USA Los Angeles Internship: Film & Television

• COM FT 566 The Business of Hollywood (4 credits)
  • A practical analysis of the film and television industries. A general overview of the business of entertainment and the balancing act between art and commerce. How to evaluate, acquire, develop, package, promote, sell, finance, produce, and market motion picture and television product. Where to begin, how to apply what you’ve learned in the classroom to the marketplace, and how to land your first and second jobs. Understanding the personalities and social constructs of the industry and how to navigate your way through the industry and make a career for yourself in film and television.
  • Syllabus

• COM CM 563 Entertainment Marketing (4 credits)
  • This course surveys the strategy, techniques, and communication media employed to market the range of entertainment available to the American audience. The course examines the organizations and people who conceive, create, and distribute video, film, print, interactive, and new technology within the framework of the entertainment promotion landscape. The course demonstrates how advertising, publicity, promotion, research, and overall marketing campaigns are created and the impact on the creative and business operations of entertainment companies.
  • Syllabus
• COM CM 564 Entertainment Promotion: Speaker Series (4)
  • The course will showcase agents, managers, publicists, and studio executives, among others, who will discuss their role and real-life experience in developing and guiding an entertainment project (be it a movie, play, book, or music) to success. The course surveys the nuts-and-bolts of taking an entertainment project from the ground up with emphasis on doing so in the digital age of the 21st century.
  • Syllabus
• COM FT 539 Professional Production Methods (4)
  • To introduce film and television students to professional-quality production techniques, suppliers, and equipment through field trips and speakers in the PLB classroom, and at film and video shoots, vendors, and post-production facilities. The class will primarily consist of required excursions; it will also include lectures, guest speakers, screenings, class discussions, and demonstrations. The class meetings will be informal, striving for an open exchange of ideas, points of view, experiences, and difficulties encountered in film and video production. Students are encouraged to participate in an open forum of discussions regarding techniques, problems encountered related to directing and producing skills, and so forth. We also discuss potential solutions to problems, some of which are routinely encountered in the film industry.
• COM FT 554E Special Topics: Introduction to Virtual Production (4)Effective
  Fall '23
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Explores the ever-growing world of virtual production through the lens of creative storytelling. In this survey course students will utilize the virtualization process and techniques of The Third Floor, an industry leader in the area of pre-visualization, when taking an idea from script to audience. Through real examples the course breaks down each step in the process in exploring the relationship between technology and art. Students gain hands-on experience through project-based work where they define a workflow for a classic piece of cinema while applying the technology of today.
• COM FT 584 The Creative Life in Television (4)
  • Prerequisite: This course is open to COM students or those who have taken and passed a course in communications, creative writing, theater or film studies, acting, or literary study at the college level. This course is oriented to students who have a solid background in television and in the industry and is not an introductory course.
  • This course will follow the life and death of a television season. We examine what makes it on the air, why it gets there, who creates it, who sells it, who buys it, and who is going to pay for it. We look at the cultural, political, and commercial forces that shape the creative environment. The course examines the struggle of the networks to survive in a rapidly changing environment and in the face of new technologies. And as the dinosaurs die, we look at the new opportunities this era of change offers for fresh talent.
  • Syllabus
• COM FT 585 Careers in Hollywood (4)
  • A series of symposium-like evenings with industry professionals speaking primarily on those topics covered in COM FT 566 The Business of Hollywood. Some classes will reflect topics covered in COM FT 584 The Creative Life in Television. Students will be given the opportunity for up close and personal interaction with some of the industry’s movers and shakers. An opportunity to network with industry alumni as well as non-alumni professionals.
  • Syllabus
• COM FT 586 Screenwriting in Hollywood (4)Effective
  Fall '23
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Writing Intensive Course
  • Prerequisite: This course is open to COM students or those who have already taken a First Year writing course and at least three previous screenwriting courses
  • In this advanced screenwriting workshop, students will focus on developing new skills and refining previously learned writing skills including story, structure, dialogue and character development in the process of writing a dynamic, professional film or television script. Students will also prepare their script for the marketplace employing creative strategies in ideation and rewriting.
• QST MK 435 Introduction to the Music Business and Music Marketing (4)
  • Spring only
  • Prerequisite: QST MK 323 Marketing Management, or the equivalent.
  • Survey of the music industry with a focus on understanding of its structure and the intersection of business and music. Discusses key areas of music marketing, including opportunities for musicians, such as publicity, advertising, promotion (online and traditional), digital distribution, touring, licensing/synch, and radio.
  • Syllabus
• QST SI 438/COM FT 438 Talent Representation, Management, and Contracts (4)
  • Spring only
  • Prerequisite for BU Questrom students: QST OB 221.
  • Prerequisite for non-Boston University students: Organizational Behavior.
  • No prerequisite for BU COM students.
  • Participants in this course will be offered a rare, hands-on opportunity to peer behind the historically closed doors of talent agencies, personal management companies, entertainment law firms, and other representation team members. Utilizing case studies and business models, the class members will examine the manner in which these critical players interact and attempt to work together on behalf of clients. Participants will gain an understanding of the different areas of talent representation, how each one functions in the scope of a client’s career and what the position responsibilities are in each area of representation. Readings and research projects will focus on current approaches to negotiation.
  • Syllabus

Please note that these are examples of past internship placements only. While BU Study Abroad guarantees an internship to program participants, specific placements vary from semester to semester and may not always be available. Likewise, internship placements may be available in academic areas not listed.

• Non-credit Hub Co-curricular: HUB SA 330 Study Abroad Internship
  • This course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area:
    • Individual in Community
• COM FT 493 Internship in Film/TV (4 credits)
  • Opportunity for students to gain professional experience at television and film production companies, studios and other media institutions. Examples of past placements have included NBCUniversal, PatMa Productions, Thunder Road Films, ABC/Disney, Gunpowder & Sky, AMC and Sony but are subject to change in any given semester, depending on availability.