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These are the best and worst times for employment in the entertainment/streaming industry. As with the labor market across the country, there is a labor shortage, which is a good thing for those who are looking for work. But the situation has made it difficult for companies to fill vacancies. As a result, labor training programs arose and expanded in Hollywood.
“There’s definitely a tight labor market for all types of workers, and that’s expanding the supply of experienced, skilled workers,” said Charles Slocum, assistant executive director of the Writers Guild of the West. “Television production is at or near an all-time high, and feature film and other feature film production is at or near an all-time high.”
Slocum, an organized labor executive who worked in finance in Hollywood earlier in his career, said the crunch ranged from production staff to talent.
Hollywood’s coronavirus reboot appears to have magnified a long-standing labor shortage.
“Once the industry is convinced it can make movies and TV in a safe way, in January 2021, we see all the studios picking up steam,” said Mark Goldstein, president and CEO of production company Entertainment Partners. Mark Goldstein) said Hollywood’s provider of financial, management and corporate services. “The result is a large number of products being approved at the same time, which leads the industry to need more talent to support all products” hitting the streets at the same time. Entertainment Partners is owned by private equity giant TPG Capital.
Now, workforce training programs initiated by industry, government, nonprofits and unions are proliferating across Hollywood. Often, their ambition is to attract workers from other industries to deepen Hollywood’s workforce and hire individuals from historically underrepresented communities to improve population diversity. These programs include in-person classroom learning, distance learning via video, and connections with working professionals and internships.
CFC Program
The California Film Commission has enhanced two parallel training programs. CFC, the national economic development agency, launched its Career Paths Program in 2020 to attract and train individuals from underserved communities (i.e. women and minorities) for entry-level jobs in Hollywood craftsmanship. Career pathways add life skills and job training.
A separate career preparation program started in 2005 prepares participants for a career in Hollywood productions and utilizes third-party training partners. The CFC noted that in fiscal year 2020-21, “approximately 100 productions under Programs 2.0 and 3.0 employed more than 250 interns to meet career readiness requirements, resulting in approximately 53,000 hours of paid work.”
have a strong
Focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Colleen Bell
california film commission
“We’re part of training in California,” said CFC executive director Colleen Bell. “There’s a lot of focus on diversity, equity and inclusion — diversifying the entertainment industry channels.” Bell has worked as a TV producer and government agency, including as the Obama administration’s ambassador to Hungary.
studio training
Another part of the training puzzle is private sector initiatives. Major film studios have countless training jobs, which is not surprising given their size and labor needs. For example, Sony Pictures created the Diversity Director Program as a way to find emerging talent from diverse backgrounds. Among the diverse directing graduates was Barry Jenkins, who later directed Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight.
In the video streaming space, Amazon Studios announced in October its sponsorship of the 2022-2023 Young Film Program alumni program, run by the Latino Film Institute led by Edward James Olmos.
Using a distance learning strategy, industry service provider Entertainment Partners developed 20 self-paced video courses for Hollywood crew, finance and management training in 2020. About 12,500 people have taken these EP Academy courses, which were free during the pandemic and now cost anywhere from free to $199 (free to EP clients).
“It’s not expensive to do, and it’s definitely worth it” to upskill the workforce, Goldstein said. Entertainment Partners operates the leading Hollywood payroll service.
Organized labor also administers training programs. The WGA Showrunner training program, launched nearly two decades ago, emphasizes on-the-job learning in the higher-paying category of writer/producer/director positions directing TV dramas; the Writers Guild Union works with employer group Film and Television Producers Alliance. SAG-AFTRA has endorsed six training programs for intimacy coordinators that advocate actors working with production companies on scenes involving nudity and simulated sex. The unusual job category was formalized in 2018.
School
The main preparation places for white-collar jobs are local colleges and universities that cater to Hollywood as a big hometown industry. In addition to local institutions, more than a dozen out-of-state colleges and universities have sizable permanent satellite campuses in the region, emphasizing entertainment/media studies, and also serving graduates in the industry. These schools include Emerson College in Boston and New York University. A year ago, Arizona State University opened its media/entertainment-focused California Center campus at the historic Pioneer Examiner Building on 11th Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. ASU has an ambitious goal of enrolling an additional 100 million students globally in distance learning in 40 languages ​​by 2030.
Training aimed at bringing in underrepresented population groups has become sensitive and important. Criticism erupted earlier this month over plans to close the Warner Bros. TV writers and directors studio, which has been a conduit for minority training. The decision to close the program was rescinded five days after it was announced, and the workshop is now housed in WBD’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion division, in partnership with WBTV.
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