PRO 502: Movie Engines 1
SECOND TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

This course unpacks the story and craft logic of scenes and sequences from contemporary feature films, shorts and TV in order to give filmmakers more tools to develop their own voice, vision and stories. Week after week we will dive into a wide range of classic and contemporary filmmakers, using scenes from their work to examine their different craft choices in acting styles, choreography, cinematography, production design, sound design, music and editing. The main focus is on how filmmakers construct emotional connections between audiences and characters, particularly protagonists, by using character arc structures, empathetic machinery, cinematic techniques, emotional POV (especially through sound design, editing style and music) and through the careful construction of movie tone.

PRO 506: An in Depth Look at TV: Pitching and Selling
SECOND TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

This course is designed to prepare producers for the process of developing and selling a project. The class covers everything from identifying and shaping material to targeting markets/buyers. Fellows will also practice pitching to their peers and industry professionals – learning techniques for successful presentations in various formats and specific elements that contribute to success across platforms.

PRO 511: Producing Workshop (Development)
FIRST TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

Using various writing exercises, this workshop focuses on the basics of developing and writing narrative screenplays. The goal of the course is to expand the Producers’ understanding of the writing process and foster a facility in the arena of story and story development. The course also requires Fellows to actively engage in giving and taking notes on their own and their colleagues’ creative work.

PRO 512: Producing Workshop: Intro to the Business of Producing
SECOND TERM
2 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED

This is the first part of a two-term course that will introduce Producing Fellows to the business aspect of creating and producing content. The instruction, which includes modules on securing intellectual property, above-the-line deals and distribution models, will also examine the history, evolution and current state of various business practices that will take the Fellow from project inception through release.

PRO 517: Rush Hour – Weekend Read
FIRST TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

Producers will look at various forms of narrative material – pitches, pilots, in particular screenplays with a critical eye to develop the crucial skills so important to collaboration: written and verbal analysis and communication. With a heavy emphasis on class participation, Producers will review their reading in class and focus on developing the clearest and most strategic articulation of their comments. This class culminates in a cross-discipline meeting with first year Screenwriters where each Producer will give individual notes on a Screenwriter’s treatment draft.

 PRO 524: Story’s Frame – Choice and Consequence
SECOND TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

Flannery O’Conner said, “Stories are about a character who makes a choice and the consequence of that choice on the character.” This course focuses on the grammar of stories: how they work, what they mean, what they look like in script form – building tools essential to producing no matter the size of the screen or the form.

PRO 528: How They Do It
SECOND TERM
2 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED

This is an intensive of three workshops that focus on a particular aspect of filmmaking guided by a working professional aiming to give you a deep dive into technique and craft. Faculty and subjects will be announced at the end of the Fall Term. Past workshops include Studio Post/What Every Producer Should Know; Make Me Say Yes/Selling to a Studio Executive; VFX: Producing; and Building a Distribution and Sales Company: Don’t Try This at Home.

PRO 541 and 542: The Art and Craft of Producing – Creative Producing I & II
FIRST AND SECOND TERMS
4 CREDIT HOURS TOTAL
REQUIRED

This course explores the role of the Creative Producer in guiding a project from idea to script to screen. The first term takes that journey through the development process and the second term follows that process through production and post-production. Both the Fall and Spring terms share a focus on the skill-set necessary to navigate the collaborative process.

PRO 545: Principles of Feature Development
FIRST TERM
2 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED

This course is designed to provide Directors and Producers with a comprehensive understanding of writing for film and the associated aspects of the craft. Over the course of the first semester, each Fellow will develop and write a full short film screenplay; and the Fellows, as a group, will continually critique each other’s works in progress.

PRO 546: Principles of Feature Development, Part 2
SECOND TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
ELECTIVE

A follow-up to DIR 545, this course is designed to continue to provide the Fellow with a comprehensive understanding of feature film development. Over the course of the semester, each Fellow will continue the development of the screenplay from the Fall, writing up to the midpoint by year’s end. As in DIR 545, Fellows will continually critique each other’s work.

PRO 608: Television Development from the Inside Out
SECOND TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

Television development for the Producer is not simply about having a good idea, script or IP and knowing how to produce. It’s also about knowing the marketplace and creating something that buyers will want. Buyers hear thousands of ideas. So, many ideas = saying no 90% of the time. How do you get a yes? This course will focus on what Fellows hope to produce and what it takes to get a yes. From there, we will explore all the steps involved in creating the best show—from working with writers and directors, studios, networks and streamers from the first outlines and scripts through post-production to the airing or dropping of the series, limited series or movie.

PRO 616: Advanced Producing Workshop in Marketing
SECOND TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

In this overview of the role of marketing in the motion picture space, Fellows will investigate both domestic and international marketing and learn how positioning, demographics, public relations, traditional and digital media, creative advertising, social media, distribution platforms and cultural differentiation all interact to create the most impactful campaigns.

PRO 629: Movie Engines 2
FIRST TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
ELECTIVE

Continuing on from Movie Engines 1, we continue our examinations of story, performance styles and movie tone by breaking down a feature film or tv pilot each week. While the first part of this course focused on how we get emotionally entangled with protagonists through writing, performance and film crafts, this second part will look more at antagonists, focusing on antagonist characters, inner antagonists and then on the antagonist horizon. After a quick review of fundamentals, we dive into the ways that ideologies (such as Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Existentialism, Gender Studies andPost-Colonialism) are each giving us new antagonist structures in contemporary movies and TV shows. We also take a close look at how and why creative teams construct certain forms of characters, caricatures, clowns, grotesques, landscapes, tones and story structures. Along the way we will continue to explore the nature and construction of story tone. Some readings will be provided.

PRO 627: Advanced Pitching
FIRST TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
ELECTIVE

This course is designed to prepare Producers for the process of developing and selling a project. The class covers identifying material for potential projects and identifying a potential market/buyer. Fellows also practice using that information to present to actual industry professionals in order to learn the keys to successful pitching.

PRO 631: Producing Workshop – Advanced Business of Producing
FIRST TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

This seminar presents a variety of topics relating to specialized aspects of production financing, international co-financing and production, business practices and other essential components of entrepreneurial producing. The first term focuses on legal and business affairs and aspects of producing and deal negotiating through a series of role-playing exercises. The second term focuses on the selling of projects and the key relationships that are required in this area.

PRO 636: Original Series Development for Global Market
SECOND TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
ELECTIVE

An eight-week, application-only elective workshop designed to give Screenwriting and Producing teams an opportunity to develop original TV drama series for the current global marketplace. Each team is expected to produce a full bible, series document or pitch outline refined by the class, and regular story notes.

PRO 648: Producer’s Toolbox – Strategies and Skills from Case Studies
SECOND TERM
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED

An examination of the journeys taken by Producers to will their projects into existence, exploring not only the creative but also the legal, administrative and financial components that are integrated within the process of filmmaking. Key areas that are explored include the basics of business affairs (ownership and copyright, rights agreements); talent and key crew agreements; learning how to raise film financing; examining financial streams from a global perspective, from crowdfunding to foreign pre-sales and equity; studying varying methods of distribution from customary models for theatrical film to online, VOD/hybrid distribution; and exploring current trends in marketing and publicity.

PRO 690: Thesis Portfolio — Producing
8 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED

With the benefit of classroom instruction and individual meetings with Faculty, each Producing Fellow prepares a Producing Portfolio demonstrating his or her ability to identify and present material for at least two projects. The Portfolio is a requirement for graduation and should reflect the Fellow’s skill, taste and understanding of the market. It is the culmination of the AFI Conservatory experience and demonstrates the Producer’s ability to work independently, incorporate feedback, refine concepts and assemble a professional presentation.