Film major Charles Bratton ’27 headed to Hollywood this summer eager to learn firsthand about the magic of moviemaking and the art of storytelling as part of the inaugural Kenyon L.A. program. But he walked away from the experience having gained so much more.
“I came home with a fire: I want to write a movie,” he said. “Being surrounded by people who were only talking about that — all day, every day — was very inspiring.”
Bratton was one of 13 students who spent two weeks in Tinseltown this summer with trip organizer Thomas S. Turgeon Professor of Drama and Film Jonathan Tazewell ’84. Together, they made professional job connections, met alumni and parents in the fields of television and film, got behind-the-scenes access, and took an intensive screenwriting course focused on TV pilots.
The program was centered at Emerson College’s campus on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, where students lived and attended panel discussions and classes. Participants also took excursions to participate in job shadows, tour studios and explore Los Angeles. They saw everything from the set of “The Big Bang Theory” at Warner Bros. Studios to the studio of Kenneth Burgomaster ’91, whose composing credits include over 1,000 episodes of television for shows like Disney’s “Hannah Montana.”
The results were impressive, according to Tazewell, both in terms of the scripts the students produced and the support they received from current professionals.
“They were spectacular. They really produced quality work,” he said. “And (the alumni) were very encouraging to the students, saying, ‘You have what it takes. You can do this. You can come out here and make this work.’”
Part of the new Kenyon Keys initiative, Kenyon L.A. is the first of several new College programs around the country helping students link what they learn in the classroom with what they want to do in the world. Future locations will include New York City, where this summer Associate Professor of Economics Professor PJ Glandon will lead an initiative focused on the finance industry and Associate Professor of Art History Katherine Calvin will lead one on the art market.
“The goal for these ‘City Programs’ is to create a rich intellectual off-campus opportunity in the early summer that provides high-impact experiential learning and career exploration for students in various fields,” said Wendy Singer, special assistant to the president for strategic initiative and Roy T. Wortman Distinguished Professor of History.
Kenyon L.A., she said, touched on multiple Kenyon Keys by giving students a better understanding of different urban spaces (Global & Local) and teaching about the production of film in the center of the entertainment industry (Making & Knowing).
Film major Simone Martel ’27 said her favorite part of the program was meeting alumni in the industry — writers, directors, executive producers, actors and more — who were enthusiastic about sharing stories and offering support.
“They were generous regarding sharing contact information and reaching out later,” she said. “Most of them had the same story: I came to L.A. and I knew one guy. They were really excited about being that one guy (for us). I left with a better understanding and broader scope of what people can do after Kenyon and how much the world opens up.”
(Martel built upon this experience later in the summer by completing a 10-day job shadow in Atlanta with Rosemary Brandenburg ’79, a set decorator working on the “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow.” That opportunity was made available through the Career Development Office.)
Bratton, who used the two weeks to jumpstart a short film script for his senior thesis, said his conversations with alumni helped him decide on grad school as his next step after graduation.
“I love having a story in my head and conveying it visually. What I learned in L.A. is that there’s no right way to do it,” he said. “There’s no one path. I met many different alumni who followed many different paths.”
Among the alumni — many of them former students of Tazewell — who participated were Justin Shipley ’11, co-creator of the TBS series “Wrecked”; Kathleen Jordan ’11, creator of the Netflix series “The Decameron”; and Mike McMahan, a writer and showrunner on the animated series “Rick and Morty” and creator of “Solar Opposites” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”
Adam Davidson ’86, who won an Academy Award for best short film in 1991 and just finished directing the pilot of the upcoming CBS series “NCIS: New York,” also met with students. He said he found them eager, articulate and full of insightful questions, and he stressed that the liberal arts experience students get in Gambier will pay dividends for years to come.
“It’s about understanding that there’s no one route into the business, and being a thinking person who can read and write and express yourself and convey ideas and understand that story and how you tell a story in all aspects of the craft are linked together,” he said. “All the things you learn at Kenyon inform you as a person and as a student.”
