Television, BA

Television Department Mission Statement

Our mission is to offer an education in Television that balances creativity, technology, and ethics in an environment of collaboration and support for the individual creative voice. We provide industry-oriented opportunities through process and project centered education and are committed to preparing a student for both life and career. Television is the medium that best captures and reflects the culture of our time. Our students contribute to both local and global communities as they inform, entertain, and inspire us all.

Curricular Structure

The Television BA begins with a set of core courses that provide a firm foundation in television history and ethics, television production and editing, and television producing and writing. These areas of learning prepare all of our majors to proceed to their chosen concentration in one of four areas: Writing/Producing, Production/Directing, Post-Production/Effects, and Internet and Mobile Media. Each concentration offers a set of selected courses that emphasizes storytelling and that builds skills in specific areas, culminating in a chosen capstone experience: working on one of the departmental shows, working in a professional setting at an internship, or participating in our Semester in Los Angeles Program.

Internet and Mobile Media

The Internet and Mobile Media concentration emphasizes writing, producing, production and strategic distribution of episodic and standalone content for emerging media platforms including branded entertainment, webisodes, interactive and YouTube video. Students in this concentration produce individually directed and collaborative projects that leverage the power of analytics and social media platforms to distribute dynamic content to web and mobile devices.

Program Requirements | 4 Year Planning Tool

Post-Production and Effects

Post-production is the creative stage of development when visuals, audio, graphics and effects are combined and polished in service of a video-based story. Post-production completes the process of bringing the creative vision to the screen. In this concentration, students learn the skills involved with advanced editing, motion graphics and visual effects. Students work in a wide variety of genres, on individual productions and on programs produced potentially for broadcast television, as well as for internet and mobile.

Program Requirements | 4 Year Planning Tool

Production and Directing

The Production and Directing concentration teaches students a wide variety of techniques for studio and location production for both single and multiple camera shoots. Students produce work in multiple environments including studios, remote truck and in the field. Directors learn to analyze a script or scenario and bring creative vision to the screen. The concentration covers multiple facets of directing, from planning and executing a compelling visual style to developing strategies for working with actors to create and build complex characters.

Program Requirements | 4 Year Planning Tool

Writing and Producing

The Writing and Producing concentration offers the array of skills necessary to drive the creative television production process. In the television industry the writer/producer is the person-in-charge who creates new programs, develops new series, and oversees every phase of production from the idea stage through marketing and distribution. Students in this concentration will be introduced to the television development process, will practice producing programs of different genres, and will engage deeply in every aspect of scriptwriting: developing characters, writing dialogue and creating the ongoing storylines that drive episodic television.

Program Requirements | 4 Year Planning Tool