This spring, applicants vying to join the Art Directors Guild’s Production Design Initiative, a program that provides mentorship and on-the-job training to aspiring production designers and art directors, received an alarming email.
A message from the initiative’s leadership team said the program would be suspended until 2025 “due to historic and unprecedented circumstances in the entertainment industry.”
“Due to these circumstances, employment opportunities in the entertainment industry are even slimmer at this time,” reads an excerpt of the email, first obtained by IndieWire. “Given these circumstances, we cannot in good conscience encourage anyone to join our profession, even though many of our members remain unemployed.”
It’s no secret that the entertainment industry is struggling. Contrary to workers’ expectations, film and television production has not picked up again in the wake of last year’s writers’ and actors’ strike. Job opportunities remain scarce as studios seek to recoup losses from the streaming wars by cutting staff and production.
As a result of challenges in the workforce, some prominent industry training programs have been discontinued.
Since Hollywood’s inception, the tips of the entertainment industry have been primarily passed down through hands-on instruction and word of mouth. Many aspiring performers, creators, and artisans are breaking into this business with the help of industry connections and mentors who are eager to share their organizational knowledge.
But the current jobs crisis is forcing Hollywood veterans – many of whom haven’t had steady work in months – to get brutally honest about encouraging newcomers to follow their dreams. .
“I say [mentees] “This industry…is not the industry it was when I started over 12 years ago,” said Ariel Kaplan, a 35-year-old production designer based in Silver Lake. “For me, it’s much more important to try to keep them from being blindsided than it is to try to protect their feelings.”
Production designer Ariel Kaplan admits: A good therapist who will work weekends and take care of themselves throughout your career. These are things that might not have been said eight years ago. ”
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Diandra Kendall Luzon, a film and television editor who has worked as an Uber driver and recently sold her record collection to make ends meet, said ADG’s decision to suspend the training program is concerning. I felt that it was both necessary and appropriate.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I’m not the only one,'” said Luzon, who lives in Inglewood with her 2-year-old son. “These things happen to everyone, and…it’s worse than I expected.”
ADG national executive director Chuck Parker and president Nelson Coates said in a joint statement to the Times that the email was sent in error, was unedited and did not accurately convey the union’s position. . The union’s position is that the show has been postponed to focus on contract negotiations this year between the larger crew union IATSE and the studio.
“This labor campaign with our colleagues and colleagues only makes us even more excited about the future of our industry,” the union said.
The Art Directors Guild isn’t the only organization to make changes in recent months.
Women in Film, a nonprofit organization that provides mentorship and networking opportunities for women, nonbinary, and transgender people, launched the latest edition of its fellowship program just before writers go on a 148-day strike. Raised.
During the shutdown, some professionals on the program, such as writers and entertainment executives, were not allowed to talk business with each other, disrupting a key valve in the organization’s pipeline.
While the industry was at a standstill, financial companies refused to meet with fellow producers seeking funding for their films.
“We still made it work,” said Maikiko James, senior director of programming at Women in Film. “But…what we’ve clearly seen over the last year is that not much is happening in terms of active work and employment.”
The organization has accepted fewer fellows this year (60 instead of 87), in part due to continued hiring shortages. Next year’s fellowship class will also be limited to about 60 people to avoid diluting the network of women in film, James said. Despite this, she still encourages people to apply.
“Because I don’t believe that film and television production is going to go away,” James said. “And as long as stories are being created and told, we want participants to be able to access and work in that space.”
Studios are also feeling the crisis.
Warner Bros. Discovery typically reopens its application portal once a year for its Access to Action program, which provides industry newcomers with a path to entry-level bottom-line jobs.
However, the studio chose to remain closed this summer due to production slowdowns, saying, “It’s not fair to bring in a whole new pool of candidates when we haven’t had the opportunity to actually offer them work.” That’s why, said Eva Goldson Crews, senior manager of corporate social responsibility at Warner Bros. Discovery.
Not all up-and-coming entertainment professionals enroll in training programs. Many tips, skills, and job opportunities are simply exchanged from person to person through a kind of informal apprenticeship model.
When Paul Giacalone, 54, started his career in the 1990s, his older brother showed him the ropes and taught him how to “have respect and earn respect through the process.”
Giacalone recalled working with “old-school people” who told him to “get out, kid,” because Grip’s life “wasn’t what it used to be.”
“But it provided a great life for my family and me,” said Giacalone, who lives in the Conejo Valley. “And I still get excited when I see young people starting out, when a light goes on in their head and they see something they couldn’t see before.”
Following in his brother’s footsteps, Giacalone said he has always felt compelled to give back and mentor new artisans. Most of all, he wants to develop good safety habits.
“Probably the main reason you want to coach people is to help them understand how to do things properly,” Giacalone says.
Model and actor Jessica Lee, best known for “Deal or No Deal,” has faced challenges such as being asked to appear nude in a music video without notice and working on set without proper seating. I benefited from mentors who helped me overcome difficult situations. , water or food.
Lee benefited aspiring performers by encouraging them to develop their talents. If someone catches the acting bug, Lee said, “I feel energized and want to share my pixie dust with them.”
“When I was mentoring, I was so excited and so passionate about things,” model and actor Jessica Leigh said. “Now I feel like…I’m being more honest about some things.” [less] I always share the fascinating aspects of this industry with people because I don’t want to mislead them. ”
(Jason Almond/Los Angeles Times)
But these days, Lee feels the need to warn his mentees that they probably won’t be able to make a living from performing alone.
“It wasn’t always glamorous, glamorous, or easy,” Lee said. “Half of the work is to look glamorous, but lately it has become even more difficult due to the lack of work.”
Foley artist Alison Dee Moore, 63, came into show business as the daughter of character actor Alvy Moore, appearing in “Dallas” and “Falcon Crest” in the late 1970s and early ’80s. (Foley artists physically create sound effects for movies, television shows, video games, etc.)
One of her early mentors was Kitty Malone, who Moore credits as a diminutive former dancer who overcame the industry’s sexism and proved that Foley female artists were capable of making some serious noise. He praised it.
Foley artist Alison Dee Moore said she tries to stay positive when mentoring young people because she doesn’t want to “leave a bad taste in their mouths.” She added, “Maybe they’ll change the industry. Maybe they’ll remember someone being nice to them… and maybe that’ll change in some way.” .”
(Marcus Uebungen/Los Angeles Times)
Moore, who is based in Sherman Oaks, has honored Malone’s legacy by welcoming other women in the industry and linking arms.
As part of the in-house sound team at Warner Bros., she often gives demonstrations to students who visit the Foley Stage on the studio grounds in Burbank to learn everything there is to know about this technology.
“I just have to put on that happy face and know that…it’s not my problem at that point, it’s their problem,” Moore said.
“I really try not to discourage people,” she added. “I’m not going to take that dream away from you.”
Hollywood has been through difficult times before.
When actor, stunt performer, and director Lisa Catala’s alma mater inducted her into its hall of fame and invited her to address the student council in 2020, her glowing pride was tempered by a deep sense of anxiety. After all, it was a year in which production was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Little did Katara, who recently moved to Atlanta from Los Angeles, know how bad things would become just a few years later.
“It’s getting harder and harder to maintain that optimism,” Katala said, “but I still believe that anything is possible.”