Writing for Film, Television & Games
DIPLOMA | 12 MONTHS | FULL TIME | ON CAMPUS
Turn ideas into production-ready scripts in one intensive year. Write features, TV pilots, and game narratives,
specializing in your field of interest and graduating with an industry-ready writing portfolio.
Program Overview
Learn to develop, draft, rewrite, and pitch while creating a multi-platform, diverse writing portfolio – including a focused, final project in your choice of specialization.
Duration:
12 months (6 terms, full-time)
Location:
Vancouver, Canada (Campus)
Credential:
Diploma, Writing for Film, Television & Games
Grad Deliverable:
Final portfolio with multiple writing pieces spanning features, TV, and games
Specializations:
Film / Television / Games
Core Tools:
Final Draft, Unreal Engine, Twine
Breaks:
2 weeks in summer and 2 weeks in winter
What You’ll Graduate With:
A multi-piece writing portfolio, including a focused final-project in film, TV, or games.
Start Dates:
May 4 | Aug. 31 | Jan. 4, 2027 | May. 3, 2027 | Aug. 30, 2027
Tuition:
Domestic students: C$20,950
International students: C$29,000
Career Paths:
Screenwriter, TV Writer, Game Writer, Narrative Designer, Story Editor, Script Coordinator, Staff Writer
START YOUR TRAINING
Program Specializations
Perfect Your Craft in Film, Television, or Game Writing
In the final half of the year, Writing students choose one primary specialization for their final project, while still having the option of electives and certain classes from other specializations.
Focus on feature-length development, with drafting and rewrites, grounded in genre craft and producibility.
Create an original TV pilot while acquiring a skill set in series development and rewriting, along with a working knowledge of professional TV writing rooms.
Develop an interactive game narrative, including design docs, dialogue trees, branching story, environmental storytelling, and implementation workflows.
Explore Student Portfolios
VFS students focus on creating studio-ready portfolios that prove they are ready to work within modern production pipelines.
Dos Pesos
Written and Directed by Cristina Martínez
A Rabbit Called Jack
Written and Directed by Sofia Auza
Torture
Created by Jonas Roy Bjarnason
What You’ll Learn
- Create character-driven stories with compelling themes
- Build motives, actions, and arcs that serve plot and performance
- Contemporary three-act structure deconstruction
- Hero’s Journey as an archetypal paradigm
- Beat sheets, outlining, and drafting
- Believable, character-driven dialogue for screen
- Dialogue design for interactive narrative and dialogue trees
- Crime/Drama, Comedy, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Horror/Thriller (and more)
- How genre shapes tone, conventions, pacing, and audience expectations
- Industry-standard screenplay formatting
- Writer’s drafts vs. shooting scripts
- Comfort using screenwriting software
- Pitch structure and delivery
- Pitch content
- Spec scripts (half-hour and one-hour formats)
- Beat sheet, outline, and first draft for existing series
- Pilot development, rewrites, and story department thinking
- Interactive storytelling and archetypal patterns
- Game design and narrative design documents
- Environmental storytelling and emergent narrative
- Unreal Engine implementation and cinematics workflow (for games stream)
- Writers’ room simulation (elective)
- Film collaboration: concept generation, world-building notes, short scripts for production pipelines
- Taking notes, rewriting, and delivering under deadlines
SPEAK WITH A VFS ADVISOR TODAY
Career Outcomes After Graduation
VFS’s signature, hands-on training starts from day 1. By the time you graduate, you’ll have developed an industry-ready skill set that will prepare you for a variety of careers:
- Screenwriter
- TV Writer
- Game Writer
- Narrative Designer
- Story Editor
- Script Coordinator
- Staff Writer
Faculty
VFS’s Writing Faculty consists of the most highly trained professionals in the creative industries. While our full-time instructors provide more one-on-one time with students than any other school, our part-time instructors are pulled right from the heart of the industry, equipped with the most current, relevant industry experience and credits.
Course Content
- Story and Character
- Character
- Script Structure
- Feature Development (26-point beat sheet)
- Biz: Format
- Biz: Pitch 1
- TV Genre
- Film Theory
- Writing for Games 1
- Short Script
- TV Spec
Outcome: Generate and structure story concepts, build characters, format professionally, write shorts/scenes, begin feature development, understand TV genre basics, and start interactive narrative foundations.
- Advanced Story and Character
- Dialogue
- Script Genre (Crime/Drama)
- TV Spec Script
- Sketch Comedy
- Film Collaboration
- Intro to Design Document
Outcome: Write stronger dialogue, deepen genre execution, collaborate professionally, and produce a complete game design document for an original game concept.
- Script Genre (Comedy)
- Feature Script (Full Draft Workshops)
- Pitch 2
- TV History 1
- The Second Act
- Sketch 2
- Intro to Dialogue Design
- Film Collaboration
Outcome: Draft major pages (feature), strengthen second act structure, improve pitching, write comedy with craft awareness, and build interactive dialogue systems.
- Producing for Writers: Story (and Production elective)
- Sketch Production (elective)
- Writing for Animation (elective)
Feature specialization – required courses:
- Script Genre – Sci-Fi/Fantasy (elective for others)
- Final Feature 1 (one-sheet → beat sheet)
- Story Editing
TV specialization – required courses:
- TV Pilot 1 (premise, bible, outlines, pilot craft)
Games specialization – required courses:
- Game Environmental Storytelling
- Narrative Design 1
- Lore/Systems/Emergent Narrative (elective for others)
- Story Editing
Outcome: Choose your primary direction and begin building the capstone pipeline: film development, TV pilot development, or game narrative systems, while continuing to workshop and iterate.
- Producing for Writers: Story (and Production elective)
- Sketch Production (elective)
- Writing for Animation (elective)
Feature specialization – required courses:
- Script Genre – Action/Adventure (elective for others)
- Final Feature Project 2 (drafting)
- Feature Rewrites
TV specialization – required courses:
- TV Rewrites
- TV Pilot 2 (first draft of original pilot)
- Story Editing
Games specialization – required courses:
- Unreal Engine
- MoCap Scenes
- Introduction to Emergent Narrative
- Narrative Design 2 (expand docs + 30-page script with barks/cinematics)
Outcome: Your portfolio becomes industry ready: major drafting and rewrites, room-style processes, and implementation-oriented narrative work (games specialization).
- Adaptation
- Career Launch
Feature specialization – required courses:
- Script Genre – Horror/Thriller (elective for others)
TV specialization – required courses:
- TV Pilot 3 (second draft)
- Episode 2
- Writers’ Room elective
Games specialization – required courses:
- Game NIS Creation
- Narrative Design 2 (master document, stress test, final review)
- Game Environmental Storytelling
- MoCap and Cinematics
Outcome: Finish with a coherent portfolio, refined drafts, and career-focused positioning (pitching, next steps, and industry readiness).
SPEAK WITH A VFS ADVISOR TODAY
Program Delivery
ON-CAMPUS
Our 1 year, fully in-person production-based experience, preparing you for the industry’s current practices and technologies.
VFS’s Film Production Centre is located at 151 W. Cordova Street in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Our state-of-the-art facilities include a 64,000 cubic ft. motion capture volume, a 280-degree green screen room, black box sets, and much more.
ONLINE
Train online – from anywhere in the world. Online intakes of VFS’s Writing program run 18 months, with a 2-week break in summer and a 2-week break in winter. Classes run Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, for a total of 24 hours of instruction per week.
Explore Alumni Successes
VFS students are trained with the skill sets they need to work in the industry right away. See what past graduates have achieved.
Book a 1-on-1 Portfolio Review
Have you ever wondered about your true creative potential? Book a review to get valuable insight into your creative work and find out if you’ve got what it takes to go to VFS.
Find Out More
Admissions
VFS Advisors are here to answer any questions about the applications process, help you book a tour, or set you up for a free portfolio review with our industry faculty.
For more about language requirements and other information for international students, visit the International Students page.
Tuition
On-Campus Delivery
Domestic: $20,950 CAD
International: $29,000 CAD
- Synopsis of an original film, television, or video game project (one page maximum), including your concept and vision. Additionally, provide 2-4 creative writing samples (20 pages maximum)
- OR, completion of VFS’s Foundation Visual Art & Design program
Online Delivery
Domestic: $14,000 CAD
International: $20,000 CAD
- A portfolio of your work, max. 8-12 pages. Portfolios MUST include at least 2 examples of finished 3D work (Blender or Maya) and each page must be labeled explaining how and why this work was created. Additionally, portfolios can include examples of life drawing, digital art, traditional paintings, Fan Art, and edited photography. Submissions can also include demo reels examples of 2D or 3D animation or motion graphics.
- OR, Completion of VFS’s Foundation – Animation OR Foundation Visual Art & Design programs
Program FAQ
Professional experience is not required, but you must submit creative writing samples and an original story synopsis; an interview may be requested.
In the final half of the year, students choose one of three streams: Feature Film, Television, or Games (with options for electives and certain classes from other streams).
Yes. Pitching is taught throughout (Pitch 1 and Pitch 2), covering structure, delivery, and content with industry-standard methods.
Across the year you write and workshop scripts and materials for film/TV, plus interactive narrative work for games (including design documents, dialogue design, and narrative systems in the games stream).
Yes. VFS programs are intensives that run for 1 full year and are comparable to a full-time job plus project work on evenings and weekends.
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