24 Jul 2026
IADT
20
20 weeks online (1 evening per week) + 4 Saturdays on campus
€1,700 or €750*
This new 20-week course will provide you with a keen sense of the world of television and audio-visual content and with the skills, knowledge and know-how to develop and pitch a viable project for unscripted TV.
By the end of this course, you will have the ability to critique all the relevant skills that a development producer needs to navigate the development process, and will have developed an idea from its nascent stage right through to the level of an industry standard pitch.
The course is designed to guide producers through each phase of the creative development process for unscripted entertainment, reality and factual entertainment formats including talent shows and quiz shows, chat or music or ‘reality’ specifically: from creative ideation techniques, through market-matched concept development, generating funding applications, learning to read industry trends, understanding the commissioning and funding landscape and key players, designing effective pitch decks through to building confidence in direct pitching.
The course will also give you a solid grounding in the adjacent skills of edit-producing, voiceover scripting, responding to channel or commissioner notes, etc. as part of the process of stress-testing a format before the final pitch.
With AI becoming an ever-increasing factor in all aspects of media production, we will look at some of the ways AI can feed into the work of development producers.
Given the fast-changing media landscape, the course will also give you insights into the opportunities and challenges presented by the different platforms, how audience engagement is changing, as well as looking at how unscripted formats are adapting to suit these new platforms.
The course has been developed in partnership with the Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet (CCIS), with lecturing support from key industry experts in development, funding and commissioning.
*subject to validation (June 2026)
Developing ideas and pitching them successfully is the life blood of unscripted TV.
You will learn how to apply a variety of creative development skills to an unscripted series idea in any medium as part of the process of bringing it from nascent idea to industry standard pitch.
The course is spread across two modules with a combination of a weekly online class, mixed with intensive group on site sessions, one-on-one feedback and guest talks from top industry figures.
This course is made up of Continuous Assessment (CA) work (40%) supported by a final Projects (60%).
Indicative assignments are as follows:
Module 1
Module 2
Module 1:
Saturday, 3rd October 2026 | on campus | 10am – 3pm
Wednesdays | online | 6.30pm – 8.30pm:
Saturday, 31st October 2026 | on campus | 10am – 3pm
Module 2:
Wednesdays | online | 6.30pm – 8.30pm:
Saturdays | on campus | 10am – 3pm:
Declan Jones has worked for over 30 years in the television industry as: writer, producer, development producer, series producer and executive producer with some of the country’s biggest independent production companies. He has been involved in IFTA winning unscripted television shows at every level from writer to producer to edit producer.
Declan has a wealth of first-hand knowledge in the areas of ideation, format creation, casting, story building, edit production, market adaptation, funding application, pitch preparation and pitching – knowledge which he is keen to share with the next generation of creative producers and Intellectual Property creators.
Creative Futures Academy are delighted to collaborate with Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet to offer a special partnership rate of €750 for qualifying candidates, which include those resident in the Republic of Ireland and not already in receipt of a bursary, grant aid or a scholarship for this course and not participating in a CE scheme or in receipt of Unemployment Benefit.
Fees for those who do not meet the Skillnet criteria are €1,700.
This Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet programme is co-funded by the Government of Ireland & the European Union. www.eufunds.ie
Creative Futures Academy are delighted to collaborate with Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet to offer a special partnership rate of €750 for this course. This course is co funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union and you may be eligible for a fee reduction. Terms and conditions apply*. www.eufunds.ie
