Film, theater students prepare for tough job market despite earning their college degrees
This article is part of the Daily Bruin’s Graduation Issue 2011 coverage. To view the entire package of articles, columns and multimedia, please visit:
By Niran Somasundaram
June 4, 2011 11:21 p.m.
University graduation is traditionally a time to celebrate, to look back on the fond memories of the undergraduate experience and look forward with anticipation and excitement for what is to come.
But many graduating students will leave UCLA this year with a measure of uncertainty. They enter an incredibly unstable job market with relatively little experience.
Students in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television feel this pressure especially. They train to enter into a field that many would argue does not require a specialized degree, and they do so in Los Angeles, one of the entertainment capitals of the world. Though this means more jobs, it also means a larger competition pool.
“It’s like a known abyss. It’s project by project, so a stable secure job is hard to find,” said Christine Yuan, a fourth-year film student with a concentration in directing and film production and a former Daily Bruin staff member. “I think a lot of us are willing to float around in the freelance market for the while, just because we want to be creating.”
However, students in TFT’s two-year film program said that the experience has helped prepare them for a job after college.
“It’s hard to break in. It’s a really specific subculture,” said Colleen Koestner, a fourth-year film student with a concentration in film production and a former Daily Bruin contributor. “Having the experience of working on sets at a time where we can mess up and make mistakes has been so valuable.”
According to Yuan, the program has helped students become more self-assured in their artistic decisions.
“When you’re a director and you have a 30-person crew waiting, you better know what you’re doing,” Yuan said. “I feel like I’ve learned how to be confident in my art.”
For Yuan, the most valuable aspect of her degree is the feeling of community students get from the small 30-person film program, all of whom provide possible networking opportunities as they go out into the professional world.
“When I go into Melnitz (Hall), every face is a friendly face,” Yuan said. “We all have this camaraderie because we go through the same steps ““ writing, directing, editing ““ and we’re all trying to meet a deadline. … Knowing that someone is in the editing room next to me makes me feel better.”
TFT’s undergraduate theater program provides actors, directors and stage designers with a place to hone their skills.
But Andy Sowers, a fourth-year theater student with a concentration in directing, said they are left to figure out the business and management side of theater on their own.
“UCLA is very good at preparing people to be artists ““ I have an understanding of how to create theatrical art ““ but they don’t really give you an understanding of how to apply that to the real world. It’s up to you to find out how you’re going to make it.”
The theater program gives students the opportunity to work with professors who have extensive knowledge and experience with the theater world. Sowers said the opportunity to learn from his professors’ industry experiences was incredibly beneficial.
“This whole school has a real Hogwarts feel,” Sowers said. “We have these old professors who are masters of their craft, and they’ll sprinkle magic dust on a scene every once in a while. I’ll direct a scene that’s not working, and they will say one sentence to the actors, and it all falls together. What is that if not magic?”
According to Sowers, his undergraduate experience and the influence of his professors gave him the goal of creating and directing socially relevant theater.
“Theater has become so dead in our age,” Sowers said. “We’re watching yesterday’s theater. … We learned that you have to make theater relevant to your generation.”
Though Sowers said the degree teaches students valuable lessons about time management and the acting life in general, he also said that graduates, especially those pursuing acting, face a challenge in the job market.
“Honestly, it’s not looking good for a lot of people,” Sowers said. “There are not too many theaters looking for actors. (There are) so many actors in this town.”
According to Sowers, despite the daunting task of seeking work in a city that attracts acting and directing hopefuls from all over the country, he has no regrets about his decision to earn a theater degree.
“In your four years, you realize you have the ambition, and you also realize that you have to set aside four years to train and really make sure that you’ve got it,” Sowers said. “Having a degree definitely gives you a leg up on others.”
