June 8, 2011

Three years in the making, the Westphal Los Angeles Program will launch this summer with 25 undergraduates from Film & Video, Television, Screenwriting & Playwriting, and 2 Television Management graduate students participating. Being in Hollywood, the epicenter of the film and television industry, will afford the students an opportunity to familiarize themselves and build networks in the city where many of our alumni find work after graduation. Students will reside in the Oakwood Apartments in Toluca Hills and will begin departing for California as early as this week.

Participants will take four classes, two of which are being taught by LA based Film Professionals, Peter Egan and Camelia Adibi. Peter Egan, a writer with a B.A. from Harvard, has written for both prime-time one-hour dramas, including Medium, as well as children's programming like Sweet Valley High. Egan will be teaching a course on Creating Television and is also the program’s Internship Coordinator. Industry internships are one of the highlights of the program and Peter has been busy lining them up at places like The SyFy Channel and The Collective, a full-service entertainment management, media and content production company. Camelia Adibi has an MFA in Producing from UCLA and has worked for New Line Cinema. She will be teaching “The Business of Filmmaking.” Screenwriting & Playwriting Program Director Ian Abrams, who will live on site and fill the role of faculty mentor, will teach a Film Studies Special Topic course entitled “Hollywood on Hollywood.” For the fourth course each student will pursue an independent project and create a documentary film of their experience. We have high hopes for the Westphal Los Angeles Program and we look forward to extending this opportunity to more students next year. For more information please contact Karin Kelly at kpk23@drexel.edu.