Internship takes students to Hollywood

Students interested in careers in the entertainment industry can get a leg up through the Ladder Program.

The program offers 13-week internships in Los Angeles and is available to U juniors and seniors as well as graduate students.

Heidi Heller Banks, executive director of the Ladder Program, said the program is ideal for anyone interested in a career in entertainment. She said the program is beneficial for students interested in acting, writing, directing, business, marketing, advertising, public relations and many other professions in the entertainment industry.

"You don't have companies coming on campus to recruit, so you have to move to L.A. to break into the entertainment industry," Banks said. "If you're going down there with no way in, it can be very intimidating -- it may take you five or six years to figure out how to get into the industry. Or you can do the internship program that explains the industry to you, and then you leave after 13 weeks with a list of contacts that you've developed."

Matt Schley, a junior in film studies, participated in the program and did his internship at 50 Cannon, a film and TV production company.

"The film studies department here is a great department, but the stuff we learned was all very theoretical and academic, and down there, it was all very real world," Schley said. "I'm actually going back this summer to work for them again. I get paid this time, so it works out really well."

Students who enter the program work full-time, attend a weekly class, participate in a guest-speaker series and take class field trips within the Los Angeles area.

The cost of the program is around $7,600 and includes housing, books, tuition and class trips and activities. Twelve upper division credit hours can be earned during the program.

For more information on the Ladder Program, visit www.theladderprogram.com or call 818-231-6768.

a.cone@chronicle.utah.edu