Master of Arts Screen

The Master of Arts Screen at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) is a two-year postgraduate degree for people who want to make screen work at a professional level. You choose a specialisation, directing, producing, screenwriting, cinematography, editing, sound, production design or music, and spend most of your time making things. The degree is built around a slate of projects rather than a long list of unrelated subjects. You develop, pitch, shoot and finish short films, series pilots or other screen works, and you crew on your classmates' projects as well. That means you leave with a body of work and a set of working relationships, not just a transcript.

How the degree is structured

As an Australian master's degree, this sits at AQF Level 9. A master's is normally one to two years full time, and this one runs for two. Study is organised into units of study, each with a credit point value, across semesters or trimesters. You accumulate credit points as you pass units and need the required total to graduate. The final stage is usually a capstone project, your major screen work, which may be a production, a portfolio or a written component depending on your specialisation. AFTRS is a small school, so teaching happens in workshops, studios and edit suites with practising industry staff, and assessment is largely on the work you produce.

What you actually do

Expect to spend long days on set and in post. You learn how a production moves from script to screen: breaking down a script, scheduling and budgeting, casting, directing performance, lighting, recording sound, editing, colour and sound mix, and delivering a finished file to broadcast or festival spec. You also learn how to pitch, how to take notes, and how to work inside a crew where everyone has a defined job. Collaboration is not a soft skill here, it is the method. You will work with actors, technicians and other students from different specialisations, which is close to how the industry actually runs.

Who it suits

This degree suits someone with some prior screen experience, a bachelor degree in a related field, a strong portfolio, or several years working in production, who wants to specialise and build a professional reel. It also suits people moving across from adjacent fields such as theatre, journalism, design or music who can show they have something to say on screen. If you are an international student, you can work up to 48 hours per fortnight while your course is in session, and after you finish you may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream. English proficiency is required; check the official AFTRS and CRICOS pages for the exact test scores, tuition and intake dates, because those details change and only the official source is authoritative.

• Director, film, television drama, documentary, commercials and online series.
• Producer, independent production companies, streaming commissions, factual and entertainment formats.
• Screenwriter, development rooms, series writing, feature scripts and adaptation.
• Cinematographer or camera operator, drama, documentary, commercials and music video.
• Editor, picture editing for film, television and online content.
• Sound designer, sound recordist or mixer, production sound and post-production audio.
• Production designer or art director, set design, props and visual world-building.
• Composer or music supervisor, original score and music licensing for screen.
• Post-production and VFX roles, finishing, colour, visual effects and delivery.
• Development executive or commissioning editor, broadcasters, streamers and production companies.

Australian employers in these fields include independent production companies, the national broadcasters, commercial networks, streaming platforms, advertising and content agencies, and the growing factual and documentary sector. Many graduates also build freelance careers, which is normal in screen production, and AFTRS alumni work across Australia and internationally.