Friday, April 01, 2016

FOR BALLARD FILM STUDENTS, HOLLYWOOD DREAMS ARE BECOMING REALITIES

In mid-March, students in the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program travelled to Los Angeles to visit college film and television programs, catch up with program alumni, and meet with professional filmmakers to discuss their crafts and careers. 

The college visits included Chapman University, Emerson College, Loyola Marymount University, and the University of Southern California – all institutions ranked by the Hollywood Reporter as among the best film schools in the world. 

In addition to official tours, the students received the inside scoop from recent graduates of the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program currently studying at these institutions.  Sho Schrock (BHS ’15) gave a presentation on Creative Producing at Chapman University.  Kelsey Mendenhall (BHS ’13) met students at the Emerson LA campus and talked about the semester that film students at Emerson College spend in LA.  Matt Law (BHS ’10, LMU ’15), recipient of LMU’s Top Production Student accolade, met with students on campus after their official tour.  (Visit www.thematts.tv for a look at what he’s been up to since finishing college last spring.) 


On the professional side, students heard from program graduates now working in the industry (many of whom had also visited Los Angeles during their time in the Digital Filmmaking Program).   Following a tour of the School of Cinematic Arts at USC, Producer Rikke Heinecke (BHS ’11, USC ’15), Head of Production at Oceana Branding (www.oceanabranding.com), gave a great talk on producing music videos.  (She works with artists such as Justin Beiber, Tiesto and The Chainsmokers).  Director Jesse Harris (BHS ’04, www.jesseharrisfilms.com), met students for dinner to talk about making commercials.  (Jesse has the distinction of being the youngest filmmaker ever to write and direct a feature film that obtained multi-state theatrical release.  His feature, Living Life, was his senior project at Ballard High School.)  Louis Weissman (BHS ’12) talked with students about working on camera crews, writer Blair Scott (BHS ’11, NYU ’15) talked with students about breaking into the industry, and Brendan McCarthy (BHS ’04, NYU ’07), writer on Grace & Fankie, invited students into the Writers’ Room at Paramount to explain how stories for series television programs are developed.  In addition, students spoke at length with Writer/Producer Jason Cahill (winner of the Writer’s Guild of America Award for The Sopranos) Students also toured two major studios: Universal and Warner Brothers.