About New York Film Academy

Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Bruce Springsteen, Al Pacino, Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx, and Jodie Foster are among the many figures in the film industry who have sent their family members to study at the New York Film Academy. New York Film Academy is honored to be the film and acting school of choice of these other luminaries including Kevin Kline, Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, Bono (U2), directors Stephen Frears, Peter Bogdanovich, Roger Donaldson and James L. Brooks. The New York Film Academy was founded on the philosophy that “learning by doing” combined with best industry practices is more valuable than years of theoretical study for filmmakers and actors. This educational model allows students to achieve more in less time than at all other film or acting schools in the world. The New York Film Academy offers camps, short-term workshops, conservatory-style programs, and degree programs. The Academy’s one- and two-year conservatory-style programs include topics in Filmmaking, Acting for Film, Producing, Screenwriting, 3D Animation, Cinematography, Broadcast Journalism, Photography, Graphic Design, Musical Theatre, and Game Design; as well as an accelerated three-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree programs in Filmmaking, Acting for Film, Producing, Screenwriting, 3D Animation, Graphic Design, and Game Design, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Media Studies. The New York Film Academy also offers two-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Filmmaking, Acting for Film, Screenwriting, Producing, Cinematography, Documentary, Game Design and Photography, and two-year Associate of Fine Arts (AFA) degrees in Filmmaking, Acting for Film, Producing, Screenwriting and Game Design, and a Master of Arts (MA) in Film and Media Production at Los Angeles campus. Each program is structured for students who want intensive training from award-winning faculty, using professional facilities and equipment starting their first day of classes; better preparing them for a career in the motion picture and entertainment industries. In the first year of any of filmmaking programs each film school student will write, shoot, direct and edit eight films and work as crew on 28 more! Register in any of world-class programs and get the experience you need to excel in your field.

About Program

The New York Film Academy recognizes the critical role writers play in the creation of every film and television show. Yet, writing talent alone is not enough to create successful work in these mediums. Screenwriting is a learned craft, and a writer must write every day to train for the demands of this field, and to truly understand the elements that make a screenplay or teleplay functional as well as engaging.
In addition to learning the conventions of the writing craft, students are given the support and structure to write and meet deadlines. Students write intensively throughout the course and complete several projects with the assistance of constructive critique from instructors, as well as peers. Students in the New York Film Academy’s Screenwriting Programs generate a lot of written material, building a portfolio of writings that span several mediums. In the AFA degree program, the focus is on the two main fields available to writers in the industry today: feature films and television. Upon completion of the program, students not only understand story structure, character, conflict, and dialogue, but also leave the Academy with finished products that they can pitch, produce, and try to sell. In the AFA Screenwriting Program, students are taught the art of screenwriting through workshop courses that have them learn by writing, as well as through skill-building courses that focus on film history, film genres, and specific skills like adaptation and character building. Students also study filmmaking, acting, and editing to get a complete sense of how cinematic stories are told. In addition to writing stories, treatments, and scripts, students will also create, direct, and edit their own short film. Lastly, NYFA’s degree programs in Screenwriting feature business classes that teach students the reality of the current industry — how to find work as a writer, how to work in the industry to support yourself, how to find an agent or manager, and how to pitch your stories and story ideas. These classes require students to get an internship in the industry.