The growing demand for exportable original content and the increasingly complex processes of audiovisual production have highlighted two main requirements: firstly, productivity and, secondly, the International perspective that authors must develop from their training years.
For this reason, the MISP – Master in International Screenwriting and Production, taught fully in English – was born in Milan in 2016 from the long and successful experience of a previous Master in Screenwriting and Production of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, that was partly in Italian.
The mission of the course, which selects fortytwo students among an average of 150/200 applications, is precise: if talent remains an indispensable prerequisite, the university must teach how to apply it to a daily job that requires an in-depth knowledge of the market, production processes, needs of broadcasters and audiences. And it must do so with a constant awareness of the International trends. This is why the Master’s programme encourages encounters between teachers and students from an increasing number of countries, including the USA.
It is no coincidence that Armando Fumagalli, founder and director of MISP – and a firm believer in animation as a pillar of the European audiovisual industry – wanted to include specific training courses dedicated to the art of animating images right from the beginning. Thanks to the collaboration with European animation excellences such as Movimenti, Studio Bozzetto, Showlab, Lynx Multimedia, Calon and Rigotz Stories, the Master’s faculty includes professionals involved in the creation, production and distribution of animated films and series. In this way, the students are trained in direct contact with key players in the industry, with the result that in recent years many MISP graduates have entered the audiovisual market as scriptwriters on highly successful productions, both in live action and animation. From the next edition, which starts on 24 September, the time devoted to animation will increase, given the growing importance of the sector and its openness to new talents.
Professionalism and internationalism are also the hallmarks of the two-year Master’s degree in The Art and Industry of Narration: from Literature to Cinema and Tv. The search for new IPs capable of generating lasting success in film and television has long looked to literature as a reservoir of ideas. This is why a programme has been designed, which, thanks to the University’s solid literary and linguistic tradition, combines literary roots and semiological analysis, together with the study of the most recent trends in the audiovisual market. Since its first edition in 2020, the course has included the teaching of writing and producing for animation, demonstrating the centrality of animation in the University’s educational project. Both this Master and the MISP signed an agreement with CartoonItalia, the Italian association of animation producers, at the end of 2023.
Investing in high-quality training is the best way to face an increasingly demanding market. The Università Cattolica of Milan is ready to accept this challenge.
Read the article in the new issue of The European Animation Journal, pag. 82.
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