What happens when one visionary associate professor teams up with two successful Curry alums in L.A.? An experience that a dozen Curry students will never forget!
It all started in 2002 when Associate Professor Jerry Gibbs, newly hired Director of Television, met alum Mark Biase '83 at Homecoming. Gibbs was pleasantly surprised to learn that Biase was working in Hollywood as the Vice President of Operations for The Production Group Studios.
"I thought if we have someone like Mark out in Hollywood, maybe there are other alums out there too," remembers Gibbs.
Sure enough, Gibbs learned through conversation with Tom Brodnicki, Vice President of Institutional Advancement, that alum John Wolk '92 has been an executive at the ABC Television Network for the past eight years.
With these high-level alumni connections, Gibbs began to conceptualize a number of new opportunities for Curry students. In a previous position, he had taken students to New York for a weekend of TV related tours which proved very successful. Now, Gibbs hoped to expand on that experience and thought that a weeklong trip to Los Angeles could be beneficial for his TV students.
"Los Angeles has a diverse job market with many opportunities," says Gibbs. "Many of our students pursue careers in local TV and news, but don't realize that's not the only avenue they can take. I wanted to bring L.A. down to a level where students could navigate it. My end goal was to make students feel comfortable enough with Hollywood to know that moving to L.A. and getting into the business is another option." |
Gibbs went beyond the scope of planning just a trip with standard tours of television studios. By Fall 2004, he had completed the groundwork necessary to implement a new three-credit course in the Communication department titled Hollywood Productions: UP CLOSE, offered through the Division of Continuing and Graduate Studies in the Winter 2005 Intersession schedule. He posted a sign-up sheet to determine interest. News of the exciting opportunity spread quickly and within two weeks 45 students had signed up.
"We chose people for the first group based on how many production classes they had previously taken, and gave priority based on class year," explains Gibbs. "Ultimately, sophomores were ruled out since they would have a later opportunity to take the course. We pared down the list to 12 students who were eligible to participate - nine seniors and three juniors - with an equal number of men and women."
Once selected as course participants, students had some requirements to complete prior to getting on the plane and heading west.
In December, students gathered at the Hirsh Communication Center to prepare for what to expect in Hollywood. A couple of Gibbs' former colleagues - who previously worked in L.A. pitching shows and now run Tippingpoint Labs in Newton - gave them valuable advice from their experience.
Before leaving, students also had to read From Concept to Screen, by Robert Benedetti, an overview of film and TV production on how sitcoms, dramas and movies are made.
On January 9, the class flew to sunny Los Angeles. Each day's lengthy schedule included production class |
meetings and daily quizzes in addition to the experi - ences at the various studios and production companies. [See Day by Day in L.A. on pages 12-15.]
"Everyone we encountered during this experience remarked how rare it is that they get college groups like ours, that they wished their college had done this," notes Gibbs. "The professionals in the industr y were very impressed by the caliber of our students, the base of their knowledge, and the depth of their questions."
"This was a life changing experience for many of our students. They got insight into the real world of L.A. that most never see."
With the course such a smashing success, will there be a sequel?
"I expect we will offer the Hollywood Production course every other year." says Gibbs. "As it grows in popularity, there will likely be more pre-requisites, an application, an essay. It will be a privilege to be selected.
"Our curriculum has a wealth of news and documentary film making courses, but not as many with a pure entertainment focus. I'd like to see future courses about the business side of Hollywood and writing scripts exclusively for the entertainment world. These type of courses will continue to enhance our curriculum.
"Adding a Hollywood specific concentration in the Communication major, as well as semester long internships in L.A. would also be beneficial. The skill sets for Los Angeles news, television, and movies are different than in other metropolitan areas.
Moving forward, Gibbs believes that expanding the curriculum into the world |
