Semester in LA
Want an insider's view of the entertainment industry? Now in its seventh year, Columbia College's Semester in L.A. is the only college program permanently located on a studio lot. It is a five-week immersion program in which the student maintains full-time student status through an intensive educational experience.
Designed for students from a range of disciplines whose career goals focus on Hollywood's entertainment industry, the program draws from the resources and reputation of Columbia College Chicago, the largest arts and media college in the country. Providing unprecedented access to successful professionals in the entertainment industry, Semester in L.A. has proven to be an effective launching pad to careers in this highly competitive sphere.
Interested? Please attend an orientation session/open house. Then you'll need to fill out an application. Also make sure to check out the great attention the program has garnered from CNN and other media outlets. Good luck!
Location
The program offices and classrooms are located at Raleigh Studios in the heart of Hollywood. This location provides invaluable real-world experience. Students are given Lot ID badges and enter the gates of the lot everyday just like working producers, directors, stars and craft personnel.
Intensive Educational Experience
Students in the Semester in L.A. program maintain full-time status of 12-16 credit hours. The contact hours a student would normally achieve in 15 weeks is compressed into five weeks, thus reducing the cost to the student for time spent in Los Angeles. It is assumed that the student will have completed the semester's requirements in five weeks and is then free to work, acquire an internship, return to Chicago or participate in an independent project without jeopardizing financial aid.
Range of Disciplines
While historically most individuals in the program have been film and video majors, Semester in L.A. welcomes students in television, music, management, marketing communications, fiction, and theater.
Courses include not only our successful sessions in Producing but also Directing, Screenwriting, Costuming, Styling and Wardrobe Management, Adaptation, TV Pilot Development, Writing the TV Sitcom, Entertainment Public Relations and Marketing, and Music Composition for Film & Television.
Focus on Hollywood
We're not looking for the dabbler or dilettante. Semester in L.A. welcomes Columbia College students who know that they want a career in Hollywood and/or the entertainment industry. For the committed individual, the program provides an entry to opportunities that only the lucky few normally attain. Eligibility requirements.
Taught by a Faculty of Successful Professionals
Presenters during each session include acquisition executives; development producers; production executives; postproduction personnel including editors, sound designers and postproduction supervisors; story editors; creative producers, entertainment accountants; entertainment attorneys; executive producers, DPs; casting agents; location managers; assistant directors; line producers; screenwriters and many more.
Launching Pad
Semester in L.A. helps the motivated student rise to the top of an extremely competitive market. Many graduates have gone on to work in production offices, television shows, talent agencies, and film sets. Three out of four participating students leave the program with an internship or paid job. In a recent semester, 12 out of 14 students (86%) in the producing track had landed internships or jobs in their field. For more, see Internships/Jobs.
Designed for students from a range of disciplines whose career goals focus on Hollywood's entertainment industry, the program draws from the resources and reputation of Columbia College Chicago, the largest arts and media college in the country. Providing unprecedented access to successful professionals in the entertainment industry, Semester in L.A. has proven to be an effective launching pad to careers in this highly competitive sphere.
Interested? Please attend an orientation session/open house. Then you'll need to fill out an application. Also make sure to check out the great attention the program has garnered from CNN and other media outlets. Good luck!
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Intensive Educational Experience
Students in the Semester in L.A. program maintain full-time status of 12-16 credit hours. The contact hours a student would normally achieve in 15 weeks is compressed into five weeks, thus reducing the cost to the student for time spent in Los Angeles. It is assumed that the student will have completed the semester's requirements in five weeks and is then free to work, acquire an internship, return to Chicago or participate in an independent project without jeopardizing financial aid.
Range of Disciplines
While historically most individuals in the program have been film and video majors, Semester in L.A. welcomes students in television, music, management, marketing communications, fiction, and theater.
Courses include not only our successful sessions in Producing but also Directing, Screenwriting, Costuming, Styling and Wardrobe Management, Adaptation, TV Pilot Development, Writing the TV Sitcom, Entertainment Public Relations and Marketing, and Music Composition for Film & Television.
Focus on Hollywood
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Taught by a Faculty of Successful Professionals
Presenters during each session include acquisition executives; development producers; production executives; postproduction personnel including editors, sound designers and postproduction supervisors; story editors; creative producers, entertainment accountants; entertainment attorneys; executive producers, DPs; casting agents; location managers; assistant directors; line producers; screenwriters and many more.
Launching Pad
Semester in L.A. helps the motivated student rise to the top of an extremely competitive market. Many graduates have gone on to work in production offices, television shows, talent agencies, and film sets. Three out of four participating students leave the program with an internship or paid job. In a recent semester, 12 out of 14 students (86%) in the producing track had landed internships or jobs in their field. For more, see Internships/Jobs.