The Master’s Program in Media Ventures is a 12-month, three-semester, advanced degree program for creative, enterprising individuals who want to learn the skills and strategies to bring their new ideas to the marketplace. The emphasis is on how content and technology are used to create something new and profitable. The goal of the Media Ventures program is to create a bridge to industry opportunities where innovation is key.
What You’ll Learn Here:
- Develop a new media business, product or service from concept to marketplace. Students will present their Pitch Deck and/or prototype, as their thesis project, to industry leaders
- Examine the detailed processes required to take an idea from concept to successful execution. Focus is on the creation of compelling content that drives new media businesses
- Develop a clear understanding of the strategic challenges—competition, funding needs, internal resources, external resources, and environmental pressures—facing media industry innovation
Fall Semester (Boston campus)
COM FT 728: Creating New Ideas
This course provides students with the practical entrepreneurial tools and strategies needed to test and refine a new venture concept or existing product innovation that will eventually serve as their Thesis Project for the Media Ventures program. Students will take this idea from concept to working model/wireframe and will present to investors and industry executives at the end of the Media Ventures Program.
COM FT 701: Media in Evolution
This course examines the business side of entertainment media industries and contemporary content consumption. History, structure, business models, regulatory and social issues will be discussed. Students will explore media innovation, and how technology offers new distribution options that are changing the definition of traditional media.
COM FT 518: The Media Money Trail
This course examines the critical and financial challenges that businesses face whether they are in start-up, expansion, or exit mode. Students will use case studies to delve into the lives of the founders and CEOs of some of the world’s most innovative and enduring brands to learn why some evolved into industry gold standard while others failed.
COM FT 552: Market Analysis and Research for Creative Ventures
Market Analysis & Research for Creative Ventures course provides the students a firm understanding of how to approach market and audience selection, validate venture viability, develop a product strategy and apply analytics to measure success; all crucial elements required to help them succeed in today’s data-driven world.
Spring Semester (Los Angeles Program)
COM CM 505: Multiplatform Entertainment Promotion and Marketing
This course will explore the landscape of media, entertainment and marketing over various distribution platforms. We will examine the relationship between media, entertainment and consumer brands and how their roles may be shifting. The course covers product and content development, paying careful attention to intended customers or audience. How and where do they consume entertainment? How do platforms change the entertainment experience and how do creative producers optimize both their content and marketing for different platforms?
Professors: Steve Bradbury & Don Levy
COM CM 564: Entertainment and Media Speaker Series
This course provides students with access to entrepreneurs and entertainment executives, with the goal of learning from the speakers’ real life experiences and knowledge. This will assist students in charting their own path in entertainment, startup, or other industries. The class provides students with opportunities for networking and mentorship.
Professor: Ben Laski
COM FT 953/954: Internship
On the job professional experience in media industries: television stations, film and video production studios, networks, cable television operations, advertising agencies, digital media companies, and related corporations.
COM 856: Media Ventures Graduate Seminar
This course will focus on media start-ups, preparation of business plans and private placement memoranda, operating agreements and subscription papers, investor agreements, intellectual property matters (including trademark, copyright and patent), intellectual property rights acquisitions, protections and management (including non-disclosure agreements and submission releases) and basic media law, ethics and privacy matters. The course will aid students in the establishment and development of their own business plans or with their involvement in the early stages of third-party companies.
Professor: Larry Weinberg
Summer Semester (Los Angeles Program)
COM FT 825: Media Ventures Thesis Project
This course guides students through the refinement of the thesis project they began in the fall semester. Individual meetings and mentorship will help prepare students for the annual Media Ventures Pitchfest where they will present their thesis project to a panel of media executives and entrepreneurs.
COM FT 953/954: Internship
On the job professional experience in media industries: television stations, film and video production studios, networks, cable television operations, advertising agencies, digital media companies, and related corporations.
Keep In Mind:
- The Master’s Program in Media Ventures is designed to be completed in one calendar year (full-time). This program cannot be completed on a part-time basis.
- The program includes three semesters of enrollment (fall, spring, summer). Students should anticipate three semesters of tuition and fees.
- The final summer semester in Los Angeles generally begins the third week of May and ends the final week of July.
- While students are welcome to participate in the May commencement ceremonies in Boston, classes continue in the first summer session. Degrees are then formally awarded in late September.
Students in Boston University's Graduate Program in Media Ventures talk about their experiences as interns in start-ups in Boston and Los Angeles.