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To live and learn in L.A.
Planning for semester in Hollywood under way

By Jennifer Gormanous Burke

Think of all the screenplays floating around Hollywood. Living in L.A., budding screenwriters can cultivate contacts, even get scripts seen by those who can make things happen. But what if you’re a BU student looking to break into the West Coast film industry?

College of Communication Dean Brent Baker wants to give Boston University students a valuable West Coast connection so they have a head start in this competitive field. His plan: a semester of study in Los Angeles, to begin in summer 2001. The program will be open to all BU students as well as students from other universities, similar to the University’s Study Abroad Program. Four L.A.-based COM alumni are helping to launch the initiative. They are screenwriter and journalist Bruce Feirstein (COM’75), independent producer and writer Marcia Lewis (COM’74), Jay Roewe (COM’79), vice president of production for HBO Pictures, and George Lilly (COM’56), president of S. J. L. Broadcast Management Corporation.

"This is a way that students can find easier entry into the industry and get a better sense of what the working experience is like in Los Angeles," explains Feirstein.

"In general, students go to Los Angeles after graduation with no understanding of what’s here or what it takes to get around – no contacts," adds Lilly.

Lewis agrees. "I know that it’s very difficult to come out here from school in Boston without any real-world experience. The chance to give kids entrée – to let them have a semester to meet people, see how L.A. really operates, get a feeling of what the business actually is – is invaluable."

Of course, individual success still depends on talent, vision, dedication, and in some cases, luck. But now BU students can have the same opportunities their California counterparts get. "You hear about UCLA and USC and the other film schools, but there are some talented people who come out of BU," says Roewe. "To give them some form of early contact with the business will propel their careers forward that much faster."

Start-up expenses for the program’s first year include computers and equipment, salaries for faculty and staff, and leasing student apartments and a building for offices and classrooms.

"If we can start off with 10 students, and it’s successful, then we can expand to 20 the following year and 30 the next year," says Lilly. "The project itself will be financially self-sustaining. The only economic impediment is the start-up cost, and we hope it will be covered by our fundraising effort, which would mean that the program could start on a profitable basis."

Once the program is on its feet, students will be flooded with information and experience. Course offerings include television management, screenwriting, new media programming, and advanced digital editing, among others. Lectures by local industry professionals will enable students to acquire the type of insight that’s not easily available in Boston.

Complementing the curriculum will be internships, giving students a look behind the velvet rope so they can see firsthand what makes things happen in Hollywood. Besides gaining practical knowledge and experience, students can form a valuable network of contacts.

"The challenge," says Lilly, "is to find people who can offer meaningful internships . . . who are really willing to let students become exposed to all aspects of their business and see what’s going on." Some of these internships will be sponsored by local BU alumni.

"We’ll be looking for local alums to help with the curriculum and be part of the mentoring program . . . acting like a sounding board and offering advice," says Feirstein.

Lilly believes the internship-mentor combination has immense value for students. "Let’s assume you are very interested in directing," he says. "If you could come to Los Angeles and work at a movie studio in an internship program that would allow you to see each day what a director does and the hands-on responsibilities that you perhaps didn’t realize, and if that director could also be a mentor who you could talk to and get advice from, wouldn’t that be a home run?"

6 December 2000
Boston University
Office of University Relations