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Curriculum Planning and Review Committee Meeting: 9/10/08

05/18/09

AFI Conservatory
Curriculum Planning and Review Committee

Wednesday, September 10, 2008
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Ahmanson Room, Mayer Library

Attending: Neil Canton, Joe Garrity, Pat Hanson, Stephen Lighthill, Phil Linson, Lynn Mazzucchi, Jim McBride, Joe Petricca, Tom Rickman, Sheila Sullivan

Absent: Donn Cambern, Bob Mandel, Betsy Pollock, Barry Sabath

AGENDA

I.    Announcements and Calendar

Executive Vice Dean Joe Petricca announced that Dean Bob Mandel was absent due to personal matters.

Petricca distributed the newly printed Production Design postcards to all Committee members – they are part of the Admissions Department’s concerted effort to recruit more applicants to the discipline.

Petricca introduced two new staff members – Pat Hanson who has absorbed the duties of Librarian, in addition to retaining her responsibilities as head of the Catalogue, and Kim Kurumada, Associate Director of Second Year Production Services.

-    AFI/Target Event: October 1

Petricca reported that Fellows would once again be invited to the event, and all classes would be cancelled that evening to allow for their attendance. Staff & faculty offered the option of early purchase. Petricca read the list of films & presenters:

Sean Connery will present THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975)
Annette Bening will present AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999)
Jim Carrey will present ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)
Cameron Diaz will present THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998)
Jodie Foster will present THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
Dustin Hoffman will present TOOTSIE (1982)
Shirley MacLaine will present THE APARTMENT (1960)
Steve Martin will present THE JERK (1979)
Rita Moreno will present WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
Mike Myers will present AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (1997)
Keanu Reeves will present THE MATRIX (1999)
Denzel Washington will present GLORY (1989)

-    AFI Fest: October 30 – November 9

Petricca announced that the Fest would take place at the ArcLight as in previous years, with the addition of the Mann’s Chinese Theatre. He added that the Roosevelt Hotel would be serving as the Fest’s center of activities, such as the Cinema Lounge, in lieu of the ArcLight rooftop village of recent years. He said that an email with further information for faculty would be issued shortly.

Petricca said that Fest line up would be announced on September 29 with alumni films highlighted as in years past.  He said that he was not certain an Alumni event would be held given the dissolution/dissemination of the department in a recent round of lay-offs at AFI, but that it could perhaps happen as a smaller event. Petricca reported that Alumni department was now housed under the Conservatory, within Fellow Affairs, as opposed to its previous position within Development.

-    Sloan Summit: November 5 – 9

Petricca announced that the tri-annual Sloan Summit would be hosted by AFI and would take place during the AFI Fest. Media Arts organizations which receive award monies from Sloan, including five other film schools, the Sundance Institute and several theatre companies – and their awardees over the past three years - would be invited to attend the event which is funded by Sloan.

Petricca explained that the program is science-based, bringing together scientists and media artists, but was also a good opportunity to compare notes and interconnect with other schools. He added that more information would be made available in early October.

II.    Updates

-    First Year Bootcamp/Production

Vice Dean of Production & Post-Production, Director of the Sony Digital Arts Center and head of the Editing discipline Phil Linson said that teaming had gone very well, the pitch sessions were over and that the Fellows were attending preparatory classes for Bootcamp, which would take place the following week of September 15.

Linson said that the Bootcamp shoots would use 5 locations: the Grotto, WB 107, LIB 102, the Glade and the SDAC patio. Editing would follow Thursday through Sunday with screenings on Tuesday and/or Wednesday. He said that he believed the Fellows understood that Bootcamp was ultimately a “shakedown” for them to get to know one another and since the same teams are used for Cycle 1 it is doubly useful. Linson said the group was “attentive, with a lot of energy.”

-    Second Year Production

Associate Director of Second Year Production Services, Kim Kurumada reported that all the Second Years had teamed and were in active pre-production, having received their Orientation last week. He added that the first show goes out in 4 ½ weeks.

Kurumada said that they had held a meeting to review all the shows going out between now & Thanksgiving and were working on two missing components; an AFI Editor for one show, and an AFI Producer for another.

-    Library

Pat Hanson was recently named Librarian and said that she has a Library degree with experience as USC’s Librarian for several years but for the last 20-odd years she has headed AFI’s Catalogue program – and continues to do so. Hanson said that she is working on cosmetic and internal changes to the Library’s structure including sorting the stacks, and film libraries in addition to policies such as dubbing masters.

Head of Production Design Joe Garrity said that the Green Room in the Ahmanson was progressing, as were the drapes for the large windows and the photo panels of past HLMS guests.

-    Educational Effectiveness Self Study

Petricca said that the Educational Effectiveness Study was being prepared with reports from the various departments still coming in. He said that the final 50-page version is due January 1 and that they would be looking at it very carefully this Fall.

Petricca added that the 5-person team visit would occur at the end of March and would involve a series of meetings (CPRC, faculty etc.) and that they would select the essential events for their participation.

Petricca noted that Fellow Affairs had provided a very detailed description of the department and that the WASC consultant Martin Van Buren asked that the report be rather an evaluation of the services provided with data to support; analysis, not just statistics.

Petricca said that Educational Effectiveness is about investigating results and extrapolating, and that the previous Capacity Review for WASC was more facts and figures – based.

III.    Administrative

-    Admissions
New catalogue in 10 days
Petricca announced that the new catalogue would be at AFI in 10 days with the online application going live at approximately the same time.


Recruitment Plans for Fall

He added that Admissions Manager Karin Tucker and Admissions Counselor Angela Wheaton had ambitious recruitment plans with graduate school conferences and local schools in Long Beach, San Diego and Atlanta with additional visits to both the Chicago and NYC-areas. He said that offers to present and recruit from traveling CPRC members and faculty would be greatly appreciated and should work with the Admissions department.

Admissions Deadline
Petricca announced that the deadline for submissions would be Dec 1 and applicants would be notified March 15. He added that last year had a very fast turnaround from reviewing faculty and he hopes the same will be the case this year. Petricca said that outreach and retention of first choices would be high priority.

-    Evaluations - Bootcamp
Petricca said that this year would see a review of Bootcamp added the Fellows’ Evaluations and would be performed in October. He noted that like the other evaluations, these would be performed electronically and coordinated by Mike Popewiny in the Dean’s Office.

IV.    For Discussion

-    Thesis script development and submissions process
Dean of Fellow Affairs Sheila Sullivan distributed some statistics that she had sent to Dean Mandel regarding her suggestions for changing the current thesis submission & selection process. She said that she had had a number of informal chats with a bunch of people regarding the subject and that there was a general state of unhappiness.

Sullivan said that she felt the development workshops did not work; and that the 19 member thesis committee has to read 17 scripts each, with 323 copies consequently being distributed, a difficult task to organize for Second Year Production Services the result of which usually ends with great dissatisfaction from the Fellows.

PRO discipline head Neil Canton said that he agreed with the shifting of green-lighting till after the Continuation process, but that he felt the Development Meetings were important for giving Directors and Producers an opportunity to develop a script and receive feedback.

DIR discipline head Jim McBride said that his Directors seem very frustrated that they spend a great deal of time developing scripts in these meetings that are very well-received by the mentors but do not get green-lit.

Sullivan said that the purpose of the meetings seem to shift, and that initially they were a way for Directors and Producers to be more empathic, then it became a way to get thesis scripts and now the Fellows are only concerned with getting the instructor with the most green-lit scripts, who themselves agree that the function of the class is to get a green-lit script.

Canton said that that is then the wrong focus adding that the class has value for Producers and Directors.

Sullivan asked if the class would have such value if the end goal had nothing to do with green-lighting, suggesting that Fellows would rather use those two hours a week at a very busy time of the year for something else.

Canton said that there is value in Producers, Screenwriters and Directors to have classes together, to learn collaboration and to give and take notes.

Petricca said that Mandel was not positive at first but agreed that the system needed review.

Linson said that the term would be extended if these changes were made.

Lighthill said that his portfolio review at the end of term is unfair because some of them haven’t finished their 3rd Cycle project.

Petricca suggested that they schedule an October CPRC specifically to discuss this, with mentors invited.

-    Evaluating Professionalism and Excellence
Petricca distributed some points made in the recent Faculty Orientation on what the AFIC stands for and how it defines Professionalism & Excellence – two foci of the accrediting bodies WASC & NASAD.

He said that participation is a privilege – not an entitlement, and that they should be speaking about what they need to make the program the best it can be.

McBride said that teaming for Cycle 2 seems to get earlier and earlier each year, which is bad for the Fellows because it is too early for them to know each other.

Linson said that it’s remained the same and is necessary because they need to start meeting in December before the Winter break.

Lighthill said that safety and educational effectiveness are huge concerns for him in the entire Cycle process. He said that a discussion was necessary because there are always issues with teaming etc.

Linson said that resources do affect the schedule.

Petricca said that perhaps this could be the focal point of another CPRC after the next one called for the thesis process.

Lighthill said that thesis films were getting delivered later and later with dishonesty in financial matters. He added that he found it very unfortunate that the thesis films were not reviewed as a finished work and that the Fellows all say that they miss Narrative Workshop in the Second Year.

Sullivan suggested that the thesis preview was a review of sorts.

Lighthill said that because it was unfinished, it was not the same.

Sullivan said that it should be critiqued prior to, not after, completion.

Linson disagreed saying that you were then looking at potential not the end product.

Lighthill said that he was not necessarily suggesting a formal board but that he should be speaking with each of his Fellows to analyze their finished work.

Petricca thanked everyone for coming and adjourned the meeting.

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