The Ubergroup

About

The Ubergroup

The Ubergroup is a 501(c)3 nonprofit providing low-cost fine arts education for adults. We offer university-level coursework, support, and networking for all writing-related art formats (including but not limited to: commercial and literary novels, stage and screen plays, short fiction, comics, nonfiction and academic, podcasts and webseries, picture books, poetry, IP writing, as well as some writing-adjacent arts such as acting and illustration) at a pace suitable for adults with full-time jobs and families.

Select graduates of our training program may be invited to join our alumni network. This offers professional networking, ongoing educational opportunities, live digital table reads for spec scripts, development of unsold work, and editing projects under contract to meet agent/editor/producer requirements.

We accept writers in the English language from around the globe. Programming is available in all time zones. We are also a registered CIC in the UK.

Cost

Ubergroup tuition is calculated to be as low as possible while still covering operating costs and modest salaries for staff. As of 2025, full tuition is $130/month, or $65/month for students experiencing financial need. Partial and full scholarships are available on a case-by-case basis. No one who meets minimum standards is turned away for lack of ability to pay. Admissions are strictly merit-based and applicants who do not demonstrate adequate competence, kindness, and work ethic cannot purchase admission for any price.

The preparatory course is a one time flat fee of $65, calculated as a half-month’s tuition. You are free to take longer than two weeks to complete the course or repeat exercises if necessary, your link does not expire.

Members of our alumni network select from several available donation tiers to support ongoing programming. Donations and sponsorships are gratefully accepted from non-members who wish to support arts education. As we are a 501(c)3 nonprofit, all donations are tax-deductible.

Application

The Preparatory course can be purchased at ko-fi.com/Ubergroup. You will be redirected to the video series immediately upon purchase. Although it is self-paced, if you are attempting to complete it before applying for the NUG program, we recommend you allow yourself a minimum of two weeks to complete all exercises.

The Ubergroup is coordinated via Discord. After making a Discord account, please join the Ubergroup server and paste a query letter or CV in the Apply for Membership channel. You are welcome to ask questions in the Waiting Room channel. Intakes are approximately every three months. Please check into the Waiting Room 2 - 4 weeks before the next advertised intake to answer follow up questions regarding your application.

If you do not yet qualify for the Ubergroup’s standard coursework, you will be asked to complete the preparatory course first and then reapply. We believe that success in any commercial fine art is 10% talent, 10% luck, and 80% showing up and putting in the work. We cannot control the first two, so we focus on the last and largest category. There is no application cost and no time limit; writers who need or wish to retake course levels may do so without penalty.

Your participation in the NUG (New UberGroup) course is your application for our professional network. It is an opportunity to showcase your skills, your professionalism, and the ways in which you are a fundamentally kind and humble human being. Students who we believe would be an asset to our professional network will be contacted directly upon successful completion of the introductory course. Positions are by invitation only. Please do not contact us about this.

If you are not familiar with how to use Discord, please visit the tutorial here and spend some time exploring the interface before applying. You will need to be able to join a server, navigate between text channels, find pinned messages, find your own @ mentions, join video calls, and control your microphone and camera to participate. For deaf and hard of hearing participants we recommend Chrome auto-caption. If you are not familiar with how to use Google Docs, please visit the tutorial here and spend some time exploring the interface before applying. You will need to be able to share a link to your work with permissions set to “everyone with the link can comment” to participate.

Course Levels

There are three levels of participation available.

For aspiring writers who have no background in any professional fine arts, this will help you begin thinking about the big picture of working in arts as a career, and guide you on where to start writing and practicing.

The main programming of the Ubergroup is designed for working professionals who wish to make a lateral switch between fine arts specialities, such as WGA screenwriters who wish to write literary fiction, animators who wish to start a podcast, or novelists who wish to branch into playwriting. Many applicants already have an MFA or BFA in a writing-related field. If you do not, completing the prep course and writing several samples can also qualify you to apply for the Ubergroup.

If you have work experience in a storytelling-adjacent fine art (dancers, musicians, actors, comedians) or are transferring in from a non-fine-arts career with relevant expertise (former spy writing spy thriller, criminal defense attorney writing crime fiction, elementary school teacher writing children’s books) you may elect to apply for the main programming of the Ubergroup directly.

• Pre-requistites: none
• Active Class Time: Self-paced. A series of short micro-learning videos which may be replayed an unlimited amount
• Homework: Self-paced. Some market research and writing exercises may take 10-20 hours of practice to reach a satisfactory level.
• Completion time: Possible to complete one round in a few weeks, infinitely repeatable for increased skills.

The primary Ubergroup experience starts here. Each group of qualified applicants will participate in a three-month course that provides an overview of all major types of commercial writing, from fiction to film to theatre to comics to podcasts, as well as market analysis, popular English-language story structures, the industry, and developmental editing. All coursework is designed at an undergraduate-equivalent level, but highly condensed, akin to fitting a whole year into a summer intensive. Some of the material may go by shockingly fast; many alumni voluntarily retake the introductory course in order to dig deeper into particular topics.

During the program, you will receive developmental edits on one full-length work (such as a novel-length manuscript, evening-length play, or feature-length film) or several short works (such as several tv episodes, a collection of short stories, or two children’s books) of your choosing. You will be trained to provide relevant and format-appropriate feedback for other people’s work, which may be outside your current area of familiarity. All successful graduates of the program will be qualified as entry-level freelance developmental editors.

• Prerequisites: A degree or work experience in a relevant field, or completion of the preparatory course. At least two or three short writing samples (short fiction, poetry, 10-minute plays, etc) or one full-length project (feature-length spec script, novel-length manuscript, evening-length play, etc.) A rudimentary familiarity with how to use discord.
• Active Class Time: two hours per week to actively participate in a video call. 9 calls over 12 weeks, scheduled to take global time zones of each incoming class into account.
• Homework: approximately two to four hours per week
• Completion time: 12 active weeks plus two break weeks (14 weeks total)

Successful graduates of our NUG program who demonstrate attributes others want to work with may be invited to join our alumni network, an ongoing, open-ended membership which offers developmental editing, no-cost table reads of spec scripts with professional actors, professional networking, shared access to otherwise-expensive industry databases, specialized advanced classes in specific topics, and peer support.

• Prerequisites: Successful completion of the NUG course while demonstrating an admirable attitude: humility, emotional plasticity, reliability, good communication, and concern for the success of others.
• Active Class Time: Customizable. Alumni may participate in any number of grad classes at two hours per week per class as suits their current needs and availability
• Homework: Customizable. Two-four hours per week per elective class, or an individually agreed turnover rate for developmental edits
li>
• Completion time: Open ended. Commitments are scheduled in six week cycles; alumni may take as many cycles on or off as desired.

Terminology

The following is Ubergroup-specific terminology that helps us communicate our needs and preferences clearly.

All storytelling is communication between at least two parties. To give useful developmental feedback, CUBA is a set of common vocabulary created to help define who the other party is. It is best thought of as a sliding scale from Commercial to Artistic.

• Commercial - I seek to communicate with the broadest commercial audience possible and am willing to simplify for universal understandability.
• Undeclared - I am a new writer and unsure of where I fall.
• Balanced - I am horribly torn between Commercial and Artistic goals
• Artistic - I seek to communicate with a niche group who shares my artistic sensibilities, even though this may not be a large demographic.

When faced with a hard decision, a writer who is 70% Commercial and 30% Artistic would elect to make the edit that increases their widespread commercial appeal 70% of the time, prioritizing mainstream sales over niche literary or industry prestige, or ‘correctness’ for those in the know. A 70% Artistic writer would more often err towards pleasing a smaller ‘in-group’ who shares their artistic sensibilities, even if it means lower sales numbers due to alienating the lowest common denominator.

Even professional writers who are highly gifted at giving each character a unique voice often give editorial feedback in a single default tone that they assumed was ‘universally correct,’ without examining their own biases. Different regional cultures have strongly different norms for communication (see: ask culture vs guess culture) and none are incorrect. Being aware that the way you ‘usually’ give feedback is not the only cultural norm in the world will greatly smooth your professional interactions when branching out into a new specialty with which you are unfamiliar.

The Ubergroup uses the following internal definitions to help identify what a particular writer finds normal:

• Literal. Bare bones, and as neutral and concise as possible. People who like this style perceive it as professional and clear. People who dislike it perceive it as cold and brutal.
  Example: "Rename the character ‘Johnny’. It doesn't work in fantasy."


• Colloquial. Conversational, informal, possibly containing blue humour. People who like this style perceive it as trustworthy and genuine. People who dislike it perceive it as rude and biting.
  Example: "I hate the name Johnny for a fantasy character. An adult named Johnny is a guy with a pompadour and a pleather jacket, not a knight. Calling a guy who wears chain maille armour ‘Johnny’ strikes a jarring note right from the start and deals your credibility as a narrator a vicious left hook from which it struggles to recover."


• Diplomatic. Encouraging, indirect, validating. People who like this style perceive it as courteous and supportive. People who dislike it consider it passive aggressive and pandering.
  Example: "Johnny is an interesting choice of name. It's not something I usually associate with fantasy. I wonder if it’s necessarily the most popular thing?"

As professional writers aspiring to develop the skill of manipulating language for emotional effect, the onus is upon all Ubergroup members to develop a convincing ‘character voice’ when giving editorial feedback to communicate with people from any social norm.

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';