The Business of the Creative Industries

Entry requirements

This course is for ambitious people ready to build exciting careers at the intersection of creativity and business. This could be to run projects and companies in the creative industries or to apply creative approaches to transform any sector.

You might be:

• Growing your career toward executive level in an existing company
• Planning to launch your own production company or studio
• Building new platforms, apps, or creative services
• Leading a social impact or not-for-profit creative organisation
• Advising entertainment clients in law, finance, or strategy
• Moving into entertainment from another industry

While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an alternative qualification.

Months of entry

January

Course content

A creative alternative to an MBA, empowering leaders to build, finance, and grow future-facing businesses.

Whether you want to launch your own company or drive innovation within an existing one, this 1-year MA gives you the tools to do it.

You'll learn to lead, manage, finance and grow creative businesses across film, TV, games, music, publishing, live events, and digital media — and graduate with an investment-ready business plan.

The entertainment industry is changing fast. To succeed, you need to understand how to take an idea from concept to audience - learning to develop, finance, manage, market, and distribute projects. This generates the profits that lead to bigger and better work, entertaining audiences, whilst building businesses that last.

This course will give you everything you need to:

• Create business and financing plans for individual projects. You’ll develop comprehensive plans to take a film, TV series, game, theatre production, or digital content from concept to audience.
• Launch your own production company, studio, or business – build it with a slate of projects, a realistic business plan, financial model, and investor pitch deck.
• Lead and manage within existing companies – progress to management or executive roles with the strategic thinking, project management, and leadership skills to lead teams and drive growth.
• Solve real business problems for entertainment companies – use consulting and project management techniques to transform creative organisations.
• Navigate a changing industry – such as using AI and emerging technologies to enhance storytelling or reduce costs, whilst building businesses that last.

How you'll achieve this:

• By learning from the people who've built the businesses you want to work for. Founders, executives, investors, and Industry leaders will teach you exactly how things work — and what they wish they'd known starting out.
• Mastering the business fundamentals. You’ll get structured training in finance, legal frameworks, IP strategy, and leadership from Industry practitioners.
• Working with NFTS creative departments. Partner with filmmakers, animators, and game developers to help turn their stories into sustainable businesses — exploring everything from merchandise to multi-platform expansion, like how Wallace & Gromit grew from shorts to feature films, TV series, and global licensing.
• Solving real problems for real companies. You’ll work in consulting teams on strategic challenges set by companies like ITV Studios, Sky Studios, and Territory Studios. Your recommendations will be presented to real Industry professionals.
• Building something new. Every module builds toward your final business plan — whether that's a project within your current organisation or a brand-new company, such a production company, games studio, music platform, or something no one's thought of yet.

Information for international students

This course is open to UK/EU/International students.

Fees and funding

Please visit our website for fees information. All production costs are included in the course fees, including the use of School facilities and equipment.

The NFTS is committed to ensuring it is open to students of genuine ability, no matter what their background or financial circumstances, which is why we award more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK.