((PKG)) HOLLYWOOD INTERNS
((Banner: Behind the Camera))
((Reporter/Camera: Elizabeth Lee))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((Banner: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood is developing underrepresented young filmmakers through a program called Academy Gold))
((NATS))
((IRIS LEE, ACADEMY GOLD INTERN))
I’m young but I think I would really want to be a cinematographer in the future and kind of at least work in the cinematography field or anything kind of surrounding camera.
((NATS))
So, I am born and raised here. I’m from Northern California in the East Bay area kind of near San Francisco. My parents come from Taiwan and when they came here and had me, I don’t think they expected me to have a career in entertainment. I don’t think any first-generation children really go into entertainment. This is a cliché we hear.
((NATS))
((EDGAR AGUIRRE, ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES))
I’m the Director of Talent Development and Inclusion here at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
((NATS))
If the Academy, in partnership with the industry, recognize we could be playing a more proactive role in facilitating the development of amazing talent of underrepresented communities, both domestically and internationally.
((NATS))
Thanks to our partners of 26 companies that are a part of the Academy Gold program, we were able to identify amazing talent from South Africa, from Europe, from Asia, from Latin America. Last summer, we had 69 students and 20 companies participate. This year, we have 107 students and 26 companies participating. It’s not just a one-summer experience. Last year, the 69 students that went through this program, each and every one of them was matched with an Academy member for a nine-month mentorship.
Over 50% of our alums from last year, thanks to this mentorship, intervention, interaction resulted in jobs, resulted in other internships, resulted in other key transitions that really transformed their careers.
((YOUSEF ASSABAHI, ACADEMY GOLD INTERN))
I’m Yemeni American. I have dual citizenship. I want to write and direct stories about Middle Easterners, Arabs living in the States and Yeminis in Yemen back home.
((NATS))
But to explore things as a writer and I want to understand why people behave the way they behave. There are a lot of TV shows where Yemen comes up in the TV show, but it’s considered as the hub of these fanatics and radicals that will just, they have no goal in life but to attack the West, and that’s untrue. And I want to tell stories that are complex that present the good and the bad. I was lucky I didn’t face any resistance. My dad is a novelist. He writes stories. I grew up in more of a literature, artistic family. They were a little bit like, “You know it’s a risky career we know, you know, but if that’s what you love.” And I didn’t face resistance and I’m actually, I feel privileged and grateful to have grown up in such a house.
((NATS))
((IRIS LEE, ACADEMY GOLD INTERN))
I think initially they had a stronger reaction than they did now. Through my persistence, through it, they’ve calmed down a little bit, to say, and they’ve kind of allowed me to have a little more kind of just freedom in pursuing it and, of course, everything I do, I want to make them happy and I want to make sure that they’re as excited about the opportunities as I am and, I think, they’re starting to see it and are seeing it right now.
