FOX AND THE UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION BRING SERIES DEVELOPMENT INTO THE CLASSROOM

UCLA Graduate Course on "How to Create a Television Series" Will Lead to a $10,000 FOX Development Grant

In a continued effort to find new talent to support year-round programming, FOX has teamed with the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in an unprecedented classroom project. UCLA graduate students enrolled in the new course "How to Create a Television Series" will learn from industry experts how to create and sell scripted dramatic and comedy television series. Students will develop actual series proposals and pitch ideas to their instructors as well as FOX development executives. Fox Broadcasting Company has guaranteed that at least one student's project will be matriculated into development with a $10,000 grant.

This project resulted from a meeting during this year's Sundance Producers Conference between Stefani Relles, Director of Creative Writer Development at FOX, and Barbara Boyle, Chair of the UCLA Department of Film, Television and Digital Media. Relles will teach the class with Howard Suber, the founding director of the UCLA Film and Television Producers Program, and Felicia Henderson, a UCLA alumna, television writer, director and showrunner for the award-winning series "Soul Food."

The course will begin by examining the most successful television series in history to uncover the principles and patterns behind popular shows. "Case study" panels will feature development executives from FOX and FOX 21. An ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT case study will include executives from the studio and the network, who will lead students through the development process from different points of view. The course will culminate with students writing a three-page series proposal plus two short scenes to illustrate the pilot.

UCLA's undergraduate theater and film/television programs are ranked first out of 500 programs nationally (Princeton Review/Gourman Report) and the graduate theater and graduate film/television programs are consistently among the top three nationally (US News and World Report). "Fox Broadcasting Company is proud to partner with such a prestigious school to offer students an insight and opportunity into the television industry," Relles said. "It will make for a great collaboration, building on the school's television program and FOX's outreach for new talented writers."