Contact:

Michael Schoonmaker, Chair
318 Newhouse 3, 315-443-2150

Faculty

Richard L. Breyer, Fiona Chew, Imraan Farukhi, Benjamin Frahm, Keith Giglio, Tula Goenka, J. Christopher Hamilton, Sharon R. Hollenback, Shaina Holmes, Barbara E. Jones, Ulf Oesterle, Douglas Quin, Michelle Santosusso, Michael Schoonmaker, Evan Smith, Olivia Stomski, Robert J. Thompson, William Werde

Established in 1950, the Television, Radio and Film Master’s program was the first of its kind in the nation and continues to be seen as the leader in graduate education for the field. This one-year, intensive, graduate program is designed for those who want to tell stories for screens of all sizes, examining various forms of entertainment media through the lenses of storytelling, industry, technology and art form.

Every day we experience these entertainment media as commercials on television, our favorite films at the multiplex, games on our iPhones and videos on the Internet. Students in the Television-Radio-Film Department have the opportunity to explore the ways stories are currently told, but also how they might be told decades from now as new technologies develop and the world shrinks.

Major themes in coursework include: production, screenwriting, criticism, business management and trends, the creative process and entrepreneurial strategies in dynamic media environments. The department’s approach to story is framed within film, television, Internet, interactivity and audio. You will create, analyze and explore. You may choose to learn screenwriting, to produce a documentary, to create a web-based public service campaign–and then research your audience and market your creation. Your one year as a student in this program will be multidimensional in terms of its practical, theoretical, forward-thinking, creative, industry-centered and intellectual layers.

This multidimensional approach is most visible in the Proseminar Industry Series (spanning across the year of study) designed to bring together TRF studies and professional practices. The object of the Proseminar experience is to prepare students to engage in current TRF issues and practices, help them understand changes in media environments and enable them to respond to future challenges as skilled creators and decision-makers.

The TRF Master’s prepares future leaders in enterprises where stories for screens entertain and persuade audiences: as writers, directors, editors, producers, media executives, multimedia designers, managers, entertainment lawyers, and agents. Some graduates run their own businesses, while others work for organizations like PBS, Comcast-NBC Universal, Google, MTV, Discovery Networks, Time Warner, Disney, Nickelodeon, CAA and hundreds of others.

For those students interested in sports media, the Television, Radio and Film program also offers a track which focuses on sports media and communications.

The Sports Media & Communications Track within the Television, Radio and Film program allows students to utilize skills learned in the Television, Radio and Film program core and apply them to sports. The track includes an introductory Sports Media & Communications summer course, specialized Sports Media & Communication electives and Internship.

The Master of Arts (M.A.) in Television, Radio and Film is a 36-credit program.