#ma screenwriting

[yukineko-scot]

Induction - Jump into the deep end...

Finally really started my MA course today. The first day of induction has passed and I have gotten bombarded with information about the course and my fellow prospective screenwriters. Will have another day of induction tomorrow, with yet more (and more specific) info about the modules.

What I do already know, is that there will be a ton of work for the next year - and we have our first homework to hand in by Wednesday morning... So we really have been thrown into the deep end here! But I am very excited (and a little scared) of what the year is going to be like.

After induction, some of us screenwriting students went for a pint at a pub right next to Bruntsfield Links - which means I have already done quite a bit of socialising today. Much more than I previously had in this city, to be honest, and it all seemed to go quite well.

So now there are two possibilities:

Either I'm not as much of a snarky introvert as I thought (Quite a shocker, I must admit!) OR I'm simply much better at faking social aptitude than I had convinced myself of. Not sure which contingency I'm more comfortable with...

But this crash course of immersing myself in student life shall continue later tonight in the form of a pub crawl. Not sure if it's a brilliant idea, but why not give it a shot? After all, I'm not gonna be a fledgeling MA student for long... better get myself used to the networking habits of the natives early on!

[yukineko-scot]

Start of a new adventure

It's been six years since I did this the last time.

In 2008, I left Finland to get my first university degree in Worcester, England. It was the first time I really headed out into the world on my own, moving out of my parents' home and traveling to a city that I knew nothing of and where everyone was a stranger to me. But that went alright.

Three years passed by fast. New friends, plenty of thriling (and sometimes mortifying) experiences, and a crash course in how to take care of myself when I'm away from my established security network and need to build a new one from scratch. Sometimes things got tough to handle, but I managed and finally graduated with a pretty good degree - and I wouldn't trade any of it back!

After graduating with a BA in Film Studies and Journalism, it took me a while to figure out what I really want to do with my life. (Or even if somewhere at the back of my mind I already knew, I was not yet ready and confident enough to pursue it right away...) So I worked. Kept myself immersed in the world of films by getting a job at a local cinema while also freelancing as a film journalist for a Finnish film magazine.

Little by little I got closer to realising what my dream had already been for a long while: to be a working screenwriter.

It's not going to be easy, I know that already. But if I don't give it a shot now, I'd regret it later. So I'm starting that (very probably) rocky climb towards creative success by getting my Masters degree at a respected film school in the UK: Screen Academy Scotland.

We'll see how it goes. All I know for now is that I'll give this chance all I've got! Hopefully that will get me started, and a year from now I'll be a few steps closer to turning my dream into reality.