Largley Administrative Post

So last time I told you I'd be explaining how the rest of my semesters are "supposed" to work here at USC.

I'm going to do that but first, for those of you who might be reading this and for some strange reason haven't heard through other means, My semester is screening their films this upcoming weekend.

On May 9th and May 10th, from 12-6pm on both days, all 55 short films from my class will be screening on USC Campus in the Norris Theater. It is 100% free, and there will also be free food and drink (yes booze).

Honestly, it seems like something anyone who might consider coming here would want to see. If for only the curiosity of what you will be producing here. I would imagine if I had seen the films it would have both inspired and depressed me. Take that for what it's worth.

Now for the FUTURE. This will probably be uninteresting for most, as it's just about how USC works.

So it all started roughly a month ago (? a total guess) with a meeting which was entitled "Life After 508" (508 being the colloquial term for the 2nd semester of film school here at USC).

In this meeting, they explained the basic requirements for the remainder of film school, how we would go about D-Clearing (a fancy word for obtaining our registration clearance, I have no idea what the D stands for, nor do I think anyone else does).

I will lay out the facts as plainly as I can and then move into commentary about the meeting and about USC's film school in general.

While at USC, every production student (me) must do the following:

Complete a Production III class
Complete a Thesis Project of some kind
Take 6 units of Critical Studies courses
Take 2 units of a TV specific course
Take 516 Advanced Script Analysis
Take 506 Visual Expression
Take 8 units of "electives"
Take 2 units of what amounts to a business/industry prep course

The Production III class is simply the next step in our production courses, as 507 was Production I and 508 Prod. II

However, what makes PIII different is that you have options. You make take 546 Fiction, 547 Documentary or A TV Pilot course over two semesters (whose course numbers escape me).

For the 546 and 547 classes it is roughly the same. Pitches are given, 3 from each are chosen (I believe) and then teams must be formed. If you want to take the course, you must prepare near the end of the semester beforehand and jockey for position on the team which you like. So basically, a few weeks ago, people in my class began desperately trying to attach themselves to projects in whatever capacity they wanted. The big cherry of these films is that they are funded by the school with an actual budget (I think something like $10k, though I could be off).

The rules for 546 Fiction, are as such. Scripts are open submission and then are picked by faculty. Directors submit reels and finalists are chosen by faculty. There is then what I assume can only be a really weird meet and greet where writers meet directors and watch their reels, and the two try to get together on something. Also at this meeting are anyone who would like to be a Producer. They too try to wrangle themselves on a project, in theory one they feel connected to.

These teams are formed. Don't ask me how exactly, it seems mainly the Director's decision, as the writers are encouraged to practice being marginalized, and the Producers are almost all people who either A) want to walk around the next semester calling themselves a Producer of merit, or B) are just doing this to get in with the faculty this semseter to increase their chances next semester when they submit to be a director with their reel.

After these teams are made, they seem to have an endless stream of meetings where they interview and accept reels from perspective Cinematographers, Editors, Sound Engineers, Assistant Directors, and even 2nd Producers. They then build their final teams and prepare for the summer and next semseter.

The process is largely the same for 547, however because there are no writers that step is skipped, but nearly everything else remains identical.

The Television Pilot Class is very different. All of this information is anectodotal so take that for what you will. You sign up for this class in the Fall. Everyone is allowed (though I don't think forced) to pitch at the beginning of the semester, their idea for a television program. The faculty and I believe the class itself, then decides which pitch they will turn into a 42 minute pilot television program (allowing the 18 minutes for commercials standard). The next portion of the class is made up of what I believe is assigning positions to people and writing the show.

The person who has their pitch chosen becomes the Showrunner, which seems to be the big cherry of this class. However, everyone else must pick several other positions, and apparently they usually get to do what they want. If you would like to be in the writer's room, or run camera, or sound or what not you may. The only other sought after position is, of course, Director. Though they seem to alieviate this by splitting the show into three acts and having a single director for each act.

Again, I believe the class has a budget, however, they do shoot much of it on a stage (again I think). The class stretches over into the spring semester to finish production. Apparently, USC is not terrible at this, as we have won what amounts to the Sundance of television pilots more than once in the past few years since starting the program.

So that's Production III.

Now the other complicated choice. Thesis project.

Again, I am not completely privy to ALL the choices of thesis options but I will outline them now.

One you may work in some capacity on someone's thesis, for your chosen route. This means that if you have taken the Cinematographer path, by taking Intermediate Cinematography and so on, your final project would most likely be shooting someone's thesis. The same would apply for sound or editing or producing.

Directing is different, as you must pay for your own thesis. I know this might sound insane, as we are already paying huge amounts in tuition, but somehow this is how it works. This may be also why a good chunk of people say film school is a sucker's move.

In your own thesis you have the option of having access to the school's equipment or not. Having access means you get some free goodies (camera, equipment, facilities, etc.) but chosing NOT means you get to retain ownership of your film (but also means forking over more $$).

Alternatively, one can graduate through the writing path, which means writing a feature length screenplay in order to graduate. This is commonly refered to on campus as "writing your way out".

In the end, no matter what option you choose, your diploma is exactly the same. If you did sound it does not say specialty in sound design or anything to indicate such is the case. I'm not complaining, I just thought it was odd.

So there are those options, there might be a few other weird ones, but those are most common thesis plans.

Now for the easy ones;

Critical Studies is a subset of classes where you basically watch films and talk about what works on a thematic level and how the film achieves this. They are usually focused on a particular filmmaker or a genre or time period (i.e. I shall take an all Spielburg class next semester, one in which he makes an actual appearance). These classes are infamous for ascribing incredible amounts of meaning to things that the production people know to be choices not for asthetic or thematic reasons but rather because it was simply available on set. I wonder if this impression is true or if REAL directors have just that much better handle on things. Probably a bit of both.

The TV course may be confusing as I already mentioned an extensive TV course while talking about ProdIII. This is, in fact, something altogether different, where one must take one of several courses:

Music Video Production
Reality Television Survey
Multiple Camera Production
The World of Television
Interactive Media

Basically, they are what they say. Multi camera is very centered around sit-com style shooting, the world of TV is talking about the state of television as of today and you create what is known as a "Show Bible" for an idea you have (anyone's guess what that means, perhaps there are commandments involved), and Interactive Media has nothing to do with TV but rather you get to make a game with a programer from the game department of our school.

I have no idea why this is a requirement at USC.

516 is a class where you watch a movie one week, then the next the teacher disects the script and explains in detail how the writer set things up. It seems interesting if not only applicable to those who want to write, bully for me.

506 is a class where you learn more advanced color theory and visual theory about shooting film. It seems interesting and important, but also seems like it could easily decend into very 'theory' and not nearly enough practical usage. Most people rave about the class, which makes me extraordinarily concerned about taking it.

The 2 unit business course is one of the three:

Organizing Creativity: Entertainment Industry Decision Making
The Film Industry: Career Challenges for Women
Developing and Selling your Film/TV projects

The first class purports to be about how to plan your career throughout the industry, the second is one where women in the industry come and talk to women who want to be in the industry and presumbaly warn them against it, and the last one is a pitching class.

All seem like too little too late, sort of scenario.

Finally, the "electives". These are really just options for you to pick which path you're going down. They highly encourage you to pick two or even three paths, which really means you have to take additional units than the graduation requirement.

Almost all electives are bound to be things like, Intermediate Editing, or Advanced Directing, and the like.

OPINION TIME

So, as I seem to have a perverse joy in not doing the norm, and have found that that has lead me inexplicably towards me being happier and happier. I sat down with the options and considered what I wanted out of my remaining time.

I found that I still enjoyed writing. It was a surprise of sorts. I expected to get here and be very weak among my peers in terms of writing, but found that was not the case. That is not to knock them, nor praise myself, but it seems to be the case that most production students are production students for a reason. That reason being they want to make movies, not write them. In fact, the vast majority did not proceed the way I did, in which I started wanting to write films only to discover that they are unlike nearly all other written media in that the physical written word holds little sway over the final product.

At any rate, I enjoy writing. I think I am not terrible at it, and I can get a lot better. Additionally, there seemed to be plenty of 'required' classes that I could take and not have to make specific decisions about.

With that in mind, I came to the conclusion that I would take:

506 Visual Expression
516 Advanced Scene Analysis
533a Writing the Feature
469 Critical Studies class on Spielburg

This brings me to 12 units, a healthy amount but as none of it is production I may even try to fit in 572, the TV course, World of Television. We shall see.

Most of my compatriots are doing almost none of these classes. Instead, most have worked their way into the upcoming 546s and 547s. In fact, it was quite the fever pitch for a while, as everyone started throwing elbows to make sure they were on a project.

It is here that I found myself extremely dissappointed, but also not surprised. For whatever reason, our class is the first in a long while to be genuinely excited to work on a 546 or 547. Wonderful, I mean that with no sarcasm. However, I heard that as the teams were interviewing people it became an artful game of dodge and avoid. Where directors would avoid talking to potential producers they were not going to pick, and then producers would avoid talking to potential editors/cinematographers/etc. that they would not be picking.

This is infuriated me, mainly because everyone knows everyone else here. It's a terribly tiny community and when people are avoiding each other and refusing to just come out and say, "we aren't going to have you on the project, sorry," it creates a larger amount of animosity than just making that tough phone call.

Apparently, this is precisely how Hollywood functions.

In addition, people seem to be willing to beg for jobs that they don't eve like, just because there is some amount of competition. People are completely excited to produce and AD projects. I can't bring myself to imagine spending a semester producing a project that isn't at least partly mine.

Regardless, I'm happy to avoid it.

Next post I'll talk a little more about my actual plan for graduation. It'll be good to write out my specific course structure, if for no one else but me.