CREATING YOUR OWN TV SERIES

For professional TV writers the Holy Grail is creating your own series – coming up with the concept and characters, pitching and selling it to a network, writing and producing the pilot, then making it to the fall schedule – and hopefully 10 years on the air.

Here at Chapman, we’re training our TV students to be able to do just that.  After learning the fundamentals of screenwriting, students have the opportunity to take a course where they create, develop and write a pilot for a full-length network comedy or drama.  Two scripts are then selected to be produced during our January Interterm, then edited in the spring.  Our first project, a drama called Kate So Far, was recognized as an Outstanding Drama nominee at the 2009 New York Television Festival.  This year’s pilot, a dark HBO-like drama called Rising Above, is having the final touches put on it for festival submission.

If you dream of having the opportunity to create your own TV series, there’s no better place to learn and pursue that dream than the Television major at Chapman.  You will be mentored and taught by seasoned TV pros who have written, produced and directed series for all the major networks and cable channels.