And so it begins...
I’ve been writing and producing digital media content for over fifteen years - a mishmash of short films, podcasts, web series, multi-media live performances, and such. While I’ve had the benefit of a few one-off trainings, workshops, and college classes over the years, I’ve never formally studied the crafts of writing, filmmaking, or theater in a deep, deliberate, and sustained manner. That’s about to change in a big way.
On Monday, August 31, I began my coursework towards a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for the Screen & Stage through a largely online, asynchronous, part-time, low-residency graduate program offered by Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA. If things go as planned, I’ll graduate in May 2022 with a full creative portfolio - multiple feature-length screenplays and stage plays, as well as treatments and bibles for numerous narrative projects for a variety of platforms (podcasts, video games, apps, etc.).
To say I’m excited and eager to embark on this journey is an understatement. I’ve been contemplating an MFA for many years, but putting it off for one reason or another, as many of us are prone to do with any variety of intriguing but seemingly extraneous pursuits. Through a combination of world-wide calamity, social distancing, and a growing awareness of my advancing age, 2020 seemed like as good a time as any to take the plunge. While there are plenty of reasons not to do this, I ultimately concluded that I have nothing to lose. I figure the longer I wait to invest in the rigorous development of my creative interests, the less time I’ll have to apply any learnings towards whatever outputs I hope to produce in whatever brief and dwindling time I have left on planet earth.
I've always prided myself on a stated commitment to lifelong learning. I consider my enrollment in this MFA program a revealed preference. I'm sure more than once over the next few years I'll need to remind myself that I chose this path and embarked on it voluntarily. While I'm looking forward to whatever the next two years may bring, that doesn't mean I'm entirely comfortable with what's about to happen.
In any event, it’s been 20+ years since I was last a grad student. I’m ready to jump back into the mix, this time with much greater purpose and intention. To that end, I’ll aim to maintain this blog and its accompanying podcast in the ensuing weeks and months as a means of reflecting on and documenting all the challenges, obstacles, and (hopefully) break-throughs I experience during my time in the program. My plan is to share publicly on this site all the syllabi from my classes, as well as various drafts of the assignments I submit and any associated feedback/commentary. I think sharing my experience so openly in this manner will contribute to my own growth and learning, as well as inform others who are experiencing and/or contemplating their own educational journeys in the arts. In this regard, my ambition to document the next to years of my creative life was inspired in part by Wendy’s USC Film School Blog, a highly entertaining and informative effort from the early 2000s that drew back the curtain on the MFA experience for tens of thousands of curious minds.