The Ubergroup

About

The Ubergroup is a 501(c)3 nonprofit providing low-cost fine arts education for adults. We offer university-level classes and support 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 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.

Donate

If you believe arts and literacy should be for everyone, please donate below! $130/month covers the tuition of an undergraduate level student while paying all educators and staff a living wage of $30/hour.

We request that active students (both NUG and NUG grad) please consider that most private universities offering similar material cost around $4400/course. Our suggested donation rate of $130/month ($390 for the full course) is the minimum to cover operating costs and modest salaries for staff at $30/hr. We encourage students who can afford it to donate closer to the actual value of tuition. Students experiencing financial need may select the half-rate of $65/month or free-type a sustainable amount. 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.

Alumni not currently taking classes are encouraged to donate in support of the program in a manner proportional to their own means; $30/month covers one miscellaneous additional staff hour when a student needs more help than expected.

Curriculum

The Ubergroup is designed for working professionals who wish to make a lateral switch between fine arts specialties. Examples of current students include WGA screenwriters who wish to write literary fiction, animators who wish to start a podcast, and novelists who wish to branch into playwriting. Most 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 also elect to apply for the main programming of the Ubergroup directly.

Each group of qualified applicants will participate in a three-month course helping them develop a new project in a new area of interest. Coursework is at an undergraduate-equivalent level, but highly condensed, akin to fitting a whole year into a summer intensive, on the assumption that all students are working adults familiar with the general concept of producing artwork as a business. Alumni often choose to retake the course as a structured, high-speed way to develop and road-test new ideas.

In addition to the new project, applicants should please bring one complete but unproduced/unpublished 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) on which you would like to receive developmental edits. You will be trained to provide 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.

• Pre-requisites: 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: Average two hours per week (sometimes up to three) 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.

Application

Classes are coordinated via Discord. Please join the Ubergroup server and paste a query letter or CV in the Apply for Membership 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 are not familiar with how to use Discord, please visit the tutorial here. 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.

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.

Students who we believe would be an asset to our professional network will be contacted directly upon successful completion of the course. Alumni network membership is by invitation only. Please do not contact us about this.

Additional FAQ and questions are available on our subreddit.

Elements

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