Master in MFA in Production Design

Tuition fees are 78,151 USD per year. The application deadline for the Aug 2027 intake is Dec 1, 2026.

The Production Design discipline is one of six MFA tracks at the AFI Conservatory. Fellows spend two years learning set design and art-department practice, collaborating on at least three narrative short films in the first year.

First-year coursework covers the Production Designer's role from script through completion, set sketching, hand drafting, and 3D modeling with SketchUp, alongside a two-semester visual-storytelling course built around film genre and script analysis.

In the second year, Fellows design a thesis-film production and assemble an original portfolio of design work, using VectorWorks and Rhino modeling tools, and present a Thesis Portfolio Binder documenting script analysis, storyboards, set sketches, models and finished-set photography for faculty review and graduation approval. The portfolio is shown at the program's annual Production Design industry spotlight.