Graduate Diploma in Producing and Screen Business 2011

This course - offered as a combined course for the first time in 2011 - is designed for producers, media executives and business owners seeking opportunities to expand their knowledge, skills and contacts. The course offers modules in the art and business of storytelling, production process, marketing and distribution as well as creative leadership, financial management, business planning and media strategy. The course is offered over two years part-time. Students must complete five core modules then choose from the range of elective modules.

Location: Sydney
Duration: 2 years part-time
Delivery mode: Semesters 1 & 2, 2011 and Semesters 1 & 2, 2012, face to face
Course fee: $17,500, FEE-HELP eligible
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OUTCOMES

By the end of this course students will have had the opportunity to:

Create strategies for successful businesses.
Build a portfolio of market-ready projects for all media.
Examine the economic and cultural forces that shape the media industry.
Learn about advanced financing techniques and the commercial imperatives driving investors.
Develop skills for leadership and management of creative enterprises.
Learn the art and business of storytelling.
Form productive future relationships with fellow students / industry peers.

CORE MODULES

Introduction to Financial Management

This module introduces students to the fundamental principles of financial management. The course combines theory with practical examples and case studies. Students will gain an understanding of the expectations of investors and the way they evaluate investment opportunities. They will learn about the operation of financial markets, and gain insights into the structuring of investment proposals. The course also provides a thorough introduction to the use of Excel in financial modeling.

Reaching Audiences

A hands-on module that investigates the art and science of engaging audiences. Covering cinema, television and new media, the course explores the elements of marketing, communication and audience measurement.

Creative Leadership

This module explores the role of the leader in team building, creative team management, problem solving and mediation. There will be instruction, workshops, specialist guests and individual research in negotiation, entrepreneurial skills, pitching and lateral thinking.

Case Studies Seminar

A series of workshops in which students will be introduced to recent real world case studies in order to make an in-depth analysis of a particular media product or business model. They will look at strategy and performance, with particular emphasis on reasons for success or failure in the marketplace.

Creative or Business Project

Students will undertake a year-long creative or business project with practical relevance to their own career or to the industry at large. Students will be supported in their project through the seminar program described below.

ELECTIVES

Navigating the Narrative World - Part 1

This module introduces the fundamentals of storytelling, exploring how dramatic and narrative structures have the ability to engage and hold an audience's attention, with focus on the creative team.

Navigating the Narrative World - Part 2

This module will advance the students' understanding of the processes involved in identifying a project, spotting talented individuals and then beginning the process of development. A series of intensive hands-on workshops will deal with the creation, acquisition, development and presentation of long-form dramatic projects for the screen. Students will be required to develop both an original story and an adaptation.

Film Financing

A master class designed for students developing feature films, examining and analysing finance and distribution practice, with case studies.

Television Financing

Designed for students developing television screen content. Students will examine and analyse the contemporary finance and distribution scene, using case studies.

Legal Structures and Contracts

An introduction to the creation and management of intellectual property assets. Students will be introduced to the key issues in project acquisition, development and exploitation.

Documentary, Factual and Reality Screen Content

A practical module designed for students developing screen content in the factual and reality domain, supported by case studies, audience analysis and industry guest lecturers. Students will examine and analyse a range of approaches across film, television and new media.

Production Process

Practical classes aimed at development of skills and techniques for the evaluation, planning, and budgeting of drama and documentary projects from idea to market with case studies.

Marketing and Distribution

Students will work with senior media practitioners to evaluate real world marketing campaigns across all media, focusing on strategy, execution and measurement for film, television and the internet.

Financing Media Assets

Building on the principles taught in Introduction to Financial Management, students will learn advanced skills in project and corporate financing. The course is based on real world cases, with students working in groups to develop financing plans for specified project or corporate assets. Topics covered include sensitivity testing, risk mitigation, capital structuring and cashflow management. Students will acquire advanced skills in Excel.

Managing Creativity

This module offers students an understanding of the skills required to nurture creative talent and processes, and an opportunity to evaluate and develop their management skills. Topics covered include the psychology of creativity, techniques for achieving resilience, and models of organisational innovation. Students will gain practical skills that they can apply directly in their working lives.

Media Economics

A guided investigation of the economic forces shaping the media industries. Long recognised for its 'peculiar economics', the media sector presents special challenges - among them, its sensitivity to regulation and political intervention, the rapid pace of technological change, the intangibility of media assets and their extreme variance in performance. Students will gain insight into the structure and dynamics of the media world they inhabit.

Financing Seminar*

A series of workshops focusing on how to present a persuasive financing plan. In this module students will learn how to develop, interrogate, model and present a financing plan for a project or business.

Creative Development Seminar*

A series of workshops focusing on a project and the creative development process, from idea to delivery to the market.

Business Development Seminar*

A series of workshops focusing how to develop and evaluate a business plan, with a particular emphasis on the use of financial modeling to present and interrogate business ideas. Students will also learn about business strategy, structuring and governance.

Transmedia Seminar*

A series of workshops focusing on how to conceive, manage and assess transmedia projects. Students will learn techniques for presenting an idea in planning and communication documents that can inform both stakeholders and the production team.

*The seminar format is designed to support the students' work on their creative or business projects.