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Maximising accessibility and choice, AFTRS offers flexible study options for the Master of Arts Screen: Business. Study on-campus, online (or a combination of both) and choose between 1-4 subjects per semester.
Designed for a new generation of screen leaders, AFTRS’ Master of Arts Screen: Business is Australia’s foremost screen business course. For more than a decade it has accelerated the careers of screen media practitioners, delivering high-quality content to producers, developers, broadcasters, filmmakers, creative arts managers, founders, and many, many screen sector entrepreneurs. It has driven the expansion and growth of new and existing IP, generated numerous, sustainable start-ups, grown businesses, and enabled the adaptation and monetisation of new technology through highly developed creative screen business models.
World-leading among film schools, AFTRS is consistently ranked among the top fifteen international film schools by The Hollywood Reporter. As an industry-facing institution, it is uniquely positioned to offer a balanced delivery of theory and real-world practice unparalleled in Australia, and its Master of Arts Screen: Business has long been acknowledged as one of the best postgraduate programs in contemporary screen business and creative leadership in the world.
| “What surprised me about the curriculum was the focus on making students into an entrepreneur and a leader, with so many industry leaders coming to chat to us in the classroom. They’re creating tomorrow’s leader. I feel that they’re preparing me for the next 10 years.” – Indrani Kopal |
Importantly, as the industry develops and grows, so does the MASB, keeping pace with rapid changes in technology and screen business practice. It offers a compelling mix of in-depth research and intensive workshops exploring the benefits and opportunities to be found in a screen sector undergoing profound disruption. The MASB is offered in a variety of formats to meet the growing demand for more flexible, nationwide delivery and specialised study through a range of focused electives.
| The other thing that the course did was give us tools and frameworks for horizon scanning and looking into the future. The course really took me through the process of research, identifying an opportunity, developing an idea that speaks to that opportunity, get feedback on that pitch, refine it, develop it. It’s a bit like an incubator in a sense.” – Claire Evans |
| “I felt so laser focused in what I had been working on, and the course takes a big thinking approach. That was so beneficial to me to be able to change the way I thought about and approached things, and to take a broad look at the whole ecosystem and how it all fits together. It really shook up my thinking.” – Karina Libbey |
A range of scholarships are available to successful applicants of the Master of Arts Screen: Business; you will be prompted to apply for them following your submission.
| “What’s interesting about this course is that it caters to you from all angles. There were people in our peer group that were already entrepreneurial, some that had bigger production companies, some that had never taken on anything entrepreneurial, but had extensive professional experiences as writers or directors or creative directors, but wanted to do their own work.” – Jaye Rosenberg |
| “Even after graduating, for several years I’ve always leaned back on my Masters as a crutch that’s holding me up to all the things that inspire me, both within and outside of work. The tools that we had learned while studying served us well – they had given us insight to business planning and strategy, looking at where there might be opportunities managing growth on a global scale and where the weaknesses are.” – Marissa McDowell |
The Master of Arts Screen: Business is a transformational program designed for mid-career professionals from all aspects of the screen media sector. It aspires to develop graduates into visionary, highly-skilled leaders and entrepreneurs able to enrich Australian culture, expand and grow the Australian screen media economy, build businesses and achieve high-level, sustainable careers in the dynamic, fast-moving, global screen media landscape.
The MASB is a course aimed at understanding the screen media landscape and forming a strategy that takes you where you want to be. In classes, you will share knowledge on a peer-to-peer basis, forming lifelong relationships with key players across the sector. At the completion of your studies, you will emerge with a fully realisable plan to take to the market. It will be, perhaps, the most important step of your career.
Importantly, as the industry develops and grows, so does the MASB, keeping pace with rapid changes in technology and screen business practice. It offers a compelling mix of in-depth research and intensive workshops exploring the benefits and opportunities to be found in a screen sector undergoing profound disruption.
All students begin with a prerequisite finance subject and end their course with a capstone project, which is a major, concluding piece of work. The capstone brings together the strands of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Finance and is supported by research into an area of expertise, and sophisticated skills in presentation techniques and report writing.
Study on-campus, online (or a combination of both) and choose between 1-4 subjects per semester.
In preparing screen professionals for their future roles in the screen media sector, the course emphasises intensive, practice-based development and skills training, balanced with theoretical frameworks that equip students to think critically and evaluate the complex, real-world problems encountered when engaging with the global screen media market.
Teaching is a combination of specialist lectures, workshops, expert tuition and sophisticated interaction with the screen media industries.
Students will gain crucial knowledge and skills in entrepreneurial leadership, collaboration and team management, financial management and modelling, strategic innovation, and the development processes and associated business planning modelling for content and project creation, from inception through to realisation. Throughout the course, there will be sustained, detailed research and analytical skills development, along with complex problem solving directed at the advanced analysis of existing and emerging screen technologies. There will also be associated business opportunities.
The electives are designed to enable students to engage in global screen business gaining international perspectives and contexts. Electives also deliver focussed teaching in creative arts management and project development.
For more information, download the Master of Arts Screen: Business course guide.
AFTRS’ Master of Arts Screen: Business is designed for the screen leader ready to engage with the unlimited potential of the media industries. Armed with a suite of financial and entrepreneurial skills, graduates of this course will create new businesses, lead creative teams in the public, creative arts and private sectors, and join a network of screen business alumni operating at the forefront of screen content around the globe.
AFTRS screen business alumni include Chloe Rickard, Partner and COO, Jungle Entertainment; Bridget Callow-Wright, Midwinter Films; Angela Bates, Development and Investment Manager, Screen Australia Indigenous Department; Sue Maslin, Producer; Matt Hancock, General Manager, SBS On Demand; Nathan Anderson, COO and Executive Producer, Start Beyond; Peter Drinkwater, CEO, Screen Audience Research Australia (SARA); and Paul Wiegard, Co-founder and CEO, Madman Entertainment.
A writer, producer and executive producer for a many national and international companies, among them Crawford Productions, PBL Productions, Taffner…
Krista Jordan has over twenty years professional industry experience in creative and commercial filmmaking. Her professional film credits include The Matrix,…
Dr. Pieter Aquilia is a scriptwriter, script editor and director, who has combined her creative practice with a career in…
Research and evaluate the political, economic, cultural and social dynamics of the local and global screen business industries and develop solutions to identified issues
Analyse, identify and communicate financial matters and sophisticated business models through the critical evaluation of screen business financial frameworks and measures
Develop and deploy an approach to leadership in their business or career to achieve a defined outcome
Deploy appropriate research methods and strategic frameworks applicable to the screen media industries, and an approach to innovation to construct a competitive business advantage, overcoming issues and planning for future growth
Critically appraise the screen media market potential and formulate an approach to reaching audiences/customers that aligns to a screen product or company
Storytellers
Practitioners
Creators
Cultural leaders
Storytellers who possess the courage and integrity to embrace and reflect Australian perspectives.
Practitioners skilled for the screen and audio industries.
Creators who can effectively communicate ideas, problem-solve and collaborate inclusively.
Cultural leaders able to apply positionality and ethics in their practice.
DISCLAIMER: Changes in circumstances may impact upon the accuracy or currency of information. While AFTRS takes all due care to ensure that the information is accurate, it reserves the right to vary any information described here without notice.
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