Filmmaking, Screenwriting and Media Arts

Sarah Lawrence College’s undergraduate Filmmaking, Screenwriting and Media Arts Program (FSMA) offers a vibrant, dynamic, creative incubator to ignite the imagination of the next generation of media makers.  The program seeks to help students navigate the intersection of art and technology as they acquire the tools and skills of the discipline and develop their critical and creative voices.

Cognizant that not every student will graduate to be a writer, director, producer or game developer, the program believes that with the enduring power and influence of cinema, television, the web, and social media, students in all fields of study benefit from media literacy and theory and an enduring understanding of the ways and means of media development and production.
The program explores a broad scope of media making, including narrative fiction, documentary/nonfiction, experimental film, animation, cinematography, storyboarding, directing actors, as well as producing, screenwriting, writing for television, writing and producing for the web, writing for games and game development.

Interdisciplinary work across the liberal arts is encouraged, and formal and informal collaboration between the Music, Dance, Theater and other disciplines continue to emerge and flourish.  In a creative alliance with the Theater program, FSMA has begun the third year of its interdisciplinary team-taught project in developing and producing web series.

Our faculty and staff are all accomplished working filmmakers, screenwriters and media artists. We have an exchange program in Animation with Cal Arts and study-abroad opportunities in film in Paris, Cuba and in Prague at the world famous FAMU film school. Our ever-expanding network of alums working in the field help provide internship opportunities as well.

Recent graduates routinely have work represented at some of the world’s most prestigious film and media festivals, and graduates who chose to pursue advanced degrees are finding traction at the top film schools in the U.S. and abroad.