The Screenwriter's Program ended in January 2013.
Starting in autumn 2013, the ifs offers a new two-year master’s program in Serial Storytelling. More information here.

The Screenwriter’s Program can proudly look back on 15 years of experience. Alone in 2008, five of the screenplays developed in the Screenwriter’s Program were made into films or are currently being filmed, three others have been granted funding or have been accepted in an international funding program. Over the past 15 years of the program, the demands of the German film and television industry have changed and our declared goal is to consistently incorporate these developments into our program, despite their unpredictability, and make them accessible to our students. The program is specifically aimed at screenwriters who have gathered initial experience in the industry after their studies, and have not been discouraged by the often-paradoxical demands of the market. Again and again, it is about adapting original stories to existing structures and predefined patterns of expectation: A balancing act that particularly tests the craft, creative skill and perseverance of screenwriters, program editors and producers.

Our goal is to raise your screenwriter profile in terms of the market and to provide contacts to TV and film program planners and creators who can influence your long-term career as well as take the time to conduct a well-prepared dialogue with you. Over the past years, the creative use of genre requirements has proven to be our key skill. We understand "genre" not as a constraint specification or corset in which you cramp your ambitions. For program developers and planners, genres are established narrative patterns and the key task of film and television writers is to constantly and creatively refresh and expand them. Genres are not subject to strict laws and are always changing. We explore genres for their specific strengths and limitations in relation to your material, so that you can learn to use their structure and effects for your characters and situations. 

By combining individual script development and genre expertise, the Screenwriter’s Program enables you to better target and position your work for an increasingly formatted market. You develop your material for the film and TV genres thriller, comedy, romantic comedy or melodrama, either independently or in a team together with an interested program editor or producer. A script advisor supervises the work of two screenwriters and carefully examines their work also in terms of the narrative methods typical for the selected genre.

In additional weekend workshops dedicated to analyzing current film and cinema productions, we offer script developers and industry decision makers the opportunity to update and refresh their knowledge of genre-defining narrative and to redefine it through exploring German film examples and in discussions with local filmmakers. These workshops are attended by external scriptwriters, directors, program editors, producers and production managers from all over Germany and also serve to complement your individual script development.

After a period of six months, your scripts will be assessed in consultation with your script advisor to determine the extent they may be of interest for specific program editorial departments. Advice about your own acquisition plans will supplement these considerations with respect to specific contacts. This is where the dialogue and corresponding special preparation that is decisive for your career plans come into play:

The ifs will invite a program editor, producer, and production manager proposed by you and together you will reflect on your script and other works from your personal portfolio in a number of individual sessions. You will receive realistic feedback, which in the ideal case will result in further cooperation. These meetings are thoroughly prepared by both sides and, in the way they are personally tailored to the screenwriter’s professional profile, are a unique opportunity in local further education programs.

The program ends with a public presentation of the screenwriters and their scripts in moderated discussion rounds. Due to their open dialogue format and thus lively character, these discussion rounds have successfully replaced the classic »Pitch« at the ifs, offering you contact opportunities that also extend beyond the script you develop at the ifs.