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BA Creative Writing and Film
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UCAS code
WW86 -
A level offer
BBB -
Year of entry
2025/26 -
Course duration
Full Time: 3 Years
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Year of entry
2025/26 -
Course duration
Full Time: 3 Years
Develop and hone your creative writing while building a breadth of film knowledge and analytical skills with our BA Creative Writing and Film course.
Being at Reading places you in one of the fastest-growing screen industry hubs in the UK, with a vibrant theatre and performance scene. You’ll be close to Shinfield Studios, where recent productions like Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ and Disney’s ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ and ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ were filmed. These studios, located on our land, are part of the Screen Berkshire partnership, giving you the opportunity to attend film production bootcamps, workshops, technical training on Arri Alexa cameras, and real-life shoot simulations.
Other partnerships include hands-on experiences with Albert Education, Arri Certified Film School, FEST, Rabble Theatre, Reading Rep Theatre, Climate Change Theatre Action, and South St Theatre.
Taught jointly by the Department of English Literature and the Department of Film, Theatre and Television, on this course you will:
- explore your creative writing in small peer groups
- examine film in its various contexts: as popular entertainment, theoretical discipline and art form
- have the opportunity to develop your practical filmmaking skills.
Creative writing and film complement each other perfectly. Exploring cinematic material and analysing creative choices will support the development of your own creative writing. Optional practical work will enhance your ability to create compelling characters and narratives.
Creative writing
Creative writing allows you to explore your creativity from all angles: creating characters, shaping poems, drawing on your imagination.
We offer a specially curated group of English literature modules that are designed to complement your creative writing. You’ll gain knowledge of a variety of literary, dramatic and film texts, from a range of different periods. This course aims to foster your independent thinking, using the close reading and analytical skills that are fundamental to both English literature and film.
We place a strong emphasis on small-group learning within a friendly and supportive environment. Workshops are central to our creative writing community, helping you to form relationships with your peers and feel more confident about your work.
In the latest National Student Survey, 100% of our students said teaching staff are good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024, responders from the Department of English Literature).
Your learning environment
Modules are taught by practising, published authors who have strong links with professional writing communities. We regularly invite published authors to read from their work and participate in teaching.
We’ll help you develop your creative writing skills in a variety of settings:
- lectures concentrate on specific, practical issues such as how to construct a character or tackle a specific literary form
- seminars involve small group discussions, led by one of the teaching team, with short practical writing exercises
- workshops allow you to explore and develop your writing in small peer groups.
Creative community
The Department of English Literature fosters a creative writing community that is friendly, cohesive and committed. As well as learning from lecturers, you’ll learn from each other by sharing your work-in-progress. Outside the classroom, you can share your ideas with the University’s creative writing group, Scribblers, which is run by students from across the University.
You will also have the opportunity to publish your work – and gain experience in editing and publishing – by participating in our online creative writing magazine.
Film
On your film modules, you’ll pursue your passion for film with leading academics and visiting practitioners, and apply what you’ve learned through practical filmmaking modules.
Experience the theoretical study of film from the late nineteenth century to the modern day, including world cinema, avant-garde and experimental filmmaking. Explore the cinema of classical and contemporary Hollywood, together with new forms of digital entertainment and video art. You can also investigate television from its origins in the mid-twentieth century to contemporary engagements with new media and digital platforms.
You’ll have the opportunity to participate in group-based practical work, which will help you develop your creativity, storytelling and practical skills. You will develop your creative writing skills in the context of film and television, culminating in a creative research project or a dissertation in your final year.
Film facilities
Combine the study of ground-breaking theory with practical application, using our purpose-built £11m Minghella Studios facilities that feature:
- three theatre spaces
- a multi-camera film and TV studio
- a digital cinema
- dedicated recording studio and mixing suite.
Placements and study abroad with BA Creative Writing and Film
Throughout your degree you will be thinking about the career choices that will enable you to thrive after graduation: we will help you put in place the skills and experience that you need to launch that career. You also have the opportunity to undertake a Professional Placement Year in the third year of our degree.
You will be assisted by our Placement Team, which will support you to secure a placement and prepare for the year. Placements give you a fantastic opportunity to explore potential future careers and to put your academic learning to work in a professional context.
In your second year, you can spend a semester studying abroad at one of our partner institutions in the USA, Canada, Australia, or countries across Europe. To find out more, visit our Study Abroad site.