SCC’s Film School Alumni Make Waves in Film/Television Industry
Scottsdale, AZ (September 2, 2008) – Alumni from Scottsdale Community College’s Film School continue to accomplish great things in the film and television industry. Crediting the program and their instructors with providing the skills and hands-on experiences they use daily in their jobs, each has taken their talent and ambitions into a variety of creative directions. Their journeys follow...
The Making of a Film Festival
“In order to pull off what I did, I had to have great confidence, connection building, and production skills – all of which I gained at SCC’s Film School,” explains James Schoepflin, a graduate of Scottsdale Community College’s famed film program.
Schoepflin credits SCC’s film program with helping him make a very ambitious leap in his career. In 2007, Schoepflin started the Orlando Hispanic Film Festival, an annual independent film showcase that has exploded with growth and popularity. Supported by a growing number of community leaders, elected officials, and members of the media, Schoepflin is now planning the 2nd annual festival for October 10-12. “I learned nearly everything that I do now from SCC.”
Schoepflin enrolled in SCC’s film program after leaving a job at Fox in Los Angeles in the wake of September 11. “The doors in the industry just shut down,” he recalls. While at SCC, Schoepflin worked on over 30 films, participated in the school’s film festival, earned his degree in Film Production, and then transferred to ASU for his bachelor’s degree. After earning his degree, he went to Florida. “They wanted a Hispanic film festival in Orlando,” he said. “I went home and immediately started making the logo.”
Schoepflin started the festival with 23 filmmakers representing Spain, France, England, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the US. With top community members serving as jurors, the 3-day festival presented 50 films to a festival of 2,000 attendees. “I used a networking skill I was taught by my instructors at SCC. They advised us to get to know as many people in the program as possible,” he said. “And I was able to work on many diverse projects outside of class. I also learned to put those skills into motion to meet many people and get them involved in the festival.”
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Students in the film program get hands-on experience from their very first class. Learning to produce Hollywood-style films, and actually producing those films, is the goal. A compact program, students can complete their degree in five semesters going full time and in the summer. SCC’s film program is known by some of the larger universities, such as USC, UCLA and Columbia College Chicago. The California schools often invite SCC’s film students to join their student crews on special shoots b ecause of the reputation of SCC’s program. “They know our students know what they are doing,” said Bert Cutler, program chair for SCC’s Motion Picture/Television program.
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A Fellow Filmmaker
“Within two weeks of joining the program they put a camera in your hands and say ‘make a movie’,” recalls Lucas Hill, SCC Film School alumnus. “Considering there is no paradigm for filmmaking, this sink or swim method is the fastest way to learn.” Formerly a Production Assistant on the hit television program Arrested Development, Hill is currently working as Assistant to the Director of Development at United Artists in Los Angeles.
Hill recalls his SCC screen writing professor, Kate Herbert, patiently teaching him the nuances of script structure. “She has such an open way of teaching where students learn from each other as much as they learn from her,“ he said. “She acts more as a facilitator of a writer’s group than a lecturing professor, which proved to be the best way to teach screenwriting – or any writing.”
Like his fellow film students, Hill appreciated the level of expertise found in the Film School faculty, as well as their willingness to mentor students. “Had I not been in the program and decided to head out to Hollywood on my own, I doubt I would have made it past Quartzsite,” quipped Hill.
While in the program, Hill worked on countless short films, read and critiqued numerous scripts, learned cameras, budgeting, and as he describes – “talked filmmaking 24/7.” “The best teachers in the film program treat you like a fellow filmmaker first, student second,” remarked Hill. “You can come to them with a beyond ambitious idea for a short and they don’t dissuade you, but instead help you hatch a plan to pull it off. For a student, it’s the closest thing to learning what a producer/filmmaker relationship is like.”
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SCC’s film program is structured in blocks, starting with pre-production where student screenwriters, producers, directors and cinematographers come together to do the prep work for the film, including the screenplay, storyboards, finances, equip ment, and scene blocking. Filming is the 2nd block, a phase that is short but intense. The director and cinematographer participate in this phase where film and/or high definition video are used. Post-production is the final block where the editing occurs. The editor and director come together in this phase, and if the project is a music video, the lead singer in a band joins.
According to Cutler, editing can refine the story’s mood and energy through timing, sound and imagery. “This is the phase where we emulate how the audience views the world,” he added. “Through editing we orchestrate the impact the story has on the audience at any moment in time, such as the jarring effect in an action film, or the softness in a romance.”
The second part of editing involves special effects. “We don’t really need to blow up a building to have the effect,” notes Cutler. Film program students use After Effects compositing software to accomplish specific effects in a film. “If we’re filming a period piece, for example, this is where we take out the telephone poles and airplanes.”
The final piece of the editing phase is the sound design. “Here is where we will add the crunch of leaves under footsteps, and the click of the door closing,” said Cutler.
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Around the World in Six Seasons
When Regan Letourneau started at the Film School, he focused on writing and directing. As he reached the end of his program in 2001, he had added editing and cinematography to his arsenal. Although he needed only 60 credits to graduate, he had taken close to 100. “I was a sponge and wanted to soak up everything I could and learn all aspects of my craft – and not just focus on one.”
“I enrolled in the film school when I was 19,” he said. “Once I got there and I got involved, I knew it was where I was meant to be.” Like his peers in the program, Letourneau credits his instructors for giving him the confiden ce and hands-on experiences to compete in the industry. “Production is all about problem solving, and you can’t apply the things you’ve learned along the way unless you’re out the in the trenches.”
After graduation, Letourneau did some film work locally, then decided to move to New York. He took a job as Production Coordinator for the VH1 show Totally Obsessed. Eventually his big break occurred: Letourneau landed a job on the hit reality show The Amazing Race. Starting as a pit stop coordinator for two seasons, he was soon promoted to Field Coordinator, a position he has held for four seasons.
As Field Coordinator, Letourneau, pictured here in Kuwait during the show's 10th season, is in charge of the technical aspects of the camera and sound department, ensuring that filmed movements, recorded voices, and sound are captured exactly as they are happening during the race. Although he occasionally reports a bout of jet lag during race season as he travels around with the show’s crew and contestants, Letourneau has been to over 40 countries and finds himself in the midst of the action that viewers anxiously follow each week.
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Nothing Happens Without a Screenplay
Kate Herbert is a screenwriter, author, and instructor in SCC’s Film School. Her students quickly learn that her industry experience equals her passion for her craft and her desire to provide them with all the real-world knowledge they can absorb during their short time in the program.
As a professional who has worked in the industry for many years, and as an author of several screenwriting manuals, Herbert feels it is important to share the realities of the film business with her students, especially the art of successful screenwriting. “Filmmaking is really about what you can do – it’s about story telling,” said Herbert. “Nothing happens without a screenplay.”
Herbert sees that as students go through the program, their initial interests make way for other strengths that bubble up. Experiences outside of the classroom, including opportunities to work on movies that are being filmed in town, also give students the chance to see what they can do and what they enjoy most about the profession.
Herbert began her career as a newspaper film critic, wrote for magazines, and served as a publicist for a local theatre company. When she got an agent with her first hour-long TV drama, she moved to Los Angeles where she became a freelance script analyst for Fox Television, Viacom-Showtime, DeLaurentis, James Cameron’s Lightstorm, and TNT. As a script analyst, Herbert discovered Robocop and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and helped advance many television films.
After reading thousands of scripts, Herbert became familiar with what Hollywood wanted “I look for story, plot, structure, characterization, premise, and whether it works or not.”
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Being Taught Art by Artisans
Film School alumnus Scott Conditt says he worked his way into Hollywood the old fashioned way – by knowing someone, yet he believes that he stayed there because of the knowledge he gained while in SCC’s Film program. “I wouldn’t have lasted a week in the system had I not been able to perform,” he said. “Those skill sets that have helped me survive out here I learned during my tenure at SCC.”
Currently an Executive Assistant at Reliant Pictures in Los Angeles, Conditt feels that the program’s emphasis on networking was invaluable. “The best way to get the most out of your education is to network with those in your programs and classrooms,” he said. “SCC’s student bulletin boards were never empty and always held opportunities to film, edit, and to be part of something creative outside the classroom.”
“Being taught art by artisans was amazingly beneficial,” said Conditt, referring to the industry professionals who comprise the faculty at SCC’s Film School. “Every faculty member I had the pleasure of studying with at SCC seemed like they were instructing primarily to share their own experience and love of the craft.”
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About Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale Community College offers over 1,500 academic and non-credit classes each semester. Located on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the campus is known for its serene atmosphere and beautiful plant and wildlife. With nearly 12,000 students, Scottsdale Community College is proud to offer high-quality, affordable programs in small class settings. From Motion Picture/Television Production and Culinary Arts to Nursing and American Indian Studies, students have a wide variety of programs from which to earn credits for university transfer, launch their careers, train for new ones, or pursue a special interest. The SCC Business Institute offers customized programs to meet the needs of local business. Scottsdale Community College is one of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges.
To learn about the many academic programs at Scottsdale Community College, call us at (480) 423-6000 or visit our website at www.scottsdalecc.edu.
Media contact:
Denise Kronsteiner
(480) 423-6567
denise.kronsteiner@sccmail.maricopa.edu
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