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Type | Public university |
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Established | 1947 |
Parent institution | University of California, Los Angeles |
Dean | Brian Kite |
Academic staff | 140 |
Students | 315 graduate, 328 undergraduate |
Location | , , United States 34°04′34″N118°26′24″W / 34.076°N 118.440°W |
Website | tft |
The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leading university had combined the study of theater, filmmaking and television production into a single administration. [1]
The School's enrollment, in 2014, consisted of 631 students. For Fall 2014, the School received 4,442 applications and offered admission to 346 applicants (7.8%).
With 140 faculty members teaching 335 undergrads and 296 graduate students, the teacher to student ratio is about 1:5.
The roots of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television go back to 1947 when the Theater Arts Department was created at UCLA and chaired by German theater director William Melnitz. When the department became the UCLA College of Fine Arts in 1961, Melnitz was named the founding dean, and drama critic and film producer Kenneth Macgowan became the chair of the Department of Theater Arts. The College of Fine Arts grew in standing and within seven years, its two departments had moved into their own facilities: Macgowan Hall became home to Theater in 1963, and the Department of Motion Pictures, Television and Radio moved into Melnitz Hall in 1967. Melnitz Hall is one of the few film theaters in the country with the capability of projecting nitrate base motion pictures. Nitrate films were the standard of pre-talkie motion pictures.
Twenty years later, in 1987, The College of Fine Arts was disbanded. The School of Theater, Film and Television was created in 1990, and Gilbert Cates, a renowned film, television and Broadway director, became its founding dean. The curriculum was expanded, new faculty was hired, and entertainment industry connections were strengthened.
In 1999, Robert Rosen became UCLA TFT’s second dean. A professor and film historian, Rosen had earlier spearheaded the expansion of the UCLA Film & Television Archive into one of the largest collections of moving image material. As dean, Rosen expanded the School’s international influence with strong alliances, particularly in China.
UCLA alumna Teri Schwartz became the dean of UCLA TFT in 2009. A former award-winning feature film producer, she was previously the founding dean of the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
In January 2020, established and award-winning theater director Brian Kite became the interim dean of TFT. Kite is the recipient of the 2018 Joel Hirschhorn Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, for distinguished achievement in musical theater. He is a Los Angeles Ovation Award winner for Best Direction of a Musical for his production of Spring Awakening and was again nominated for his productions of Les Misérables and American Idiot. Kite is a chair emeritus of the Board of Governors of the L.A. Stage Alliance, holds an appointment as a visiting professor at the Shanghai Theatre Academy and is the artistic director of the award-winning Buffalo Nights Theatre Company. [2]
The Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment at UCLA TFT was created in partnership with Participant Media founder and CEO Jeffrey Skoll in 2014. Skoll donated $10 million for the center, the first of its kind dedicated solely to advancing entertainment and performing arts to inspire social change. The idea for the center came to Teri Schwartz, later dean of the UCLA TFT, in 2003; after meeting Skoll in 2007, she shared the idea for the center with him, and seven years later the center was founded. [3] The work of the Center is organized around three pillars: research, education, and public programming and exhibition. The Skoll Center for SIE is one of about a dozen dedicated research institutions focusing on Social impact entertainment. [4]
The different areas of studies in the Department of Theater consist of: [5]
The program teaches the general studies of theater broadly, before allowing the student to study their specified area of study.
Offering Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, the graduate program requires an audition for all acting applicants and a possible interview for other candidates.
The different areas of studies in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media consist of:
The undergraduate program in Film, Television and Digital Media gives students the opportunity to learn about the history and theory of film and television while also teaching practical, creative and technical skills. Students must concentrate on one of the following areas:
Students must all complete one internship during their senior year.
Offering Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, the graduate program offers two main areas of study. A Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy degree are available for Cinema and Media Studies. The Master of Fine Arts degree can be obtained with the choice of five specializations:
Taught by top experts and leaders working in the entertainment industry, the world-renowned Professional Programs at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television offers graduate-level, competitive admission, yearlong, non-degree programs in Screenwriting, Producing, Writing for Television, Acting for the Camera and Directing.
The School of Theater, Film and Television consists of a linked network of professional theaters, sound stages, and television studios.
Made possible by a $5 million gift from Audrey L. Wilder and designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture, the 295-seat Billy Wilder Theater is situated on the Courtyard level of the Hammer Museum in Westwood Village.
The Geffen Playhouse was founded in 1995 by former UCLA TFT Dean Gilbert Cates. The theater is named after entertainment executive and philanthropist David Geffen, who gave a substantial initial gift for the restoration of the theater’s building, originally constructed in 1929.
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," the college offers more than three dozen degree and professional training programs specializing in the fields of arts and communication with a foundation in liberal arts studies. The college is one of the founding members of the ProArts Consortium, an association of six neighboring institutions in Boston dedicated to arts education at the collegiate level. Emerson is also notable for the college's namesake public opinion poll, Emerson College Polling.
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Jeffrey Stuart Skoll, OC is a Canadian engineer, billionaire internet entrepreneur and film producer. He was the first president of eBay, eventually using the wealth this gave him to become a philanthropist, particularly through the Skoll Foundation, and his media company Participant Media. He founded an investment firm, Capricorn Investment Group, soon after and currently serves as its chairman. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he graduated from University of Toronto in 1987 and left Canada to attend Stanford University's business school in 1993.
The UCLA School of Education and Information Studies is one of the academic and professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. Located in Los Angeles, California, the school combines two departments. Established in 1881, the school is the oldest unit at UCLA, having been founded as a normal school prior to the establishment of the university. It was incorporated into the University of California in 1919.
The AFI Conservatory is a private not-for-profit graduate film school in the Hollywood Hills district of Los Angeles. Students learn from the masters in a collaborative, hands-on production environment with an emphasis on storytelling. The Conservatory is a program of the American Film Institute founded in 1969.
Beijing Film Academy is a coeducational state-run higher education institution in Beijing, China.
Lewis R. Hunter was an American screenwriter, author, and educator. He was chairman Emeritus and Professor of Screenwriting at the UCLA Department of Film and Television.
Paul Castro is an American screenwriter and educator. He is best known for the musical fantasy, August Rush.
The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture is a professional school at the University of California, Los Angeles. Through its four degree-granting departments, it provides a range of course offerings and programs. Additionally, there are eight centers located within the school.
Brian Kite is a producing artistic director, theater director, actor, academic administrator. He is an interim dean of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television. Kite has served as chair and theater directing professor at the UCLA Theater Department for five years prior to becoming the interim dean at UCLA school of Theater, Film and Television.
Richard Walter is an American author, educator, screenwriter, commentator, consultant, and chairman of the University of California, Los Angeles graduate program in screenwriting.
Andrew Tsao is an American theater, film and television producer and director.
Dan Mazeau is an American screenwriter. While attending the MFA screenwriting program at UCLA, he wrote a family fantasy "The Land of Lost Things" and the script was set up at Nickelodeon/Paramount Pictures, with Arnold Kopelson producing. Mazeau was hired by Dan Lin and Warner Bros. to adapt Jonny Quest. He was named one of Variety's "10 Screenwriters to Watch" in 2008 and the script was on the Blacklist that same year.
The L.A. Rebellion film movement, sometimes referred to as the "Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers", or the UCLA Rebellion, refers to the new generation of young African and African-American filmmakers who studied at the UCLA Film School in the late-1960s to the late-1980s and have created a black cinema that provides an alternative to classical Hollywood cinema.
The School of Cinema is housed in the College of Liberal & Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. It is located in San Francisco, California, US, and offers a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts, and Master of Fine Arts in cinema. The program has been frequently included in the annual "Top 25 American Film Schools" rankings published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Robin Russin is an American screenwriter, director, playwright, author and educator.
Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is one of 10 schools constituting Chapman University, located in Orange, California, 40 miles (64 km) south of Los Angeles. The school offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, with programs in film production, screenwriting, creative producing, news, documentary, public relations, advertising, digital arts, film studies, television writing, producing, and screen acting.
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, is “the first school of music to be established in the University of California system.” Established in 2007 under the purview of the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture and the UCLA Division of Humanities, the UC Board of Regents formally voted in January 2016 to establish the school.[1] Supported in part by a $30 million endowment from the Herb Alpert Foundation.[1]
Social Impact Entertainment (SIE) is "all storytelling that is self-aware of its potential impact on its audiences and incorporates that knowledge to effect positive change at the individual, local, or global scale on one or more social issues", as defined by the SIE Society.