Graduate · Music & Performing Arts
Master of Fine Arts (Writing for Performance)
National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Sydney, NSW, Australia
About this program
The Master of Fine Arts (Writing for Performance) is NIDA's dramatic writing degree, run under the course title MFA (Dramatic Writing) and built as an 18-month intensive rather than a slow-paced workshop model. Writers work across theatre, film, television and interactive forms simultaneously, producing two full-length works over the course alongside multiple treatments, outlines and pitches. That output mirrors what a working screenwriter or playwright actually has to generate, rather than a single polished thesis script.
Work is developed in the room with actors and directors rather than in isolation: scripts get workshopped, read aloud and revised against what actually happens when performers pick them up, which NIDA treats as the central discipline of the course. Alongside the writing itself, students study contemporary philosophy, ethics, cultural studies and classical rhetoric, a somewhat unusual combination for a practical writing degree, justified by NIDA on the grounds that dramatic writing is argument and worldview as much as craft.
Graduates leave with a portfolio built for pitching: treatments and outlines as well as finished scripts, reflecting the reality that professional writers sell ideas as often as they sell finished work.
Cost & duration
English test scores
Verified nida.edu.au ↗
Course structure
3 terms of coursework
- Semester 1: Dramatic Writing Studio I, Script Analysis and Structure, Writing for Theatre
- Semester 2: Writing for Screen and Interactive Media, Workshopping with Actors and Directors, Contemporary Philosophy and Cultural Studies for Writers
- Semester 3 (final): second full-length work, portfolio of treatments and pitches, industry engagement and professional practice seminar
Admissions
Bachelor's degree plus submission of writing samples/portfolio and interview
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