The courses are led by Peter Ansorge, ex-Head of Drama at Chennel whose BAFTA award winning career includes: A Very British Coup, Traffik, GBH, The Politician’s Wife, The Camomile Lawn, Dance to the Music of Time, and the Peabody winning adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.

Peter has extensive experience developing television and film scripts with some of the UK’s top writers and will take you and your script to the next level.

Several of the scripts completed on Peter’s writing courses at the National Film & TV School are in development with a leading UK production company.

David Macpherson, creator of Amazon Prime’s The Rig says: 'I can't believe that I wrote an entire one-hour drama script in just 8 days! And it was Peter's inspiration and knowledge that made that happen.His course is the closest thing I've found to being in a real TV writers' room.’

The success of streaming TV drama has created a new appetite among audiences for original and challenging drama series on television.

At the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, drama commissioners have emphasised that they are looking to develop drama series of this ambition over the next decade. They will need to identify new talent. The courses below are designed with this background in mind. We are looking for fresh ideas and the tenacity to bring them to screen.

Summer script writing

This 12 day script writing course offers writers and creative producers a 'Writers Room' experience with the chance to plan and write a 30 or 50-minute pilot episode of an original drama series.

We will encourage the kind of ambition achieved by the best drama series based on the actual practice of working on a script among professionals.

Be prepared to write and re-write, and fine-tune overnight.

Participants will arrive on the first day with an idea for their series which they will begin to write that same evening. Each night they will complete five minutes of the pilot episode which will then be read out reviewed and discussed online the following day.

feedback from past students:

“ I highly recommend Peter’s courses to new writers wanting their first break. It’s a brilliant way to get a spec script written with Peter’s wealth of knowledge behind you plus daily feedback from your peers throughout. My script kick started my career as a full-time screenwriter.”  Celia Morgan – NFTS Scotland alumna.

“Peter’s knowledge is superb. I was constantly inspired.” 

“…To have the support and expertise required to develop my initial idea into something resembling ‘good’ on  a daily basis is something that cannot be underestimated. From the expertise of the teacher, to the knowledge and support of my fellow participants, with a variety of specialities and prior experience is a luxury that isn’t to be underestimated.” 

“Peter brings his wealth of knowledge to every session and I’ve left his course feeling invigorated with new connections to the best production companies in the UK.” 

“The course was well-structured and paced, packed with helpful craft and industry  insights as well as relevant, challenging and inspiring guests. But for me, it was Peter’s encouraging teaching style that I got the most out of. He has an approachable but astute way with writers, and it was a joy to see him work, not just on my project but across the group.”