2026 - Fall

MEDIA STUDIES COURSES

RTF 380D/347D           BUSINESS OF UNSCRIPTED TELEVISION • ALISA PERREN

Business of Unscripted Television will take you on a journey across all forms of unscripted (aka alternative) television, from documentaries to unscripted dramas, from shiny floor shows to competition-elimination formats. The course will explore and explain the business of developing, producing, selling, and distributing alternative television, which includes some of the longest-running – and most profitable – series in television history.  Whether it’s an idea in Holland that becomes a massive global hit or an outdoor adventure race that turns into a multi-million-dollar decades-long success, alternative television series offer the opportunity to share an extraordinary range of narratives with large and loyal audiences.  An important business to know for any aspiring storyteller, media executive, or behind-the-camera talent, join Professor Alisa Perren and longtime television and film executive (and UT alum) Brian Edwards as they survey the past, present, and future prospects of this vibrant industry sector and explore its wider cultural significance.  Undergraduate course that is also open to and will tailor reading and assignments to MA students.

RTF 386C           FAN IDENTITIES AND CULTURES• SUZANNE SCOTT

This graduate seminar surveys contemporary fan studies from the 1980s to the present, with an emphasis on digital fan practices and cultures. Using gender as a critical axis, this course will consider the lingering impact of fan studies’ roots in feminist and queer media studies, and contemplate how gender shapes discussions of fan labor, fan representations, fannish taste, modes of fan performance and production, and industry-audience power dynamics. This seminar will additionally consider more emergent and intersectional identity work within the field to contemplate how "fan identity" and our identities as fan scholars are shaped by race, sexuality, class, ability, nationality, and so on.

RTF 387C         GLOBAL MEDIA STUDIES • SHANTI KUMAR

In this course, we will explore the political, economic, technological and cultural dimensions of media globalization.  We will critically examine topics such as nationalism, transnationalism, cultural imperialism, glocalization, and hybridization in debates about culture, identity, race, gender, class in academic scholarship and popular media texts. We will evaluate the significance of these debates both in the historical contexts of global media and in contemporary discussions about the globalization of digital platforms, streaming media, big data and artificial intelligence. The course has two interrelated objectives: 1) to focus on the role of globalization in media industries, texts and cultures in specific national, transnational, regional and local contexts around the world, and 2) to gain a critical understanding of the academic literature on historical and contemporary debates in global media studies.

RTF 390N        NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AND CULTURE • MADHAVI MALLAPRAGADA

"New Media” is an umbrella term that has been in usage for a few decades now to refer primarily to technologies and media shaped by the development of the Internet in the 1980s, the creation of the Web in 1990s, and the emergence of social media platforms since the 2000s. In the 1990s, scholars debated the “new-ness” of digital and virtual technologies but more recently, they have also wondered whether the term “new” is outdated for media that have been around for over three decades now. Today it is virtually impossible to not have some aspect of our everyday life intersect with or be shaped by new media technologies and cultures. 

This graduate seminar will introduce students to cultural studies scholarship on new media. Readings will be a mix of theoretical essays and qualitative research-oriented case studies from around the world. Issues relating to power relations, discursive constructions, ideological politics, and socio-cultural contexts will be centered in the course readings and class discussions. A sampling of topics that will be included in the course include digitization, interactivity, virtual communities, online identities, hashtag activism, streaming, big data, surveillance, privacy, mobility, digital capitalism, cultural citizenship, and information economies. The two key course goals are (1) to provide an overview of the key debates, theories, and methods in the field of new media studies and (2) help students develop critical skills relating to theoretical frameworks and research methods that can be applied to the study of new media texts, cultures, and contexts.  

RTF 395           THEORY AND LITERATURE I • MIRASOL ENRÍQUEZ

This course provides an introduction to the broad range of theoretical scholarship that informs contemporary media studies in the humanities. It is required for all students in the RTF Department’s Media Studies graduate programs, and is also open to other graduate students interested in media-focused scholarship, with the permission of the instructor. We will review the primary theories and work of scholars who have contributed to media studies, with an emphasis on the development of the discipline and its varied trajectories. The course will be conducted as a seminar, with in-depth discussions of the readings and authors we encounter. 

MFA SCREENWRITING COURSES

RTF 380J          FIRST-YEAR SCREENWRITING • STUART KELBAN 

The gateway course for entering MFA Screenwriters, this class focuses on writing the feature-length screenplay, which means delving into the three primary elements of screenwriting: story, character and structure. Students discuss and evaluate each other's work on a weekly basis, developing their critical skills as screenwriters. By the end of the semester, each student will have a completed treatment, step-outline, and Act I of a feature-length screenplay. RTF Screenwriters will complete-and-revise their screenplay during the Spring, in the 380J companion course.

RTF 380M        ADVANCED SCREENWRITING I • MAYA PEREZ

The goals of this course: 1) That you complete a feature script or television pilot(s) suitable for submission to agents, production companies and/or contests. 2) That you leave this course a better writer than when you entered. 3) That you help your fellow classmates achieve the above two goals and vice-versa. *This course fulfills the second year, first semester writing requirement for all MFA screenwriting majors. Other qualified students will be admitted as space permits, by instructor permission.

RTF 380N         WRITERS ROOM WORKSHOP • KATHERINE CRAFT 

Students will work as a writers’ room run where they will create an original pilot as well as the entire season of a television series. 

RTF 380N         WRITING FOR SERIES TV • CINDY McCREERY 

Introduction to the fundamentals of writing for television where students will learn structure for both half hour and hour long series, the fundamentals of pilot development and will develop and write either a one-hour and half-hour television ‘spec' based on an existing series. 

MFA PRODUCTION COURSES

RTF 380C            SCREENWRITING FOR DIRECTORS • RICHARD LEWIS

While focusing on fictional shorts, 380C explores basic dramatic elements – story, character, structure, and conflict – that are applicable to all forms of storytelling. Students apply these narrative principles to the development of their own original short scripts, with an emphasis on the writing process: from the initial premise, through character exploration and outlining, to drafting and revision. Toward the end of the semester, attention is given to non-fiction storytelling, with students researching and writing short documentary treatments.

RTF 388F/344M        POST PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES • DAN STUYCK 
Flag/s: Independent Inquiry  

This course involves intensive hands-on work in digital color grading. It is designed to familiarize students with the entire digital image-making process, whether you are a director or a cinematographer who wants to understand how picture finishing works, to more advanced students who wish to specialize in post production or color correction.

RTF 388F/340D    PRODUCTION DESIGN BASICS • ADRIANA SERRANO

Understand the role of production design and how the creation and selection of sets, locations and environments contribute to the visual language of film. Explore fundamental elements of story, production, critical analysis, and the collaborative process of film making from the design perspective.

RTF 388P               ACTING FOR FILMMAKERS  • ANDREW SHEA 

RTF 388P/343              DIRECTING BRANDED CONTENT • BERNDT MADER 

This course covers the creative and logistical concerns and practical applications of producing commercial work through the use of narrative storytelling. Students will work individually and/or groups on commercial and branded content projects.

RTF 388M        PRE-THESIS PRODUCTION • YA’KE SMITH 

This class focuses on the development and production of the MFA pre-thesis project. Production must be completed prior to the end of the semester. Students are not required to write or produce this project, only to direct and edit. The pre-thesis must be a complete, stand-alone project, and not an excerpt from a larger work. Pre-thesis fiction projects shall be under 12 minutes in length, and documentary projects shall not exceed 30 minutes.

RTF 388P/343      CINEMA LABORATORY •  DEBORAH EVE LEWIS 

Limited to 20 participants. In Cinema Laboratory, you will make ten short films – some during class and some outside of class – with an emphasis on taking risks and exploring the cinematic form on an elemental level.

Cinema Laboratory’s practice of consistent moviemaking aims to create a space and time where filmmaking efforts are not expensive and precious, but intuitive, brief, engaging, and challenging in a fast-paced workshop setting. Motivated, hard-working, curious and highly creative students are sought to participate.

Cinema Laboratory seeks self-driven MFA students, RTF undergraduates (especially those in their last few semesters), Photojournalism students, Theatre Directors and students from the School of Architecture and the Art School. The T.A. will help non-RTF students learn RTF protocol and basic editing, camera and sound work, if necessary.

Undergraduates registering for this class should be seniors near graduation. Undergraduates: If you’re not a senior, please get permission of the instructor. If you have questions regarding Cinema Laboratory, don’t hesitate to contact the instructor: deb.lewis@utexas.edu.  

RTF 388P         CINEMATOGRAPHY • DEBORAH EVE LEWIS

This course explores visual storytelling and the art of cinematography through practice in a workshop environment. We will explore visual expression through a variety of cinema tools including camera and lighting. Students are encouraged to think cinematically in both fiction and non-fiction approaches. A number of readings and exercises are assigned to also increase a student's technical knowledge and understanding of one's tools, leading to greater creative and personal visual expression.

RTF 388P/366S    EARS ONLY: AUDIO STORYTELLING • TODD THOMPSON 

Audio production and post for storytelling using voice, actuality, music, ambiences and sound effects. Structuring stories for audio only, plus microphone and recorder techniques, mono, stereo, and binaural recording, field mixers, basic Pro Tools, signal processing, and noise reduction, applicable to sound for picture as well. Students will make a variety of small projects leading up to a longer, final project of their choice.

RTF 390C        EDITING FOR DIRECTORS • ANNE LEWIS

Required for first-year MFA production students. This is an introductory course in which we will build the foundation for later postproduction practice within the MFA program. It will incorporate technical, aesthetic, and practical considerations into an overall view of editing as a process, and we will use class discussion, written assignments, and (provided) editing exercises toward that end. The final third of the class will workshop your documentary film at various stages of postproduction.

RTF 488M        THESIS PRODUCTION • PJ RAVAL 

This course is designed to aid students in the planning, production and completion of "short project" film/video projects required as partial fulfillment of the MFA degree; Students involved in pre-production must complete a story synopsis, treatment and/or shooting script (if the latter is already under way), plus a production budget and date for production start and completion; a student must have script, production plan, budget, and equipment list approved by his/her MFA committee before shooting can begin; and each project in post-production must have a budget and picture delivery date set by the student producer's MFA committee and course instructor.

RTF 681KA     PRINCIPLES OF FILM AND TV PRODUCTION: DIRECTING DOCUMENTARY • ILIANA SOSA

SPECIALTY COURSES

RTF 388C         RESEARCH PROBLEMS: DOCTORAL EXAM PREP   

RTF 388D         RESEARCH PROBLEM IN SPECIAL FIELD OF RTF   

RTF 388E         RESEARCH PROBLEM IN SPECIAL FIELD OF RTF 

RTF 388S         RESEARCH PROBLEMS SPECIAL FIELD RTF: PRODUCTION

RTF 398M        MASTERS RESEARCH/WRITING

RTF 398R         MASTER'S REPORT

RTF 399W        DISSERTATION

RTF 698A        THESIS

RTF 698B        THESIS

RTF 699W       DISSERTATION

RTF 999W       DISSERTATION

RTF 384I         INTERNSHIP IN MEDIA INDUSTRIES • CINDY McCREERY