This new, customized workshop also presented an opportunity for ������Ƶ LA students to learn from and share the creative process with a group of students from other study-away LA colleges and universities, who, along with ������Ƶ Los Angeles, are members of a coalition of nearly 20 schools that offer semester-in-LA programs. Each semester, ������Ƶ LA and these other schools share professional development opportunities for students, allowing them to mix, mingle, network and learn together.

Each semester, ������Ƶ students explore and discover Los Angeles and the diversity of professional career opportunities that await them through academic classes with professors who work in the industries that align with their courses, immersive, site-based experiential learning, alumni engagement and community service.

Applications for the Study USA Los Angeles spring 2027 Creative Industries & Community Experience open on April 1. Students can visit the  to learn more and to begin the application process.

The gathering, held at The Belmont in West Hollywood, brought together an enthusiastic group of alumni, many of whom had participated in the ������Ƶ LA semester experience during their ������Ƶ academic journeys.

Current students shared internship and academic class experiences with their new ������Ƶ connections. Many took advantage of the opportunity to request meetings later this semester with individual alumni as a part of the ������Ƶ Los Angeles “Coffee with an Alumnus” program.

The immersive Study USA Los Angeles semester and summer experiences offer students opportunities for alumni engagement, community service, unique academic classes with industry professionals, and site-based experiential learning.  for Spring 2027 open April 1.

In accordance with the terms of their grants, alumna Bex Evans ’16, Julie Boyd ’15 and Mirai ’07 have each created opportunities for spring students to participate in and/or observe both their pre-production process and on-set work.

Pre-production of all three short films is slated to begin this week, with production to start shortly thereafter. Production of all three films will be completed by the end of the Los Angeles spring semester in April. The three short films will have their world premiere this July at the first ������Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival.

Through Study USA�����Ի���National Campus Programs, ������Ƶ Los Angeles offers an immersive spring and summer semester of academic classes, experiential learning, professional development and community service opportunities for students with a variety of majors. For information about the Los Angeles experience and 2027 opportunities, please visit the �����Ի���National Campus Programs���ɱ�������ٱ��.

A Saturday morning orientation introduced students to the ������Ƶ Los Angeles home base at The Preserve, in Hollywood, and included presentations by all of this semester’s faculty about their courses and the content of their classes.

Returning instructors include director and long-time ������Ƶ LA professor Boris Schaarschmidt, who is once again teaching a directing masterclass. Entertainment attorney Daniel Spitz has returned to teach Media Law and Ethics, and writer and longtime ������Ƶ LA professor Matthew Antonelli has returned to teach a unique, one-evening master seminar in March, called Inside the Writer’s Room.

New to the ������Ƶ Los Angeles faculty team this semester are art historian and educator Charles Peterson, who is teaching a course in Los Angeles art and architecture history, and award-winning global strategist, thought leader and educator Brandon Shamim, who is teaching “Principles of Management,” with a Los Angeles focus.

������Ƶ Los Angeles director and long time industry professional Brad Lemack is once again teaching the experiential learning course this spring, which focuses student internship experiences on work culture, industry shifts and transitions, and professional development.

������Ƶ Los Angeles program assistant and ������Ƶ alumna Macy Mills ‘23 led students on their first excursion this semester after orientation, with an immersive day of LA experiences at the world class Getty Center, followed by a visit to the historic Los Angeles Farmer’s Market and The Grove, at Third and Fairfax.

In addition to unique academic classes and internships, this spring semester experience for students will also include a day of community service at the Hollywood Food Coalition, alumni engagement gatherings and the opportunity to participate in and/or observe the production of the three short films being produced by the ������Ƶ LA-based alumni recipients of the 2025-26 ������Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Competition.

Through and National Campus Programs, ������Ƶ Los Angeles offers immersive spring and summer semester programs for students with a variety of majors. For information about the Los Angeles experience and 2027 opportunities, please visit the and National Campus Programs websites.

The 2025-26 Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant competition was open to all Los Angeles-based ������Ƶ alumni to submit proposals this past fall for consideration for production funding. A selection committee comprised of both industry professionals and ������Ƶ alumni was assembled to read, review and rank all proposals received. From those rankings, the top three highest-ranked projects were selected to receive grants. Grant funding was made possible, in part, by the financial support from members of the ������Ƶ Los Angeles alumni community and others.

The three grant recipients are Julia Boyd ’15, for her short film “The Life and Times of …”, Mirai ’07, for her short film “#StopAsianKate” and Bex Evans ’16, for their short film “Shadow Dusk.”

Production of these funded projects will commence in early 2026. As a component of the grant requirements, filmmakers will make opportunities available to ������Ƶ Los Angeles Spring 2026 students to participate in their projects through direct set experience and/or production observation. ������Ƶ Los Angeles program assistant and alumna Macy Mills ’23 and alumnus Jordan Roman ’15 were co-chairs of this year’s grant competition.

The selection committee members included Emmy Award-winning writer, producer and showrunner (“Lost,” House,” “The Good Wife”) ������Ƶ parent Leonard Dick P’20 (father of Julie Dick ’20), Emmy Award-winning producer Marsha Posner Williams (“The Golden Girls”), actor Eric Rollins, and LA-based alumni Frankie Campisano ’16, Mia Ginae Watkins ’16, Lauren Duncan ’18 and Alyssa Needham ’19.

The three short films funded will have their world premieres at the first ������Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival in late July 2026.

Emmy Award-winning writer, producer and showrunner (“Lost,” House,” “The Good Wife”) and ������Ƶ parent Leonard Dick P’20 (father of Julie Dick ’20), Emmy Award-winning producer Marsha Posner Williams (“The Golden Girls”) and actor Eric Rollins will join with ������Ƶ LA-based alumni filmmakers award- Frankie Campisano ’16, Mia Ginae Watkins ’16, Lauren Duncan ’18 and Alyssa Needham ’19 to read, rank and judge the 2025-26 competition submissions received. The submission window for project proposals closed on Oct. 1.

Award recipients will be announced in early December 2026. Funded projects will require the alumni filmmakers to include the participation of students from the ������Ƶ Los Angeles spring 2026 semester experience in various production, performance and other capacities.

The three fund-supported films will have their premiere screenings in late July 2026 at the first ������Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Film Festival.

������Ƶ alumni Jordan Roman ‘15 and Macy Mills ‘23 (Mills also serves as ������Ƶ Los Angeles program assistant) are the short film grant project’s co-chairs.

The LA Study Away Collective works together as a group to share events and gatherings that students from all member schools can participate in. Students from numerous study away LA programs have already participated in recent ������Ƶ Los Angeles-produced events, affording students the opportunity for exposure to some of the cutting-edge programming ������Ƶ Los Angeles is offering. Students from different schools also have the opportunity to meet and connect with each other at these events throughout the year.

The ������Ƶ Los Angeles leadership gathering was co-hosted by Larry Bond, owner of The Preserve, ������Ƶ LA’s Hollywood home base. Bond led the group on an informative tour of the historic Paul Williams-designed building and grounds, sharing the history of the historic landmark.

While each school’s Los Angeles study away program is designed to provide a unique LA experience to their students, each program is also uniquely crafted to the academic and experiential learning mission, brand and goals of each school.

From Study USA and National Campus Programs, ������Ƶ Los Angeles has offered a semester-long, immersive academic, cultural, professional development, alumni engagement and community service program to ������Ƶ students since 2008.

Applications for the summer 2026 Los Angeles experience are now open. Interested students can attend a meet-and-greet gathering with Lemack, Mills, Study USA director Ronice Johnson-Guy and National Campus Programs director Ashley Pinney, and others, on Monday, Oct. 6, from 3 – 5 p.m., at Irazu, located in the Mosely Student Center

Study USA will also present a mini-fair on Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 3 – 5 p.m., in the Mosely Center, McKinnon Hall F, for students to learn more about all of the Study USA and National Campus Programs locations and opportunities.

A wide range of topics were covered in a conversation that was moderated by ������Ƶ Los Angeles director Brad Lemack. Attendees participated in a lively question-and-answer session covering topics that ranged from AI in the writer’s room to the state of the production industry landscape in Los Angeles.

������Ƶ LA program assistant Macy Mills is co-producing this innovative fall initiative with Lemack.

The next event in the “Learn & Share” series is an alumni day of community service on Thursday afternoon and evening on Oct. 16, covering meal service shifts at ������Ƶ LA’s non-profit partner, The Hollywood Food Coalition. ������Ƶ LA-area alumni can get information and sign up to participate .

On Wednesday evening, September 17, at 6:30 p.m. PT, at ������Ƶ LA’s home base at The Preserve, ������Ƶ alumna Michelle Leibel ‘14, a co-executive producer of the hit CBS-TV series, “Matlock,” starring Kathy Bates, will share the journey of her career success so far with fellow ������Ƶ alumni, in a conversation and Q&A moderated by ������Ƶ Los Angeles Director Brad Lemack. To register for this event, please visit .

On Thursday, October 16th, from 1:30 p.m. PT – 8:30 p.m. PT, alumni will have the opportunity to give back to the Los Angeles community by volunteering for a meal service shift at the Hollywood Food Coalition, ������Ƶ LA’s nonprofit community partner. To register to volunteer for this important initiative, please visit: .

The fall 2025 ������Ƶ LA “Learn & Share” program initiative will conclude on Thursday evening, November 13th, at 6:30 p.m. PT at The Preserve, with a conversation and Q&A with a leader from the industry financial community about money matters, strategic financial planning, and taxes for entertainment industry freelancers and others. To register for this event, please visit: .

������Ƶ Los Angeles is invested in both student and alumni achievement. ������Ƶ LA has a commitment to offering an environment and fostering opportunities for all members of the ������Ƶ LA community to learn, earn and thrive.

“Learn & Share” opportunities for ������Ƶ alumni are free to attend, but registration for each event is required through the links provided. Seating at the conversation/Q&A events is limited to 25 people; participation in the alumni community service day is limited to 16 people.

To be considered a short film for this funding competition, the running time of the completed project must be 15 minutes or less. Selected projects are required to make production, performance and other opportunities available in those projects for students participating in the ������Ƶ Los Angeles Spring 2026 program. To qualify for funding consideration, applicants must be Los Angeles area-based alumni of ������Ƶ; all projects submitted must be original and unproduced.

Funding award decisions will be made by a selection committee comprised of ������Ƶ community-associated and entertainment industry-affiliated individuals. The announcement of award recipients will be made before the end of the year.

The three projects selected for production will have their world premieres at a special festival screening event in July 2026. Funds awarded will come directly from dollars contributed by ������Ƶ LA-based alumni, alumni from other geographic areas and contributions from other sources.

������Ƶ alumni Macy Mills ’23, program assistant at ������Ƶ Los Angeles, and Jordan Roman ’15 are serving are co-chairs of the 2025=26 grant project.

For submission requirements and instructions, please visit the ������Ƶ Los Angeles 2025/2026 Alumni Short Film Grant .