For prospective filmmakers, it can be hard to make it in
Hollywood. But it might be easier for those from UCLA.
“If you say you’re from the UCLA film school,
everyone wants to accommodate you and give you any kind of access
you want,” fifth-year English student Jeffrey Morris said.
“You just have to be creative around here.”
When Morris wanted to film a Los Angeles fashion show, the UCLA
connection was all he needed. Though he is not part of the
school’s exclusive film program, Morris is one of the many
students using UCLA opportunities to pursue a career in film. The
footage from the fashion show will be used for a short, critical
documentary of Hollywood life that is part of a growing reel of
work he hopes to use to get a job in film production.
Although Morris will graduate with a degree in English, he has
gained valuable knowledge from his proximity to UCLA’s
Department of Film, Television and Digital Media. Graduate and
undergraduate film students constantly seek extra unpaid crew
members for projects inside and outside of classes.
“If you just hang out in (the film school) area, there are
people there that are more than happy to have you help them,”
Morris said.
Though on-site crew experience is invaluable, students can also
take advantage of the growing number of classes that the UCLA
school of Theater, Film and Television offers to non-majors.
This democratization reflects the school’s desire to make
its high-ranked film school accessible to more than just the 15 new
film students chosen from the UCLA student body every year,
according to Tom DeNove, vice chair and head of production for the
Department of Film, Television and Digital Media. The expanding
course list includes film history, cinematography, experimental
film production and editing.
Fourth-year theater student Chris Smith got his start in classes
like these. After taking a screenwriting course in the summer of
2003, Smith wrote and directed the feature film “Shadow in
the Trees,” which he hopes to submit to film festivals,
including Sundance, when post-production is complete.
Smith turned to what he learned from various film classes about
storyboarding, budgeting, finding funding, and scheduling to make
his vision a reality. And when he ran into a snag, all he had to do
was ask for help.
“I was just doing it on my own and asking questions as I
needed them,” Smith said. “There are people (at the
film school) that know the ropes and can really help you get that
head start.”
Connections with the Office of Residential Life allowed Smith to
screen his feature film for the public in the Covel Grand Horizon
Ballroom last year, and his work as the juggler for the UCLA
marching band led him to a UCLA alumni composer who is currently in
Hungary recording the score.
According to Smith, filmmaking is time-consuming, but college is
the perfect time to pursue the passion ““ while food and
housing are preset and parents are still financially
supportive.
“One of your extracurricular activities could be a feature
film,” Smith said.
College is, after all, a time for learning.
“In the making of this movie, it’s definitely been a
hit the ground running and see if I can figure it out as I go (kind
of thing),” Smith said.
Like Smith, who began making films so that he could act in them,
Morris did not discover filmmaking until he entered UCLA. Because
they are just down the road from Hollywood and the major studios,
students need not travel far to experience the Los Angeles film
community.
“You’ll be going down to Diddy Riese and all of a
sudden there’s a movie premiere going on,” Smith said.
“You can taste it when you’re at UCLA, the filmmaking
thing.”
According to Jack Raab, director of the UCLA Events Office,
there are no feature films scheduled to shoot on campus this
summer. But UCLA has served as the set for films such as “Old
School” and the recent “A Peaceful Warrior,” and
television shows including “The O.C.” and
“Alias.” Smaller commercial projects, which are
scheduled for this summer, also commonly shoot on campus.
UCLA’s proximity to major studios and beautiful
architecture make the campus appealing, but the school’s
flexibility also allows campus bookings on extremely short notice,
sometimes up to the day before shooting.
Most commercial projects pay to use the campus, with the revenue
generated helping fund UCLA events throughout the year, but
students can obtain the proper permits to film on campus for
free.
“It’s not like going to McDonald’s,”
Raab said. “(Pricing) is based upon the specific requirements
of the shoots.”
Meanwhile, with the likely creation of a film minor, the
increasing shift toward digital technologies and the endless
internship opportunities in the world’s biggest film town,
potential filmmakers should look past the film major for training
for the future.
“Be passionate about it and show how much you have
invested in it and people will see that and be more than willing to
help,” Smith said. “The resources are
endless.”