Course Title: Engage in the business of creative practice

Part B: Course Detail

Teaching Period: Term2 2019

Course Code: BUSM8795C

Course Title: Engage in the business of creative practice

Important Information:

This course will be delivered through face-to-face classes, interaction with industry mentors, and the learning support material and resources in Canvas.

School: 345T Media and Communication

Campus: City Campus

Program: C6160 - Advanced Diploma of Professional Screenwriting

Course Contact: Program Administration

Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 4815

Course Contact Email: mcvet@rmit.edu.au

Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff

Teacher: John Reeves

john.reeves@rmit.edu.au

Nominal Hours: 70

Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites

Enrolment in this core course at RMIT requires you to have completed all first year courses.

Course Description

This course will build on the industry-focussed skills you've learned and practised across the program, further assisting you to market yourself as a screenwriting professional. You will research and focus upon the wider screenwriting industry, skilling up for a successful career. You will fashion your own personal development and business development plans to help sell yourself and your writing projects, and lay the business foundations for your screenwriting-related practice.

National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria

National Element Code & Title:	CUAPPR603 Engage in the business of creative practice
Element:	1. Develop and apply professional work practices
Performance Criteria:	1.1 Develop a professional work ethic to support creative practice 1.2 Collaborate and communicate with other professionals about the business aspects of creative practice 1.3 Determine the skills and knowledge needed to operate as a successful creative practitioner 1.4 Evaluate own current skills and knowledge and the need for related professional development 1.5 Assess potential for using specialist expertise to complement own skills and knowledge
Element:	2. Evaluate different business practices
Performance Criteria:	2.1 Investigate different ways that creative practitioners do business 2.2 Investigate range of business practices, systems and procedures that need to be considered as part of professional creative practice 2.3 Assess relevance and implications of particular business structures 2.4 Identify physical resources required by own creative practice and how they might be accessed 2.5 Develop an overall approach to the business aspects of own practice based on evaluation of relevant information 2.6 Evaluate all aspects of own practice on an ongoing basis, as a key component of business and personal growth
Element:	3. Address financial aspects of creative practice
Performance Criteria:	3.1 Investigate financial considerations for creative practice 3.2 Research and assess different ways of commercialising work and ideas 3.3 Evaluate different ways of costing and selling creative work 3.4 Assess broader financial management requirements and their application to own practice 3.5 Develop and apply individual approaches to financial management of practice
Element:	4. Analyse the rights and obligations of creative practitioners
Performance Criteria:	4.1 Evaluate legal and moral rights and obligations of professional creative practice 4.2 Practise work and business in ways that meet legal and moral obligations 4.3 Pursue own rights as a creative practitioner consistent with own professional and ethical standards 4.4 Establish and maintain sound approaches to safety and sustainability in professional practice
Element:	5. Evaluate professional opportunities
Performance Criteria:	5.1 Evaluate work opportunities within and beyond the creative sectors 5.2 Identify and pursue potential work opportunities beyond established patterns of work 5.3 Identify and access sources of professional advice 5.4 Evaluate local and global opportunities for own practice 5.5 Identify and evaluate opportunities offered by current and emerging trends in the consumption of culture and creative products 5.6 Analyse the experiences of others as a way of discovering different opportunities

Learning Outcomes

This unit equips you to approach the business aspects of working as a creative practitioner in a professional manner.

You will have the skills to operate as a sole practitioner, in writers' cooperatives, or as freelance or contract workers. Regardless of the business model, all practitioners earning income from their practice engage with the professional business requirements for a sustainable creative practice. You will be able to plan and profit from your work as a freelance writer, or as an employee in a small or large organisation.

Details of Learning Activities

In this course, you learn through:

1. In-class activities:

• lectures 
• teacher directed group activities/projects 
• class exercises to review discussions/lectures 
• peer teaching and class presentations 
• group discussion 
• class exercises 

2. Out-of-class activities:

• independent project based work 
• writing and reading assignments 
• online and other research 
• independent study

Teaching Schedule

Teaching schedule

Week	Class Content	Assessment
Week 1	Initial discussion of course, and your professional planning
Week 2	Running a professional screenwriting business
Week 3	Industry organizations
Week 4	Business structures
Week 5	Your practices, systems and procedures
Week 6	Guest speaker: Different types of professional practice
Week 7	Creating a skills matrix	Assessment Task #1: Knowledge assessment
Week 8	Developing a personal development plan
	Mid-Semester break: Monday 2 September - Friday 6 September inclusive
Week 9	Personal development plan: review
Week 10	Guest speaker: Social media intensive	Assessment Task #2: Skills matrix & Personal development plan
Week 11	Business development planning: the basics
Week 12	Business development planning: expert advice
Week 13	Planning review
Week 14	Business development planning: celebrate your success	Assessment Task #3: Business development plan
Week 15	No scheduled class

Learning Resources

Prescribed Texts

References

Other Resources

You require access to a computer and to the internet for this course. RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems and access to specialised facilities and relevant software. You will also have access to the library resources.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment is ongoing throughout the course. Your knowledge and understanding of course content is assessed through participation in class exercises, development of personal and business development plans, and through the application of learned skills and insights to industry research, culminating in your practical vision for your own screenwriting practice.

Assessment Tasks

To demonstrate competency in this course you will need to complete all the following pieces of assessment to a satisfactory standard. You will receive written feedback on all assessment (refer to Canvas for assessment criteria).

Assessment Task 1: Knowledge Assessment: Due 25 Aug

Assessment Task 2: Skills matrix & Personal development plan: Due 22 Sep

Assessment Task 3: Business development plan: Due 20 Oct

To demonstrate competency in this course you will need to complete all the assessment tasks to a satisfactory standard. You will receive feedback on all tasks.

If you have not completed an assessment task to a satisfactory standard you will be given an opportunity to resubmit that task within one week of receiving feedback. You will have one opportunity to resubmit your work.

Once you have achieved competency for the all assessments in the unit, you will receive an overall result for the course.

This course is ungraded. Results used in this course are as follows:

• CA - Competency achieved
• NYC - Not yet competent
• DNS - Did not submit for assessment

Assessment Matrix

The assessment matrix demonstrates alignment of assessment tasks with the relevant Unit of Competency. These are available through the course contact in Program Administration.

Other Information

Please refer to the RMIT student page for extensive information about study support, assessment, extensions, appeals and a range of other matters.

Attendance
Your learning experience will involve class-based teaching, discussion, demonstration and practical exercises. It is strongly advised that you attend all timetabled sessions. This will allow you to engage in the required learning activities, ensuring you the maximum opportunity to complete this course successfully.

Assessment Feedback
You will receive spoken and written feedback on all your work. Where relevant, this feedback will also include suggestions on how you can proceed to the next stage of developing your projects.

Student Progress
Monitoring academic progress is an important enabling and proactive strategy designed to assist you in achieving your learning potential.

Adjustments to Assessment (eg. applying for an extension of time):
If you are unable to complete any piece of assessment satisfactorily by the due date, you can choose to apply for an adjustment to your assessment. RMIT University offers a range of adjustments designed to support you in your studies, including an extension of time to complete the assessment.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
RMIT University has a strict policy on plagiarism and academic integrity. Please refer to the website for more information on this policy.

Credit Transfer and Recognition of Prior Learning
Credit transfer is the recognition of previously completed formal learning (an officially accredited qualification).

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is an assessment process that allows you to demonstrate competence using the skills you have gained through experience in the workplace, voluntary work, informal or formal training or other life experiences.

Recognition of Current Competency (RCC) RCC applies only if you have previously successfully demonstrated competence in a unit of competency, and now require to be reassessed to ensure that the competence is being maintained.

Please speak to your teacher if you wish to discuss applying for Credit Transfer, RPL, or RCC for the unit(s) of competency addressed in this course.

Course Overview: Access Course Overview