Finding Focus

Cinema Program Enables Inner-City Youth To Explore Their Talents And Their Futures

For many children growing up in the heart of Los Angeles, dreams of exploring the future are often tempered by the reality of surviving the violence, poverty and crime of the present. Hope exists, however, in the Cosby Summer Youth Institute at the School of Cinema-Television, which for eight weeks each summer takes youngsters out of the maelstrom and puts them behind the camera, where they have the chance to explore their creative potential.

Begun in 1995, and subsequently renamed in 1998 thanks to the generous support of comedian and philanthropist Bill Cosby and the William Morris Agency, the institute is part of the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI). Starting with the seventh-grade, the NAI offers an intensive college prep program for middle- and high-school students who live in the area surrounding the university’s campuses and awards USC undergraduate scholarships to those who successfully complete their studies.

Each summer, approximately 30 NAI high school students who choose the Cosby Institute as an elective are steeped in the process and practice of writing, casting, shooting, editing and designing sound for a film or television project. Mastering philosophy as well as technique, the fruits of their labors show in the two to three projects they create over the course of each term.

“I thought it would be a fun thing to do in the summer and it’s been a great experience,” said Ana Vazquez, 16, who recently finished her sophomore year at Manual Arts High School. Vazquez, who says she enjoys the way the sessions encourage her and her classmates to share their ideas in an open environment, selected the Cosby program because of its different appeal. In addition to becoming a budding filmmaker, Vazquez also recently starred in one of her fellow classmate’s film projects. “It's better than taking a regular class,” she added. “And this has really made me think about doing this as a career.”

Since its inception, the Cosby program has worked with over 200 students. Of those, 33 percent have gone on to attend USC, majoring in a variety of concentrations. One of them is Giordany Orellana, who grew up 14 blocks from the University Park Campus and entered the NAI as an eighth-grader in 2000.

“The Cosby program was one of the pivotal moments when I decided my future,” said Orellana, who before the summer workshop wanted to be an architect. “Eventually, I would’ve thought about making films, but not as early as I did, not when I was fifteen.” Orellana is now a sophomore in the USC College studying creative writing and hopes to transfer into the School of Cinema-Television as well as attend graduate school at USC. “If the Cosby program wasn’t offered, then I wouldn’t be a filmmaker today,” added the young producer/writer/director.

Instructor Oscar Williams, who has been an integral force at the summer elective since its inception, had a visceral attraction to the program from day one.

“It’s hard to hear kids say that they don’t think they’re going to live past 25 or even 35,” said the seasoned independent film director, who also teaches in the regular Cinema-Television program. “This way they can show their friends and their parents and say ‘hey, I did this. I don’t have to get notoriety by being arrested or being on the 6 pm news.’ This is an opportunity for their friends to see that they, too, can be empowered.”

One of the key aspects of the program, according to Williams, is the chance that its students have to define themselves. “Whether they go into the entertainment industry or not, this empowers young people and gives them a sense of confidence that they don’t get on their block or the society that they live in,” he said.  “They can see that they’re able to make a contribution and be acknowledged by the things they can do with their hands, hearts and minds,” Williams said.

When asked if his teaching style in the summer program differs from the technique he uses in his regular cinema-television classes, Williams says the only variation is his acute awareness that the young women and men of the Cosby program are in high school. “What these kids have is the innocence of storytelling and real life,” he said.

The roots of the initiative stretch back 15 years, when Duke Underwood, the original director of the USC Summer Program, contacted the chairman of the Los Angeles Unified School District and proposed offering production scholarships to local students. The idea was unanimously agreed upon and word went out to the L.A. school system for teachers to choose the potential attendees. Together with two cinema-television faculty members and two USC students, Underwood interviewed 72 applicants for only four available spots.

“Everyone came in wearing white shirts, ties and shined shoes,” recalled Underwood about the early days of the program. By the third year, interest was so high that Cinema-Television Dean Elizabeth M. Daley suggested folding the program into the NAI summer course schedule.

“It worked out much better,” Underwood said citing the fact that the students who passed through the rigorous NAI screening process were fully committed to learning. “Those who are there want to be there, and they want to be pushed. We can help kids form this skill of taking their own life experiences and crafting it rather than just blurting it out. And that’s difficult, especially at that age. It’s really remarkable work, and that’s the way it’s gone all these years,” Underwood added.