CEU Universities, pioneers in showrunners education

Universities CEU San Pablo de Madrid and CEU Cardenal Herrera de Valencia have launched the Degree in Showrunner for Audiovisual Fiction: script, direction and production of series, an inter-university postgraduate pioneer in Spain that responds to the high demand of the professional profile of the showrunner in view of the success of fiction series in the international market.   Fiction is one of the most important genres of the offer of Spanish television channels and platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Movistar+. The success of fiction series has led to producing companies demanding highly qualified professionals specially scripters, producers and directors. If there is a key figure in this process is the showrunner, whose impact in the final product is essential for the success of many fictions.

“The showrunner sets the tone and defines strategies and it is the maximum responsible before the channel broadcasting them. His work is one of the most complex in the TV entertainment industry. He is the chief of all scripters and most times, the creator of the series and the responsible of their production”. As explains the director of the degree Gloria Saló. “His duties- continues the renowned executive producer and expert in TV formats – are half way between art and business as he directs both creative and financial or logistic aspects necessary to create a fiction series. In essence it has to be a creative person”.

Students of the new Degree of CEU will learn everything they need to know to become a showrunner. And will do so with the experience of professionals who are very familiar with a writer’s room, they have imagined Ministerio del Tiempo, have designed Casa de Papel, have created multimedia universes for their characters, have called Las chicas del cable, have dressed prisoners of Vis a Vis , have been Apaches –and have told it -, have travelled with Señoras del (h)AMPA to far places, have bet for Vivir sin permiso, have collected Historias para no dormir, have made Promesas de arena, have listened to La sonata del silencio, have discovered Lo que escondían sus ojos, have been in the Élite or have worked to Servir y proteger… and now will share it with future professionals.

This is because this new postgraduate of CEU Universities in Madrid and Valencia has renowned professors formed by showrunners, producers, directors, scripters, directors of photography and directors of art of reference along with CEU academic experience with nearly 30 years of experience raising experts in Audiovisual Communication.

The Degree in Showrunner in Audiovisual Fiction: script, direction and production will also have an eminently practical nature as explained by Emiliano Blasco and Santiago Maestro, academic coordinators of the degree in Madrid and Valencia, respectively.

“Through the case methodology, professionals will teach students how to present and solve situations in the series they are working on and will propose solutions of similar cases guiding them in their education” explains Maestro. “Students of the degree will follow the sessions either in person in class or online with the Hyflex technology of CEU Universities depending on the location of teachers. If the professor is in Madrid, Madrid students will be in class with him while those from Valencia will be connected and vice versa. They will also be able to follow it online if they are not in Madrid or Valencia” says Blasco.

This new Degree is especially oriented to undergraduates and students of the degree in Audiovisual Communication, students of the last year of Audiovisual Communication, degree holders and graduates in any field and Higher Technicians of Image and Sound Education Cycles.