Creative Writing, B.A., Specialization in Screenwriting

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Students must complete the Oakland University General Education Requirements, General College of Arts and Sciences Requirements, College of Arts and Sciences College Exploratory Requirement, Major Requirements, and an appropriate number of free elective classes to meet the overall credit requirement for the degree (in most cases a minimum of 124; some degrees may require a greater number).

As a general rule, no more than eight credits of coursework used to satisfy one major, minor or concentration may be applied toward another, but exceptions to this rule may be allowed with the written approval of the program coordinators.

Schedule of Classes

Specific offerings for each semester may be found in the Schedule of Classes.

General Education Requirements

In order to graduate on-schedule without taking additional courses, it is highly recommended that students meet with an Undergraduate Academic Adviser concerning the selection of all of their general education courses.

Each candidate for an Oakland University baccalaureate will need to satisfactorily complete approved courses in each of the following areas: Foundation, Exploration, Integration, Writing, U.S. Diversity and Capstone. For details, refer to the General Education Requirements section of the catalog.

Requirements for the liberal arts major in creative writing, B.A., specialization in screenwriting

The creative writing major with a specialization in screenwriting requires a total of 44 credit hours, including five creative writing workshops (20 credits), two cognate courses (8 credits), and either four English electives or three English electives and an additional creative writing workshop (16 credits). One of the creative writing workshops must be a 4000-level course; this class will provide a capstone experience and require a creative thesis. Students are encouraged to take at least three of their five required workshop classes before taking the capstone.

Students must earn at least a B- in each creative writing workshop course and earn a grade of C in each literature course to have it count toward the major. Students who don’t earn at least a B- in a creative writing workshop course must retake that course to earn that grade minimum before proceeding on to the next course in the sequence. Only one 1000-level course will be accepted for credit in the major. The 44 credits (exclusive of composition courses used to satisfy the university writing proficiency requirement) are distributed as follows:

4. One ENG course and one FLM course from the screenwriting cognates listed below

ENG 3310 - Shakespeare (4)
ENG 3620 - Drama (4)
ENG 3675 - Adaptation: Fiction, Drama, Film (4)
ENG 3720 - Modern Drama (4)
FLM 3200 - History of Film: The Silent Era (4)
FLM 3210 - History of Film: The Sound Era to 1958 (4)
FLM 3220 - History of Film: The New Wave and Beyond (4)
FLM 3230 - History of Film: Into the 21st Century (4)
FLM 3320 - National Cinemas and Film Cultures (4)
FLM 3330 - Understanding Media Industries (4)
FLM 3900 - Topics in Film History, Industry, and Technology (4)
FLM 3901 - Topics in Film Genres (4)
FLM 3902 - Topics in Film Authors, Authorship, and Aesthetics (4)
FLM 3905 - Topics in Film (4)

5. Twelve elective credits

8 of these elective credits must be chosen from FLM 1150 , FLM 2100 , FLM 2320 , or any ENG course not used to satisfy requirement #4.
4 additional credits in a CW or ENG course not used to satisfy any of the previous requirements.
4 of these elective credits must be taken at the 3000 level.

6. At least twenty credits in English courses must be taken at Oakland.

7. An introductory two-semester sequence in a foreign language, or one semester of a foreign language at the 1150 level or higher with a minimum grade of C

Note

Students majoring in creative writing may not use the ENG rubric to satisfy the College of Arts and Sciences exploratory requirement. Students using this catalog to meet creative writing major requirements may also use any course subsequently approved as satisfying requirements under the various workshop and cognate elective course options that is published in a later catalog.