Graduate School Bulletin

Spring 2024

Admissions APPLICATION DEADLINE

The scholarship application deadline is January 1, 2024 for Fall 2024.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

This MFA program is intensive, and admission to it is highly selective.  Upon review, finalists may be invited for an on-campus interview.

Please use Stony Brook Graduate School's Online Application.

You must create an account to start a new application. You can also log in to continue an application after an account has been created.

For admission, the following, in addition to the minimum Graduate School requirements, are required:

  1. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
  2. Undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.0.
  3. Three letters of recommendation.
  4. A current resume
  5. A statement of purpose. Describe in a page or two why you are interested in this opportunity, how you would benefit, and what makes you a particularly deserving candidate. Upload this to the Additional Supplemental Materials, personal statement section of the application.
  6. Video Pitch. (Go to Portfolio Instructions and upload Video Pitch to the Digital Portfolio section of the application.)
  • All candidates: This is one of the more important elements to your application. You have probably seen people pitching for donations on a crowdsourcing site. In this case, you should pitch us yourself as a candidate. You can mention a project you want to work on, or something else that is exciting to you but we are interested in who you are as a creative artist/storyteller. The video pitch should be creative, polished, inventive. We want you to win us over here! SUGGESTED LENGTH: 3 MINUTES
  • Written materials: (All written materials may be uploaded in the Additional Supplemental Materials section)

    Your written material should include:

  • All Candidates: The Scene. Write a short, 2-3-page scene inspired by one of these words that have no English language translation. We prefer a scene with two characters where one character wants something from the other, and that you do NOT explicitly use the word you have chosen.

    • Glas wen (Welsh) - A smile that is insincere or mocking. Literally, a blue smile.Yuputka
    • (Ulwa) - The phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin.Iktsuarpok
    • (Inuit) - You know that feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet? This is the word for it.

  • All Candidates: The Logline. Write an extended log line or a paragraph describing a project you’d like to realize with us. Attach this logline to the bottom of your scene. Please note here as well: MFA in Television Writing.

 

UPON ACCEPTANCE BY THE MFA PROGRAM IN TELEVISION WRITING

If a student accepted into the M.F.A. program wishes to offer, either for credit toward the degree or for exemption from enrollment in courses required by Stony Brook, analogous courses taken at another university, transcripts and other supporting material must be presented for consideration by the graduate program director before the end of the student’s first semester in the program (see Transfer of Credit from Other Universities).

Robert  Sklar  Diversity Fellowship

In Fall 2024, we will award a handful of full and partial Graduate and Teaching Assistantships to our incoming students, particularly to those students who can contribute to the diversity of Stony Brook. All applications for full-time study in the Fall term are considered, provided that the application is submitted by January 1, 2024. These GA/TA awards are extremely competitive.

A full TA/GA offer comes with an academic-year stipend of approximately $20,000, a 15-20 hour/week workload, full tuition waiver and subsidized health insurance. A partial TA/GA offer comes with a 50% tuition remission scholarship, and an academic-year stipend of approximately $10,000, as well as subsidized health insurance and an 8-10 hour/week workload; after 8-10 hour/week workload; or with a 25% tuition remission scholarship, and an academic-year stipend of approximately $5,000, as well as subsidized health insurance and an 4-6 hour/week workload. Students in good standing could expect to have their funding renewed for their second year, when they teach film and screenwriting courses to Stony Brook undergraduates. 

Recipients of funding offers who can contribute to the diversity of Stony Brook may be additionally eligible for the  Turner Fellowship. Those with outstanding academic promise may be eligible for the  Graduate Council Fellowship. These fellowships award an additional $30,000 over the course of three years to their recipients, along with tuition waiver and stipend.

GRE - Even though the application will ask for it, you do not need GRE scores.

 

In the program drop-down menu, please choose MFA in TV Writing, and indicate whether you are applying as a part-time or full-time student. Type “Manhattan Track” in the “Specialization” line.

If a recommender does not want to submit a letter online or doesn’t use email, you may print out a blank recommendation form for him or her to fill out and mail directly to the program.

Electronic official transcripts from any undergraduate and graduate institutions you have attended should be sent to the Office of Graduate and Health Sciences Admissions, at gradadmissions@stonybrook.edu

or snail-mailed directly to the graduate school:

Office of Graduate and Health Sciences Admissions
Stony Brook University
Health Sciences Tower, Level 2 - Rm. 271
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8276

For questions, please call Margaret Grigonis at (631) 632-5028

Qualified graduate students without TA/GA funding are encouraged and, in their second year, eligible to apply for teaching artist and administrative jobs as they arise.

To favor one incoming student over another, by awarding assistantships or prizes, runs counter to our philosophy that we are all in this together, faculty and students alike, struggling with the extraordinarily difficult work of putting words together. If you earn admission to our program, with funding or without, we guarantee that you will be treated with the same respect as any other member of our community.

Then there's your own resourcefulness in defraying the costs of graduate study. Applicants are encouraged to explore opportunities for external funding independent of our program's limited resources. For more information on other types of financial aid, contact the   Office of Student Financial Aid Services   at (631) 632-6840

BACK TO TOP

For More Information

The fine print about transfer credits, international students, and other admissions arcana is revealed in the  Graduate Bulletin.

Or contact us:

MFA Program in Television Writing

Chancellors Hall, Room 239

Stony Brook Southampton

239 Montauk Highway Southampton, NY 11968

Phone: (631) 632-5028

Fax: (631) 632-2576

E-mail:  MFAManhattan@stonybrook.edu