Applicable only to students admitted during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Film, Television, and Digital Media

School of Theater, Film, and Television

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media offers the Master of Arts (M.A.), the Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Film and Television.

Admission

Program Name

Film and Television

Address

103E East Melnitz
Box 951622
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1622 

Phone

(310) 206-8441 

Email

filmgrad@tft.ucla.edu  

Leading to the degree of

M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D. 

Admission Limited to

Fall 

Deadline to apply

M.F.A.: November 1st 
    (Animation only:  February 1st)
M.A./Ph.D.: December 1st 

GRE (General and/or Subject)

GRE: General

Optional for M.F.A. applicants; required for M.A. and Ph.D. applicants. 

Letters of Recommendation 

3 

Other Requirements

In addition to the University's minimum requirements and those listed above, all applicants are required to submit the departmental application and statement of purpose. No screening examination prior to admission is required.

Students are admitted in the Fall Quarter only. Admission is competitive, and only a limited number of students are accepted each year.

M.A.: Applicants must submit a sample of scholarly or critical writing; a statement of purpose. Other information, such as a résumé or Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, may be required to establish the quality of work in the student's specialization.

M.F.A.: No screening examination prior to admission is required. Applicants with diverse backgrounds and undergraduate majors in areas other than film and television are encouraged.

Applicants must state clearly on the online departmental application the degree objective (M.F.A.) and the area of specialization desired within the program: animation, film/television production, screenwriting, or producers program. An interview may be required.

Applicants who wish to concentrate in film/television production must submit a description of a film or television project that may possibly be undertaken in graduate study. The description should be in proposal or treatment form, two to three pages in length, using a 12-point font. Applicants may not submit DVDs. This material is nonreturnable.

Applicants who wish to concentrate in writing must submit samples of creative writing such as screenplays, short stories, plays, or poems.

Applicants who wish to concentrate in animation must submit a description of an animation project that may possibly be undertaken in graduate study, preferably in storyboard form. Other creative work may be submitted.

Applicants who wish to concentrate in the producers program must submit a complete resume and a portfolio consisting of two treatments (one to three pages each) for feature, television, or new media projects that the applicant expects to produce. Each treatment should include a logline and convey the genre, tone, size and scope of the project. Applicants may also include written publicity materials related to a produced film, television or theater project

Ph.D.: Applicants are expected to have completed an M.A. or M.F.A. degree equivalent to that offered by the UCLA Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media. In exceptional cases, students with an M.A. outside the field are considered for direct admission to the program.

Applicants must submit a dossier that includes: a letter describing the reasons the applicant wishes to earn the Ph.D and the master's thesis or writing samples that demonstrate a high level of ability to write criticism or historical narrative 

Master's Degree

Advising

In most instances, the chair of the appropriate graduate committee acts as principal adviser to students in the program, although some advising assignments may be made by the chair to other members of the faculty. Students meet with their adviser for program planning prior to the beginning of each quarter. Students also are encouraged to confer with the departmental student affairs officer as frequently as necessary to discuss program changes, petitions, and other concerns.  Each program has a specific procedure and calendar for assignment of each student's committee. Students should consult the student affairs officer for this information.

Areas of Study

The program requires that students be conversant in both film and television, and they are tested on each in the comprehensive examination.

Foreign Language Requirement

Although not required for the M.A. degree, some students may be required to demonstrate competence in a foreign language if it is necessary to support the research in their area of specialization.

Course Requirements

A minimum of nine courses is required, five of which must be 200-level courses in film and/or television history, theory, and criticism. Of the five courses, Film and Television 206C, 208B, and 217A are required core courses. In addition, Film and Television 200 is required of all students. All five of the graduate-level courses must be completed with a grade of B or better.

Only eight units of Film and Television 596A, 596B, 596C, and 598 may be applied toward the total course requirement for the degree, and none of these courses may be applied toward the minimum graduate course requirement.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Comprehensive Examination Plan

The written examination is taken at home over two full consecutive days and examines a broad range of knowledge in film and television. After completion of the examination, the committee grades the student either pass or fail. The student may be reexamined on any failed portions of the examination when it is next regularly scheduled, or within the year following the term in which it was first taken. The examination is required of all M.A. students who apply to the Ph.D. program.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

Normal progress toward the degree: from graduate admission with no deficiencies to award of the M.A. degree, a minimum of four quarters is necessary for completion of the required courses and thesis or comprehensive examination. At the end of the third quarter of residence, but no later than the fifth quarter, students are eligible to take the M.A. comprehensive examination. Failure to comply with this regulation will result in lapse of status. Maximum residency allowed for the M.A. program is seven quarters.

Master of Fine Arts

Advising

In most instances, the chair of the appropriate graduate committee acts as principal adviser to students in the program, although some advising assignments may be made by the chair to other members of the faculty. Students meet with their adviser for program planning prior to the beginning of each quarter. Students also are encouraged to confer with the departmental student affairs officer as frequently as necessary to discuss program changes, petitions, and other concerns. Each program has a specific procedure and calendar for assignment of each student's committee. Students should consult the student affairs officer for this information.

Areas of Study

Animation, producing/directing, producers program, and screenwriting. Students should consult the department for specific requirements.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

A total of 18 courses is required for the degree, five of which must be at the graduate level. At least three departmental courses must be taken outside each student's specific program: two of these must be approved cinema and media studies seminars and the third must be from one of the other M.F.A. programs. Course requirements for each specialization are available in the Student Services Office, Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media.

Only 16 units of Film and Television 596A-596B-596C may be applied toward the total course requirement, and only eight of these units may be applied toward the minimum graduate course requirement. Only four units of Film and Television 596A and four units of 596B may be taken prior to advancement to candidacy. Film and Television 596C through 596F may be taken only after advancement to candidacy. Fieldwork and internships are not required, but may be taken as courses which may be applied toward the degree.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Comprehensive Examination Plan

Student fulfill the comprehensive examination requirement through projects appropriate to their specializations. No later than the beginning of the final quarter of residence, the student must file the appropriate documents for advancement to candidacy and receive approval for advancement from the M.F.A. advisory committee.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

The four M.F.A. programs have different time-to-degree requirements: animation: 12 quarters (maximum 12 quarters); directing/producing: 12 quarters (maximum 12 quarters); producers program: six quarters (maximum nine quarters); screenwriting: six quarters (maximum 10 quarters). Students who are not making normal progress toward the degree may be recommended for termination of graduate study. Continuance in the program of students who are on academic probation is determined by the M.F.A. committee, with the final approval of the chair of the department.

Doctoral Degree

Advising

In most instances, the chair of the appropriate graduate committee acts as principal adviser to students in the program, although some advising assignments may be made by the chair to other members of the faculty. Students meet with their adviser for program planning prior to the beginning of each quarter. Students also are encouraged to confer with the departmental student affairs officer as frequently as necessary to discuss program changes, petitions, and other concerns. Each program has a specific procedure and calendar for assignment of each student's committee. Students should consult the student affairs officer for this information.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Students are expected to understand film and television within their social contexts as significant forms of art and communication, and to achieve, by disciplined study, a mastery of film and television history, theory, and criticism.

Foreign Language Requirement

Mastery of one foreign language is required and must be demonstrated in one of the following ways: (1) completing a level 5 course or the equivalent, with a minimum grade of C, in any foreign language; (2) passing a UCLA Foreign Language Department Placement Test at the equivalent of a level 5 course; (3) passing a UCLA language examination given in any foreign language department. When mastery of more than one foreign language is necessary for a student's dissertation study, the student is required to take courses or pass examinations in the additional language(s). Normally, the required foreign language examinations must be passed by the end of the first year of residence.

Course Requirements

Each student must take a minimum of 13 and one-half courses during the first six quarters of residence. Three required Ph.D. core courses must be completed during the first year of residence: Film and Television 211B, 215, and 273. In their second year, students must take Film and Television 274 which is required in both the fourth and sixth quarters, and an independent study in the area of their dissertation in the fifth quarter. In addition to this core sequence, Film and Television 496, which counts as the one-half course, is required (normally in the first quarter of residence). Students also select seven additional graduate seminars, at least five of which must be approved cinema and media studies seminars.

Students must create three areas of concentration. One is in the specific field of their dissertation, including Film and Television 274 and the dissertation-related independent study; students may include a fourth course in this concentration which is a cinema and media studies seminar related to their dissertation. The other two areas are to be composed of three seminars each chosen to indicate focused competence in two areas of expertise. A suggested list of concentrations is as follows: film theory, criticism, narrative studies, film history, American film, European film, non-Western film/television, television studies, media and society, authors, genres, film and the other arts, film and television as a business enterprise, film/television production and new media.

Teaching Experience

Students who serve as teaching assistants or associates must complete Film and Television 496.  Teaching assignments vary by student's specific area of study and availability of positions.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass University written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations the University oral qualifying examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to University requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

After completion of all language and course requirements, students are eligible to take the Ph.D. written qualifying examination, which must be passed in order to proceed to the oral qualifying examination. The written examination is given in the Spring Quarter only and is a take-home examination that is completed over four full consecutive days. After the student passes the written examination, a doctoral committee is formed to administer the University Oral Qualifying Examination. Students are advanced to candidacy only on successful completion of this examination.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of Dissertation)

Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree

Normal progress toward the degree is fifteen quarters.

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for probation/termination whose various creative projects or work in courses in research methodology and history seminars are indicative of insufficient talent, development, imagination or motivation. If a student's work in this area is found to be insufficient, the student is informed of the recommendation by the appropriate committee and placed on probation by the department. During the following term the student must provide sufficient evidence of improvement to remove the probationary status. If not, the committee recommends termination to the faculty and chair of the department.

A student may appeal a recommendation for termination through the following steps:

(1) The student submits to the departmental chair and the chair of the appropriate committee a written appeal stating the specific causes for reconsideration.

(2) The chair of the committee submits a response to the departmental chair and the student.

(3) The departmental chair appoints an ad hoc committee consisting of three tenured members of the faculty to review the student's appeal and committee's response. The ad hoc committee also meets separately with the student and the committee. The ad hoc committee forwards its written recommendation to the departmental chair.

(4) The departmental chair makes the departmental recommendation and informs the student and the Graduate Division of the decision in writing.

(5) A departmental faculty representative may be present at each review hearing within the department.