Student Experience

What to Expect

Students in the Scriptwriting program at Algonquin College learn how to develop new ideas, discover their style and voice, develop create characters, and write stories for any audience. Presentation and discussion about the pitching and treatment of final drafts are facilitated through discussion and written assessment by departmental tutors. Guest speakers from the local film, television, theatre, and production community will be regular visitors to your class. They share war stories, give you tips and advice on “how-to-get-there-from-here”, take questions, and often take pitches.

Student Sucess & Testimonials

I cannot express just how grateful I am to the Algonquin College Scriptwriting Program for providing me with not only an industry level understanding of what it means to be a screenwriter, but also the lifelong friendships that I’ve made by attending. I simply wouldn’t be the person I am today without the knowledge and encouragement I received from both the professors and students alike. Not only are the teachers knowledgeable about their craft, but they are some of the kindest people I’ve ever encountered. I’ve been out of the program for close to five years, and I’ve been lucky — and oh so grateful — to be able to contact them with any questions/comments that I have, about life, writing, and everything in between. Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

— Lexi Savoy, Scriptwriter; winner of the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award for her pilot script for Who Killed Heather McAdams?

The Algonquin College Scriptwriting Program was the most fun and exciting time I’ve had in a school environment. Spending a full year writing scripts and making videos gave me the hands-on experience and the confidence to pursue a career in film and television. Having your own work performed by professional theater actors and the opportunity of pitching your own TV series to network executives are among the many incredible experiences that take place during the course of the program. I can´t recommend it enough and I´d do it again in a heartbeat.

— Agustin Guevara, 2013 Graduate, Development Executive at 9 Story Media Group

I can’t say enough good things about Algonquin Scriptwriting. I did the program in 2010, and it helped create a foundation for the next 10 years of my career as a writer. The classes on New (now Digital) Media unearthed my interest for storytelling in unexpected avenues, which led to my role as a political staff writer, then as a content strategist at Facebook. If you’re a lifelong storyteller and want to learn ways to focus your craft — and your confidence, I highly recommend the Scriptwriting program.

— Samantha Weingarten, Senior Content Designer, Intercom, Dublin, Ireland

This is a diamond-in-the-rough program teaching Hollywood-quality writing skills in Canada’s capital. The instructors are industry professionals dedicated to helping their students develop their own skills. The professors provide mentorship to their students beyond graduation, helping them make industry connections and celebrating their successes. Thanks to my education in the Algonquin Scriptwriting program, I’ve placed in international screenwriting competitions and optioned two original pilot scripts. I’m forever indebted to the program for aligning my passion with the skills I needed to pursue scriptwriting as a career.

— Kelly Morrison, freelance writer and animator

I can say with all sincerity that the Scriptwriting program at Algonquin College was – without a doubt – the most important academic year of my life. Aside from all the wonderful friendships I made, the knowledge and experience I gained from the program quite literally led me to the career I have now. A single year at Algonquin taught me more practical information about the film/TV industry than four years studying film at university, not to mention how to finely tune my writing for a variety of applications. I learned how to appreciate the art of scriptwriting while also how to manage and conduct myself and my expectations for the professional aspect such a career entails. The teachers were amazing, and it was refreshing to learn from individuals with years of personal experience in the subjects they taught. At the risk of exaggerating my experience, I honestly cannot imagine where my career might be had I not attended this course.

— Lucas Armstrong, Animation Editor, Jam-Filled Entertainment

I can’t say enough good things about the Algonquin Scriptwriting program. The teachers are amazing – in addition to being experts in their craft, they genuinely care about each and every student and provide advice and guidance even after graduation. The curriculum is jam-packed with information. I don’t know of any other program that allows you to build a portfolio of work in film, TV, theatre and new media in just 8 short months. Since graduating from the program I have won the PRAXIS Screenwriting Fellowship, the Best Screenplay award at the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival and numerous other competitions. I wrote for a children’s show at a local animation studio, and also had a screenwriting teaching gig. My Algonquin portfolio also earned me a scholarship to an MFA program in the United States.

— Carla Custance, MFA, Screenwriter

Looking back at my time in the Scriptwriting program, I think I was a bit of a cliché – already a writer of sorts, with freshly hatched dreams of crafting the next great screenplay. Fortunately, since starting on this journey quite a few years ago, my attitude and goals have continued to shift and evolve. I feel incredibly accomplished even though I never actually accomplished what I set out to do! Somewhere along the way in the program, you see, I began to realize that this passion – and it has to be a passion or you won’t survive – is about far more than the nuts and bolts of creating a sellable script. I learned that it’s about cultivating a deeper curiosity for our world and this thing called the human condition. It’s about the stories we choose to tell and why they should matter. It’s about constantly striving to become a better artist. All of that is what continues to inspire me. All of that is its own reward.

— David Whiteman discovered his true passion at Algonquin and now writes for the stage. His play, The Lights of Shangri-La, was produced by TotoToo Theatre and won a Capital Critics Circle Award for the Best New Play of the 2014-2015 Ottawa theatre season.

In 2007 I was working on a ten-page assignment for my scriptwriting theatre class, six years later I was sitting in a theatre in New York City watching the play that evolved from that assignment turn into my first professional credit as an Off-Broadway play.

The Scriptwriting Program at Algonquin not only gave me the time and discipline to create my writing portfolio. It also gave me the skills to pursue my professional career after I graduated.

— Jessica Anderson – Class of 2008
Jessica is a playwright and arts administrator who originally hails from Oakville, Ontario. Jessica was the recipient of the 2012 RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights Award for her full-length play The Gods and Calvin Brewer. Her short plays have been produced in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Hamilton and Sydney, Australia. Her first full-length play, My Purple Wig, was short-listed for several awards and premiered Off- Broadway at the Lion Theatre in November of 2013 Jessica continues to write for the stage, and is currently a member of the playwrights’ unit at Theatre Aquarius.

I really enjoyed my time in the Scriptwriting Program at Algonquin College. I came directly from university with an interest in comedic writing and experience with theatre, and the program gave me the ability to expand my writing interests into other media. I especially took a lot away from the Video Production Basics course, as it gave me the skills to film and edit on my own, which I still practice today. More than anything, I really valued the opportunity to network with people working in TV, film, theatre, and a handful of my classmates are people I still write with today. You never know what kind of avenues you’ll go down after graduating, either. Shortly after leaving the program, I got into standup comedy — and other alumni I’ve kept in touch with have had lots of success with improv and sketch too!

— Laura McLean, Stand-up Comic and Freelance Sketch Writer

The Algonquin Scriptwriting program taught me valuable practical skills essential to the industry. No other program or course has provided me with the in-depth and broad range of training to build up my writing skills. The program also allowed me gain first-hand experience on movie sets and insight into the business side of the industry. These skills have proven to be invaluable in my professional career. It also afforded me the opportunity to watch my own script turned into a short film at the Digi60 film festival in Ottawa.

— Max Gorokhovski, Scriptwriter; Front of House, Secret City Adventures

I started the Scriptwriting program a few months after I immigrated to Canada from Ireland — and just after I found out I was pregnant with my first child. Although I was apprehensive about being so much older than everyone in my class, I found that my classmates came from a range of backgrounds and we shared one thing in common: we were all passionate about writing. The program provided me with fundamental tools, in-depth structural and stylistic knowledge, and real-life business and networking skills. While at its heart the program celebrates creativity, it has carefully curated practical elements which demonstrate multiple paths to writing success: two of the most valuable experiences for me were the Hothouse theatre events and the Toronto pitching trip. Since the course, I continue to write; I’ve built a personal support network for constructive feedback and advice; and, in 2016, I wrote the script for the Best Film winner in Ottawa’s Digi60 festival.

— Maeve O’Connell, Freelance Scriptwriter and Editor

The Scriptwriting program gave me a structured environment to improve my writing across different media, and have my work reviewed by peers and faculty with a comprehensive understanding of the craft. We were given the opportunity to take on different field placements to see how our work can be applied to practical projects. We also pitched what we wrote to producers, to learn how to actually market our efforts. So I’d say I definitely came out of the experience with a lot of meaningful lessons and connections I wouldn’t have otherwise had.

— Ryan Schmidt, Video Producer, Game Writer & QA Lead

The Scriptwriting program at Algonquin was a great introduction to the art of writing for the screen. Along with learning about proper formatting and story structure, the instructors helped us shape our own stories. Through the program, I also met people with similar interests, many of whom I still work with today. At the Digi awards, I won Female Filmmaker in 2017 with An Utterance Dampened and got Top 5 in 2015 as well with Pyrrhic Victory Top 5 in 2017.

— Julie Zhu, Director, Writer, Script Supervisor

The Algonquin College Scriptwriting program not only taught me to how to properly write a script, but to believe in my ideas, and have the confidence to pitch them anywhere and to anyone. I took the key skills I learned at Algonquin and went on to create my own production company, host my own TV show on MuchMusic, and eventually even land a gig as an executive in Los Angeles.

— Paul Telner – Creative Director/BroadbandTV

Work-Integrated Learning

In second term, you’ll be working alongside industry professionals in your Field Placement, increasing your skill set and your network of contacts.