MA Producing
MA Producing offers students a unique opportunity to develop the necessary skills to become the next generation of entrepreneurs in the screen business world. The programme aims to provide insight into, and mastery of, creative development, physical production, and business and finance in relation to the creative screen industries.
The producing course is designed to be skill specific (budgeting, production management, raising finance, idea development, pitching) and interdisciplinary (group productions, brainstorming, team building). Threaded through the programme are opportunities for you to meet and collaborate with students on complementary pathways and to build your own professional profile. We want you not only to understand your own role, but to get the bigger picture – how do others think, how does industry work?
Why Take the Course?
- Practical: Producers lead teams of directors, cinematographers, screenwriters, and editors on a variety of projects. Networking and pitching skills are also developed throughout the course.
- Real-life Experience: Students find and produce content for external industry clients, with previous examples including HM Treasury, Transport for London, Time Out, Nespresso, DHL, Mind, and Stonewall.
- Professional Tutors: Many of our teaching staff are currently working in the industry as Producers, Production Managers, Commissioners, and more*. *
Awarding body: BIMM University
Our outstanding credentials are recognised by leading higher education bodies. This course is industry recognised by ScreenSkills, the industry-led skills body for the UK’s screen-based industries and carries the ScreenSkills Select quality mark which indicates courses best suited to prepare students for a career in the screen industries.
Programme Aims
- A deep understanding of the roles and responsibilities relating to being a producer across a range of contemporary screen platforms.
- The ability to produce work of increasing ambition and quality including experimentation with content and form.
- The ability to assess and initiate creative projects suitable for industry and audiences.
- Editorial and production skills that enable you to have creative oversight of projects from development to delivery.
- Comprehensive understanding of financing and marketing screen products including distribution and sales.
- Advanced skills in the practical management of people and resources including risk assessment and contracts.
- A detailed, structured and ethical approach to content production including sensitivity to a range of abilities and qualities of collaborators to enable them to deliver their best work.
- Wide understanding of business principles including the screen business landscape.
- Understanding of the role of research and intellectual enquiry as an integral part of academic development and professional practice.
- The skills, knowledge and attributes to build a career as an enlightened and contemporary screen industry professional.
What You Will Study
Over three trimesters you will gain advanced insight into not only the work of a producer but also into the implications of creating and delivering screen content to a wide variety of audiences and contexts.
Trimester One focuses on the creative and financial elements of producing. Alongside that you will explore your own qualities as you build a career profile that will develop as the course – and your understanding – increases.
In Trimester Two you will put your understanding into practice through an ambitious production exercise that you will lead. You will also gain insight into the entrepreneurial essence of producing and explore in depth the role of research in both your academic and professional development.
In Trimester Three you will draw together your practical, theoretical and industrial understanding into the creation and delivery of a filmed artefact and complete your career plan as part of your progression into real world employment.
Course Specification
Mode of attendance: Full time
Length of course: 1 year
Awarding institution: BIMM University (UK)
Campus delivery: Berlin
Language of study: English
Credits: 90 ECTS/ 180 FHEQ (UK)
Minimum Requirements
An undergraduate degree or significant experience in a relevant vocation. Please reference the Entry Requirements webpage for additional international qualification equivalencies.
Proof of English Language proficiency is required if English is not your first language, or you have not studied at Undergraduate level in English previously. BIMM University Berlin requires equivalent to Level B2 CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Please reference our English language requirements webpage for further information.
All applicants will be subject to a portfolio review and interview with a BIMM University Berlin Lecturer. Applicants with significant demonstrable experience in a related vocation, and who do not have an existing recognised undergraduate qualification, may be considered for Recognition of Prior Certified or Experiential Learning (RPCEL).
Course Fees
We’re dedicated to giving our students the best film education possible – which means accessing our globally successful first-rate lecturers in premium locations at the heart of Germany’s film scene.
Such cutting-edge facilities can be expensive, but we make sure all BIMM University Berlin courses are great value for money – representing a practical and affordable investment for your future career in the film industry.
Please note: module names and structure may be subject to change.
Throughout this module, you will develop your understanding of the nuts and bolts of production and your understanding of content, industry and audiences, leading up to pitching a feature film or television project to an industry panel.
You will also develop your voice by collaborating with other students to make a short video using a camera phone, based on something that you want to say.
You will gain insight into the commissioning and financing of film and television projects including the different types of money available, and the increasing convergence between film and television investment in the era of streamers.
You will develop authentic and detailed career paperwork and supporting materials including a CV and personal profile. As part of the module you will be offered Elective Upskilling sessions – opportunities to develop screen industry skills outside of your chosen discipline or as part of your multi-skilling profile.
This module aims to synthesise the knowledge and skills gained from previous modules by bringing students from across disciplines together to work collaboratively in teams to create and deliver screen content for a range of external clients. Unlike the collaborations of the first module, here producing students lead all teams, using industry-standard production models to gain first-hand understanding of how the creative producer operates on a production.
You will understand the hierarchical relationships between director, writer, and producer in the creation and delivery of serialised narrative content. You will learn to work to a house style alongside initiating a series ‘look’ or vision.
Building on the work of previous and concurrent modules, you will gain a deeper insight into current theories, principles, and discussions relating to issues of diversity, sustainability, and ethics within the screen industries, and continue to engage with content about/from diverse cultural/social/gender groups of contributors in the UK and across the world.
Your third collaborative project gives you the opportunity to work independently to create work that demonstrates your development as a director. Your project is an opportunity to deliver work that is distinctive, industry-facing, based in research, and reflects awareness of a diverse and inclusive world. You will also refine your career plan in preparation for entering or re-entering the screen industries on graduation.
We include a diverse range of teaching methods which include:
- Productions
- Seminar-style Group Teaching
- Tutorials
- Practical Group Work
- Formative Feedback through Critiques, Pitches, Screenings, and Reflective Sessions
- Work-integrated Learning
- Authentic Assessment
We use a wide range of assessment which include portfolios, performances, research, presentations, and reflective work. Please download the Course Specification below for more information.
Any questions?
For any questions regarding our courses or if you’d like more information on how to apply to BIMM University Berlin, please contact our Admissions Team on +49 (0)30 311 99 186 or email admissions@bimm-institute.de.
