Creative Writing and Film and Screen Studies

On this combined course, you’ll graduate skilled in critical and creative thinking. Through your film and screen modules, you’ll develop an understanding of the role of film and screen in contemporary society and how to apply this knowledge to your own practice.

Contemporary creative writing is diverse. It’s digital and on the page; social and singular. Our comprehensive programme includes prose fiction, YA, flash fiction, poetry, scriptwriting for live performance and screen, life writing and memoir. 

You'll have the opportunity to collaborate on both creative writing and practical filmmaking projects with other students. 
You’ll be able to work on magazines, local literary festivals and podcasts, while collaborating with fellow students through our creative writing, publishing and journalism student-run societies. 

By combining creative writing with film and screen studies, you’ll develop intellectual, analytical, research and creative skills that will help you to prepare for employment.

Year one
In your first year you’ll be introduced to the foundations of craft and how it shapes meaning. For your creative writing modules, you’ll begin experimenting with a range of different forms and genres and have your first experience of the BSU writing workshop where you’ll learn how to work with other writers, giving and receiving feedback.

You’ll start to examine film as an academic discipline, analysing how films are constructed and how meaning is conveyed through form and content. You’ll have an introduction to key theoretical and methodological issues involved in the study of cinema, equipping you to write analytically about film.  

You’ll also attend lectures from visiting writers and members of staff who will talk to you about their writing lives and experiences in the industry. 

Year two
In the second year of the course, you’ll have the opportunity to explore a range of different genres and time periods across both Creative Writing and Film and Screen, including, for example, you’ll take a mixture of core and optional modules from a list that includes, for example, genre fiction, form and listening in poetry, writing for screen and world cinema.

You’ll also have the opportunity to develop your own creative project, supervised by a member of staff as you develop the skills you need as a professional writer. You can also take part in organising LineUP, the annual Student Film Festival at Bath Spa University. 

Year three

The final year of the course gives the opportunity for major projects in both subjects. You’ll have the option to create a long-form piece of creative work and extend your writing skills in a range of film and screen modules such as film journalism.  
Alongside these, you’ll have a choice of career-focused modules which offer you the opportunity to develop your own industry-facing creative projects. You can also take part in organising LineUP, the annual Student Film Festival at Bath Spa University.

At BSU, our courses are designed to equip our graduates with the knowledge and skills they’ll need for the real world. To do this, we are continually improving our courses by responding to feedback from students and other stakeholders. This may mean changes may be made to the curriculum. You’ll always be given notice of any such changes.

For more information on how we approach such changes at the university, please read our policies on

• Suspensions and Discontinuations
• Programme modifications.

Assessment is based on 100% coursework (no exams) and includes essays, research reports, journals, group presentations and portfolios.

Most creative writing modules will require you to submit a portfolio of creative writing along with a reflective or contextual essay in which you describe what you have learned in class, what you have learned from the set texts and working on your own writing.

Creative Writing and Film and Screen Studies at Bath Spa University is taught through a mixture of workshops, lectures, presentations and tutorials. You'll be given opportunities to learn progressively, stretch your capabilities and test your ideas and methods.

Workshops offer you the opportunity to read and discuss each other's work in a supportive, informal and informative atmosphere. Lectures are used to introduce techniques and themes in detail. Tutorials provide you with the opportunity to discuss your work with your tutor on a one-to-one basis.

As part of your degree, you could study abroad on a placement at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities.

Students often find exciting subject-related placements and we do our best to help students make connections and gain experiences in companies and organisations that interest them.

Students often work with the Bath Literature Festival, for instance, or with production companies such as the BBC.

Work placements are available within the programme through the second year Work Placement model. They can also be facilitated on an extra-curricular basis through members of the teaching team.

The main focus of interest for our graduates is the creative and cultural industries in the UK. These industries include advertising, journalism, publishing, film and film-related employments, television, radio and the heritage sector. However, there are also employment opportunities in local and central government and the voluntary sector.

Current graduate careers include:

• Novelist
• Science magazine editor
• Children’s author
• Playwright
• Digital Marketing Executive
• Social media writer
• Commercial copywriter for brands or charities
• Regional editor for an online magazine
• University lecturer
• Editor (Random House)
• Poet.

Many of our students go on to study one of our specialist MA programmes in either Creative Writing, Writing for Young People, Screenwriting, Travel and Nature, Children’s Publishing, Film and TV Production Management or Film and TV Business Distribution.

Each year Creative Writing awards a range of prizes to its students to celebrate the best writing produced in the final year. The department also awards the Les Arnold Prize for the top student in the second year, honouring the memory of poet Les Arnold, who started the writing programme in 1992.

We encourage our filmmaking students to enter material for film competitions and festivals.

The Professional Placement Year (PPY) provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for, and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.

Before your PPY, you'll work to identify roles of interest and secure a placement. The Placements Team will support through timetabled sessions and 1:1 appointments.

As well as completing a minimum of 900 placement hours, you will complete two assessments demonstrating your skill development, growth in professional behaviours and how the PPY has impacted your future career aspirations.

The Creative Writing and Film and Screen studies course is taught at our stunning campus, where you’ll be surrounded by wildlife and a beautiful 18th century landscape and lake.

You'll have access to a range of excellent facilities, including:

• Commons building with its state-of-the-art classrooms, study spaces and cafe
• Virtual Learning Environment to support you in your modules.
• Newton Park Library with print and ebooks, digital resources, literary magazines and journals

You'll be able to benefit from the studios, the studio gallery equipped with three HD camera channels, our nine HD-capable edit suites, a viewing theatre offering viewing for 2D, 3D, 4k (ultra-HD) and HD presentations, and two mixing rooms.

You'll also have access to:

• Studio and post-production facilities
• Cameras, audio recording equipment available for students to borrow absolutely free
• Technical staff to help students use industry standard software