus. Students complete the remaining 12 credits of Core Requirements (including Creative Producing II and Physical Production) and 4 credits of electives, while solidifying their Capstone/Thesis proposals.
Semester 3: The Los Angeles Industry Immersion (Fall Term / 16 Credits)
Transition to the West Coast footprint. Students enroll in the 4-credit Graduate Thesis/Capstone Portfolio course, alongside 12 credits of advanced entertainment electives and active studio internships in the LA media ecosystem.
Important Curricular Notice
The TV Producing/Writing track is no longer offered. The MS in Television is strictly a creative producing, executive, and management program. If you are a prospective student primarily interested in writing scripts, pilots, and teleplays for television, please apply directly to our MFA in Screenwriting program.
Academic Policies & Regulations
In addition to the University Bulletin, master’s students should refer to the College of Communication Graduate Handbook for a comprehensive guide to policies, academic regulations, and student resources.