The Graduate Program in Dramatic Writing is a two-year sequence of full-time study with concentrations in Playwriting, Screenwriting, or Television writing designed for men and women with proven writing ability and a record of academic excellence.
All Faculty at the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing are working professionals at the top of their fields, from experimental theatre to Broadway, from independent films to major Hollywood movies, and from HBO to all three major networks. The faculty, under the chairmanship of Richard Wesley (Mandela and the Kerk, Uptown Saturday Night), includes Walter Bernstein (Fail Safe), Sabrina Dhawan (Monsoon Wedding), Jeremy Pikser (Bulworth), Charlie Rubin (Law & Order), Marsha Norman ('Night Mother), Janet Neipris (A Small Delegation), and Rinne Groff (Weeds). Guest Faculty has included Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife), Tony Kushner (Angels in America), Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men), John Guare (Six Degrees of Seperation) and Christopher Shinn (Where Do We Live).
Admission to the program depends primarily on the quality of the writing that an applicant submits – a full-length play, screenplay or teleplay. The program accepts shorter works, provided there is at least a total of fifty pages of script. The program prefers submissions in dramatic form; novels and short stories are seldom considered. All submitted work must be original and written solely by the applicant. Applicants should not send videotapes or audiotapes of their work.
All applicants who completed their undergraduate degree in the Department of Dramatic Writing must wait three years before applying to the graduate program.
Acceptance into the Department enrolls all students in the Division of Playwriting and the Division of Film and TV Writing. Students study in both divisions, concentrating in at least one medium as their studies advance.
All scripts should be mailed in one clearly labeled package to the Dramatic Writing Department, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, 721 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003-6807, Attn: Graduate Admissions. All submissions must be postmarked by December 1st, 2008
The program seriously considers transcripts from applicants' undergraduate and graduate schools and letters of recommendation in making the admissions decision. All transcripts should be mailed to the Office of Graduate Admissions, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, 721 Broadway, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10003-6807; (212) 998-1918.
All three required letters of recommendation should be filed online.
Please attach a separate resume to the application, listing any published or produced work, and any other work experience that is relevant to a writing career. Please provide a separate statement of personal and professional interest in the program. These documents should also be mailed in one envelope to the Office of Graduate Admissions, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, 721 Broadway, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10003-6807.
