MA in Film & Television Production

Course Overview

The MA in Film & Television Production sits within LSCT's Media, Journalism & Communication department and is for postgraduates ready to leave with a substantial, festival-credible screen project under their own credit. The degree runs one year full-time or two years part-time across on-campus, online and distance routes, taught from central London within reach of UK broadcasters, post houses and location services.

You will deepen craft across directing, producing, cinematography and post, then move into a graduating project — a short film, a documentary or a TV pilot — pitched, produced and delivered to a public industry screening. The MA emphasises commissioning literacy as well as craft: BFI / Screen UK funding, broadcaster commissioning structures, streamer development pipelines and the rights ecosystem around them.

Editorial work runs on deadlines, and the programme is timetabled around real publication cycles — week-of newsdays, fortnightly long-form pitches and termly portfolio reviews — rather than a uniform lecture-and-essay rhythm that bears little resemblance to a newsroom or content desk.

The postgraduate calendar is built around UK working practice — block teaching where required for full-time professionals, supervised research time, and structured capstone or dissertation pathways. Students are matched to a supervisor on substantive fit, and the dissertation or capstone is expected to be of a standard suitable for industry circulation, not only academic submission.

Key Features

• Graduating screen project — short film, documentary or TV pilot with public industry screening.
• Aligned with the Royal Television Society and BBC Academy frameworks for early-career producers.
• Commissioning literacy — BFI / Screen UK funding, broadcaster and streamer development pipelines.
• Industry-standard kit — RED / ARRI bodies, DaVinci Resolve grade and ProTools mix suites.
• Three study modes with required on-campus shoot blocks for online and distance learners.
• Working faculty drawn from UK production companies, broadcasters and independent commissions.

What You Will Learn

The MA in Film & Television Production is structured around four taught modules, two electives and a graduating screen project. You will leave able to develop, finance, produce, deliver and pitch a UK-relevant screen project, and to brief a commissioner without bluffing the next round of funding.

• Advanced directing — actor work, blocking, visual storytelling and tonal control.
• Producing for UK film and TV — scheduling, budgeting, clearances and commissioning.
• Cinematography and lighting at MA level.
• Sound, dialogue and post — recording, design and mix.
• Edit and grading — narrative pacing, colour grade and broadcast deliverables.
• UK funding and commissioning — BFI / Screen UK, broadcaster and streamer pipelines.
• Rights and contracts in UK film and TV production.
• Pitch and development craft — log lines, treatments, decks and meetings.

Assessment across the programme is built on published or pitchable artefacts: news stories, features, scripts, treatments, picture stories, podcast episodes, social-first cuts and editorial briefings. Faculty mark against the same standards a UK newsroom or production company applies — accuracy, structure, tone, rights and time-to-publish — and feedback is delivered in the format students will encounter in working desks.

Who This Course Is For

• Working producers, directors and cinematographers wanting to formalise practice at MA level.
• Film and TV graduates moving from short-form into substantial graduating projects.
• Career changers in their late twenties moving into screen work from theatre, journalism or photography.
• International applicants targeting UK production careers or doctoral practice-based study.

Career Pathways

UK film and television production rewards persistent, well-credited practitioners — and the MA in Film & Television Production puts a graduating screening reel into every student's hand. Typical destinations include:

• Broadcast Producer at a UK independent or in-house broadcaster team
• Editorial Researcher on UK documentary or current-affairs production
• Multimedia Journalist at a UK current-affairs strand
• Freelance Director, DP or Editor on UK commissions
• Content Strategist at a UK scale-up needing high-quality screen work
• Digital Editor on a UK publisher or broadcaster content desk

The MA also serves as a foundation for doctoral practice-based screen study.

Graduates routinely return to LSCT as guest editors, picture-desk reviewers and pitch panellists, which keeps the school plugged into how UK newsrooms and content teams are actually hiring. The faculty's working relationships across UK media — broadcast, publisher and independent — feed directly into pitch opportunities and first-job introductions for current students.

Entry Requirements

• A UK 2:2 honours degree (or international equivalent) in a relevant subject — film, TV, media or arts practice.
• Applicants from non-cognate fields may apply with five years' senior production experience and a portfolio of screen work.
• IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
• A personal statement, two references, a 500-800-word project treatment and a portfolio link.

Why Study at LSCT

The London School of Commerce and Technology (LSCT) is a specialist higher-education provider based in central London and part of Harold International College. We teach in small cohorts so every student is visible to their tutor, run a single intake schedule that students can rely on, and partner with UK professional bodies so qualifications carry weight with employers. London puts Whitehall, the City, Silicon Roundabout, the Royal Courts of Justice, the West End and the NHS estate within a short tube ride of every classroom — and our students use that proximity in their projects, placements and graduate job hunts. For film and TV students, that proximity puts Soho post houses, BFI Southbank and broadcaster commissioning teams in reach.

The Media, Journalism & Communication department runs a termly newsroom open day and a quarterly editor-in-residence programme with working UK senior editors and producers. Students on all three study modes are invited to participate, and the sessions are recorded for catch-up review.

Apply for MA in Film & Television Production

Specialise at postgraduate level with the MA in Film & Television Production. Click Enrol Now to apply; admissions teams reply within one working day with scholarship and funding guidance. Send a portfolio link and treatment — they are the strongest signals we read.

If you are unsure how your portfolio reads, the LSCT admissions team can arrange a short pre-application conversation with a current tutor — we look at intent and trajectory, not only existing publication credits, and several students join with little more than a blog and a clear sense of why they want to work in UK media.