Create First
A workshop for screenwriters, built on a decade of filmmaking. Begin with your own idea and leave with finished work.
About
What “Create First” means
Create First is the principle the Institute is built on. You begin with your own idea, your own voice, and your own pages. Everything we teach is applied to work you are actively making, so the craft develops alongside the script rather than ahead of it.
In practice, that means small cohorts, working mentors, weekly pages, and honest critique. The structure is deliberate, and the pace is demanding. What you leave with is finished work.
ORIGIN
Built on production experience
The Institute launched in 2025, after a decade of filmmaking through TSI Productions. That is where the teaching comes from. Every programme is led by practitioners who have developed, written, and produced their own work, and who can speak to what happens when a script meets a budget, a schedule, and a set.
It also means we know the industry our writers are entering. The Institute is built for South African writers, with the local funding landscape, opportunities, and market realities in view.
WHAT WE OFFER
Programmes and resources
The Institute is for screenwriters at any stage, from writers approaching a first script to those with credits behind them. Each programme has its own focus and its own entry requirements.
Writing the Short Film is our current programme, an intensive ten-week course for emerging writers developing their first short film scripts. Further courses are in development.
Resources is open to everyone, with no application and no cost. It covers writing, revision, funding, contracts, and professional practice, and is there whether or not a programme is running.
TRACK RECORD
Since 2025
Our first programme completed its inaugural cohort in 2025.
150+
APPLICATIONS
20
SHORTLISTED
10
SELECTED
8
ALUMNI
16
SCRIPTS
10+
MASTERCLASSES
Funding
Writing the Short Film is supported by the National Film and Video Foundation and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture through the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme.