New York University is looking to train the next generation of movie moguls, offering a new joint masters’ program in business administration and fine arts. Slated to welcome its first students in the fall of 2008, the three-year program will emphasize both the commercial and creative sides of filmmaking.

The director of the 10-year-old Entertainment, Media, and Technology program at NYU’s Stern School of Business, C. Samuel Craig, said the joint-degree curriculum would teach the diverse skills needed to thrive in the film industry.

“Not only do you have to be creative, but you have to understand the complexities of the business environment and financing,” Mr. Craig, a spokesman for the joint program, said. “We want to create an individual who can not only function in that environment, but really be a force in moving that forward.”

Students will spend their first year taking business courses, their second year taking film courses, and the final year studying both disciplines.

To enroll, applicants must be accepted by both the Stern School of Business and the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television of the Tisch School of the Arts. The schools are competitive programs in their own right: Stern is ranked among the top 10 American business schools, according to U.S. News and World Report, and the NYU graduate film program counts directors Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, and Oliver Stone among its alumni.

The success of the Entertainment, Media, and Technology program was an impetus for the launch of the joint MFA/MBA curriculum — a rare curricular combination at American universities, school officials said.

Four years ago, students in the Entertainment, Media, and Technology Program at Stern began collaborating with their counterparts at Kanbar on the Promotion Pictures Film Competition, through which students obtain thousands of dollars from companies to produce films that highlight their products.

“That made it a lot easier to take the next step because of the strong working relationship between both schools,” Mr. Craig said.

NYU faculty members said the admissions office and professors have seen plenty of interest in the new program from would-be students — and from benefactors. An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million to fund program scholarships.

“The way films are being made, financed, and distributed is changing, and we think it is incumbent upon us to anticipate the future and develop the educational tools necessary for the next generation of producers to meet the new demands of the entertainment industry,” the dean of the Tisch School of the Arts, Mary Schmidt Campbell, said.

The joint-degree program’s New York City location is ideal, the dean of the Stern School of Business, Thomas Cooley, said. New York City’s film industry is second only to Hollywood’s in America, and contributes billions to the city’s economy annually, he said.

“Media and finance converge here in New York City, so NYU is in a unique position to be able to offer future filmmakers a world-class business and world-class film education that reflects current market realities,” Mr. Cooley said.