Founded in 1965, the Tisch School of Arts out of New York University offers a degree in film and television as well as dramatic writing, Tisch requires an audition portfolio for admission into their highly selective programs. Columbia University, also in New York, offers a graduate or master's level program in both film and screenwriting, boasting alumni winners of such film contests as Sundance and Cannes. Boston University, ranked No.12 in the nation by Film Schools.com which ranks its schools based on student and faculty reporting, and Emerson College (also in Boston) offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in film and screenwriting.
Hosting Hollywood, the heart of the silver screen, California boasts four highly coveted programs for film and screenwriting studies at University of Southern California, California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, University of California in Los Angeles, and The American Film Institute Conservatory also in Los Angeles. Each program is highly selective, accepting only about 30 or so new students into their individual programs each academic year.
The University of Texas offers a graduate program in screenwriting to those lucky enough to get past the admissions process. In addition,Northwestern University and School of the Art Institute of Chicago (founded in 1866), both in Illinois, offer highly ranked programs in film based on student and faculty reports at Filmschools.com, the latter school also offers a master's level program in screenwriting.
Low-residency programs offer students the opportunity to complete class work at home and then complete intensive, on-campus coursework for short periods of time. Online programs allow students to take courses from any computer with an Internet connection. The little-known program, Salt, located in Southern Maine, offers short-term, 15 week residencies in either documentary film studies or screenwriting which can sometimes be applied for credit to other, existing college programs. Emerson College offers short-term low-residency credit, non-credit, and certificate programs in screenwriting. Academy of Art Institute, Film School Online, Hollywood Film Institute, UCLA, and Ames Media Institute all offer online educational programs (some accredited, some not) in film studies, as well.