FALL SEMESTER
PRO 503: Finance and Distribution Fundamentals
FALL SEMESTER
.5 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED
This course is dedicated to the fundamentals of film financing and distribution covering topics such as private equity, foreign sales, distribution windowing, film festivals and markets, and who the players are in these spaces. Fellows will be exposed to financing waterfalls and distribution profit participation statements to understand how money flows once a film is released and how a financier recoups their investment. By dissecting the rapidly changing landscape, learning both from the past and the present, Fellows will gain an understanding of how the industry’s business models have evolved and how the economic viability of a project is determined.
PRO 507: Producing the Cycle Film
FALL SEMESTER
1 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED
A yearlong course supporting First Year Producing Fellows in the planning, execution, and evaluation of their Cycle films. Expanding on Boot Camp fundamentals, Fellows will develop production-ready budgets and schedules; learn how to secure locations and navigate FilmLA; understand how to complete required paperwork, permits, contracts, and deliverables; and manage creative teams while protecting story and vision. The course provides structured opportunities for Fellows to view and discuss Cycle films as a producing cohort, fostering leadership, collaboration, and collective problem-solving throughout development, production, and post-production.
PRO 511: Story, Craft, and Process
FALL SEMESTER
1 CREDIT HOURS
ELECTIVE
Finding stories and developing those stories into screenplays begins with an understanding of the interplay between these elements. Through lectures, conversations, and various writing exercises, this course guides Producers to discover the stories and themes they are passionate to shepherd from an idea into a narrative film. Producers must understand the writing process and develop a facility in the arena of story to evolve a shared vocabulary with creative collaborators.
PRO 517: Script Critique & Collaboration
FALL SEMESTER
2 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED
One of the first and most important practical skills an effective producer must possess and cultivate is the ability to carefully read, thoughtfully consider, and constructively critique screenplays and related materials to further their creative development. Producing Fellows will read unproduced film and television treatments and scripts with considered analysis, verbally present and discuss critical insights in a group setting, and synthesize their feedback and in-class discussions into follow-up written notes. This process of refining critical skills, and incorporating valuable insights from colleagues, will lay essential groundwork for successful future creative collaborations.
PRO 541: Creative Producing
FALL SEMESTER
1 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED
The course explores the role of the creative producer in guiding projects through their journey from idea to script to screen with emphasis in the first semester on the development process. The course examines the question of how to choose and work with a writer and the creative collaboration that follows. The practical aspect of the class involves writing log lines, creating a writer’s list, reviewing and critiquing screenplays, and introducing the fellow to the basic skill of pitching.
SPRING SEMESTER
PRO 504: Movie Engines 1
SPRING SEMESTER
1 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED
This course unpacks the story and craft logic of scenes and sequences from contemporary feature films, shorts and TV in order to give filmmakers a wider vocabulary and set of tools to develop the voice and vision of stories and deepen their professional practice. Week after week, this course will dive into a wide range of classic and contemporary filmmakers, examining scenes from a broad range of genres to unpack their different craft choices in acting styles, choreography, cinematography, production design, sound design, music and editing. This work will help identify a film’s underlying conflicts, empathetic machinery, cinematic spaces, antagonist forces and genre expectations.
PRO 508: Producing the Cycle Film
SPRING SEMESTER
1 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED
A yearlong course supporting First Year Producing Fellows in the planning, execution, and evaluation of their Cycle films. Expanding on Boot Camp fundamentals, Fellows will develop production-ready budgets and schedules; learn how to secure locations and navigate FilmLA; understand how to complete required paperwork, permits, contracts, and deliverables; and manage creative teams while protecting story and vision. The course provides structured opportunities for Fellows to view and discuss Cycle films as a producing cohort, fostering leadership, collaboration, and collective problem-solving throughout development, production, and post-production.
PRO 512: Intro to the Business of Producing
SPRING SEMESTER
2 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED
This is the first of a two semester course that will introduce Producing Fellows to the business aspects of producing content. The course will examine the history, evolution and current state of various business practices and concepts in the motion picture industry. The instruction includes modules on securing intellectual property rights (i.e., books, articles, etc.), above-the-line talent deals (actors, director, producer, writers, etc.), financing structures, distribution models (both traditional and next-gen), and various in-class negotiation exercises.
PRO 542: Creative Producing II
SPRING SEMESTER
1 CREDIT HOURS
REQUIRED
This course explores the role of the Creative Producer in guiding a project from idea to script to screen. The first term takes that journey through the development process and the second term follows that process through production and post-production. Both the Fall and Spring terms share a focus on the skill-set necessary to navigate the collaborative process.
PRO 544: A Producer’s Guide to Post-Production
SPRING SEMESTER
1 CREDIT HOUR
REQUIRED
Getting your movie started is huge, but getting it finished is another thing entirely. Once the shooting crew has gone home, Post can feel like a lonely and scary place to be. It has its own language with anachronistic words that don’t mean what they say, tons of acronyms and little of anything is self explanatory. Expedient decisions made in prep and during shoot can have implications in post which can be costly in terms of both time and money. A Producer who doesn’t understand the Post process is less able to help manage the process. This course is designed to give students a thorough understanding of the process, science, people, places, and politics of Post Production.
First-Year Fellow Comprehensive Review
At the end of the first year, the Producing Discipline Head and Faculty critically evaluate each Producing Fellow’s progress, participation and output in both physical production and curriculum. In individual meetings, the Producing Discipline Head will discuss the Fellow’s growth over the past year and provide constructive direction to succeed in second-year curriculum and their thesis projects, while also building a slate of projects to shape their futures as producers.
