Create stories that can be shared across all entertainment mediums

Use improv and playwriting skills to influence and shape the world of content creation
The Content Creation and Scriptwriting Summer Institute is a two-week, UC credit-bearing intensive program for students interested in writing for the web, film and theater. This program provides opportunities to work with our distinguished faculty in classes such as webisode writing, screenwriting, playwriting, improv, and sketch comedy. The combination of these courses will allow students to use their training to create stories that can be shared across all entertainment mediums. Students will learn the technical components of writing for the web, stage and the screen while gaining hands-on experience in developing and completing three short form writing samples. Beyond the classroom, students will attend guest workshops and learn the art of collaboration.
The program is designed for artists and students who seek additional discipline and training required for participation in a university theater program or a career in the entertainment industry. Participation in this institute is open to college and high school (16 years and older) students.
Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute – Program Overview
Students will participate in person at UCLA, experiencing all that our campus has to offer during their summer program.
For precollege participants in the Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute, living in on-campus housing is optional. Precollege students who wish to live in UCLA residence halls alongside other program participants may sign up for housing at the time of registration. The total cost for housing, which includes room, board (two meals per day), student supervision, and evening and weekend activities, is an additional $1,404.
**Please note that UCLA housing is only available for precollege participants.**
For more information on UCLA housing precollege programs, please see the Housing for Minors page.
The Content Creation and Scriptwriting Summer Institute is a two-week, UC credit-bearing intensive program for students interested in writing for the web, film and theater. This program provides opportunities to work with our distinguished faculty in classes such as web writing, screenwriting, playwriting, improv, and sketch comedy. The combination of these courses will allow students to use their training to create stories that can be shared across all entertainment mediums. Students will learn the technical components of writing for the web, stage and the screen while gaining hands-on experience in developing and completing three short form writing samples.
Students will go on field trips and attend master class workshops with entertainment professionals.
The Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute awards credit for the following UCLA coursework:
- Theater 30 – Dramatic Writing (4 units)
Eligibility
To apply for the Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute, students must meet the following qualifications:
- 16 -22 years of age as of June 20, 2022
Students who do not meet the eligibility requirements will not be considered and are encouraged to explore other summer opportunities.
Admission
Admission to the program is by digital audition and instructor consent. As part of the application process, we encourage each applicant to submit a resume. The resume can be uploaded during the application process.
Applicants who successfully submit all requirements will be reviewed and notified via email of an admission decision within 3 weeks. See Application Requirements below for more details. Please note that all levels are encouraged to apply. Early application is strongly encouraged.
Applicants are required to provide the following during the online registration process:
- In 400 words, why are you interested in content creation and scriptwriting and what do you hope to gain?
- A resume (if you do not have a resume, submit a brief description of your theatrical and/or artistic experience).
The resume can be uploaded as a word or pdf file during the application process.
Applying for the Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute can be done conveniently online with the following steps:
- Prepare all “Application Requirements” prior to starting the registration process.
- Access the Summer Institute Online Registration Form starting February 15 at 8am Pacific Standard Time (PST). Read all terms and conditions, then scroll to the bottom and select “Yes, Continue to Registration.”
- Provide responses to all required questions on both pages of the registration form and then “Submit”.
- Once your form is submitted, you will be directed to the Retrieve Registration page. Select “File Uploads” to upload application materials (see Application Requirements above for more information).
- Allow up to two weeks for the program instructor(s) to review your application after submission. An email will be sent to you with the official decision.
- If accepted to the program, follow the steps in your acceptance email to make payment of the non-refundable registration fee* ($150 for UCLA and UC Students, $350 for Non-UC Students) to reserve your space in the program.
A space in the program is not reserved until a valid payment of the non-refundable registration fee* is made. If you are not prepared to pay after submitting the registration form, you may retrieve your registration at another time to make payment; however, this risks losing a space in the program if it reaches capacity prior to payment being submitted. An email with instructions to retrieve registration with your five-digit registration number will be sent within an hour after submitting your registration.
*The registration fee is required for each program and is not refundable under any circumstances including, but not limited to, drop for non-payment and withdrawal, even if you withdraw from the program before it begins.
If the program is full, you will not be prompted to make payment. If the program offers a waitlist and your application is accepted from the waitlist, you will be notified by email with instructions for how to submit payment. Please note if the payment is not submitted within 24 hours of receiving the email, you will be moved to the end of the waitlist.
If registering after May 1, full payment of the program fee and non-refundable registration fee will be required to reserve your space in the program. Additional fees, such as the document fee and IEI fees, will be assessed after enrollment.
For questions and assistance, please contact us at info@summer.ucla.edu.
UCLA Summer Sessions Summer Scholars Support
Qualified students attending grades 8th – 11th in Spring 2022 in the state of California may be eligible for Summer Scholars Support, a need- and merit-based scholarship offered by the UCLA Summer Sessions Office. A limited number of full and partial scholarships are available to support enrollment in SCIP/eSCIP, one Summer Course, or a Precollege Summer Institute. Summer 2022 deadline to apply: April 1.
Nicholas Endowment TFT Summer Institute Scholarship
The Nicholas Endowment TFT Summer Institute Scholarship is a need- and merit-based scholarship opportunity for underserved/underrepresented high school students enrolled in grades 9-12 who have been impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19 and would benefit significantly from a Summer Institute experience. Both partial and full scholarships are available for high school students enrolled in UCLA Theater Summer Institutes including Acting and Performance, Camera Acting and Musical Theater.
Eligibility
To apply for the Nicholas Endowment TFT Summer Institute Scholarship, you must meet the following
minimum eligibility criteria:
- You will be a high school student in Fall 2022 (seniors graduating in 2022 are eligible);
You have not received any UCLA Summer Sessions Support or Scholarship in the past; - You have a family annual adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less;
- You have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak;
- You are a high school student enrolled in one of the following UCLA Theater Summer Institutes: Acting and
Performance, Camera Acting, Musical Theater, Voice-Over & Camera Acting, Stage Management, Design
Summer Institute-Costume, Live Performance and Media - All requirements below should be acquired and prepared prior to starting the Nicholas Endowment TFT Summer Institute Scholarship Online Form.
- Unofficial transcript showing all grades from 9th to present and a cumulative GPA; • Student Resume; • Personal Statement (see below for specifications);
- W-2 Tax Form (if eligible for one);
- 1040 Tax Form;
For questions, please contact us at dadams@tft.ucla.edu
Personal Statement
Applicants must answer three essay prompts. Please answer the question below (section 1) and then select 2 out of the 6 questions in section 2 to answer. Each answer should be between 250 – 300 words.
Section 1 (Must Be Answered):
How have you and/or your family been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak?
Section 2 (Please Choose 2 from the Following Questions):
- Submit a creative writing piece set during the COVID-19 outbreak that focuses on a fictional character and includes an act of kindness or heroism. Feel free to use your imagination.
- Explain your passion for the program you have applied to.
- How do you hope to incorporate theater/musical theater/camera acting/voice-over/design/stage management/ live performance and media into your academic or career goals after the program?
- Describe how a specific play, musical, film or TV show has influenced you as a storyteller?
- Tell us about a time you were challenged to do something out of your comfort zone. How did you face this challenge and what lesson(s) did you take away from the experience?
Program Dates:
June 20, 2022 – July 2, 2022
The schedule and syllabus are subject to change. Enrolled students will be given updated materials closer to the program start date.
Fees and Payment Info
The program fee includes the unit fees for the UCLA coursework offered as part of the program and thus varies by UC student status. In addition to the program fee, students are assessed other campus and administrative fees during the summer. This is a summary of fees that commonly apply to the selected student type.
Actual tuition and fees are subject to change by the University of California. Visit the fees, payment, and financial aid section for important disclaimer, as well as more details on fees, payment instructions, and information on delinquency, refunds, and financial aid.
**OPTIONAL HOUSING FEE** = $1,404
Students living in on-campus housing will be charged an additional housing fee. Please note that UCLA housing is only available for precollege participants.
Program Fee | $2,420 |
Registration Fee | $350 |
IEI Fee | $61 |
Document Fee (for first-time Summer Sessions students) | $50 |
Meet your instructors
Patrick Hurley
InstructorPatrick Hurley graduated from UCLA with his MFA in playwriting. The first part of his Queer Tetralogy On a Queer Day was a Semi-Finalist for The Eugene O’Neill playwrights conference in 2018. His play The Winds of Ariston was part of UCLA’s 2017 New Play Festival. In 2018, his serialized play #instagay had twelve episodes at Sacred Fools Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2016, his play My Play’s Last Scene was part of the Marianne Murphy Staged Reading Series. That same year his One Act Indigo at Midnight was part of the Francis Ford Coppola One Act Play Festival. He worked as a Stage Manager for Francis Ford Coppola on his live television project Distant Vision. He has taught playwriting at UCLA, has been a dramaturg and literary assistant for The Theatre @ Boston Court in Los Angeles, and was the head writer for the 2018 Los Angeles Ovation Awards Ceremony. He is a two-time recipient of the George Burns/Grace Allen Fellowship for Comedy.
David Kepner
InstructorDavid Kepner is an LA-based actor, holding a Master’s in Acting from UCLA and a Bachelor’s in Theater & Secondary Education from Boise State University. David is an avid actor and filmmaker earning most of his experience from theater, film, and original comedic shorts. His micro-short film and directorial debut, Georganne.MOV, won Best Mockumentary Micro-Film at the Portland Comedy Film Festival (2020). David also received the Silver Tripod/Best Story award for my short film, MICNIC, at Campus MovieFest (2019). He also performed in numerous plays, recently playing as the titular role in Aphra Behn’s The Rover at the historic Freud Playhouse (2020). David continues to display his acting abilities in original sketch comedies and other performative projects that come his way. When he’s not working, he loves to play video games, order take-out, get scratched by his cat, and to leisurely ride his motorcycle around town to prove that he owns the ultimate form of transportation.
Annette Lee
ProfessorAnnette Lee began her artistic life as an actor in New York before returning to her native Los Angeles as a playwright. Her plays have been performed and read in Los Angeles, New York, Colorado, Portland, and Chicago. She has written for radio, mono-drama, site-specific projects and has served as a dramaturge for Artists at Play, USC School of Dramatic Arts and its Master of Professional Writing Program. A recipient of the Mickey Dude Fellowship for the Depiction of Ethnic Life in America and the Edna & Yushan Han Scholarship, she holds an MFA in Playwriting from UCLA, has taught writing at UCLA and East West Players. She has written with The Vagrancy and the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute. Formerly, as the Literary Manager for Los Angeles’, Playwrights’ Arena, she curated seven seasons of the New Pages Lab Reading series, a program developing new works for the stage by Los Angeles playwrights, which have been seen and heard across the country.
Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute FAQ
We welcome students of all levels; however, students should have a strong interest and a desire to learn about new media, content creation, and scriptwriting.
- Laptop
Students will receive a letter grade upon completion. See University Credit, Grades and Transcripts for more information about academic credit.
Still have questions? Check out the general Summer Institutes FAQ.