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Hollywood Program provides unrivaled experience for students seeking careers in entertainment
Carl Laguerre wakes up every morning in sunny Los Angeles, much like he did in his final semester as a Penn State student. Now working for Walt Disney Studios, Laguerre thinks back on his time in the Penn State Hollywood Program as the starting point for his career.
Laguerre was a member of the first cohort of Hollywood Program students in spring 2016. For the Long Island native, the opportunity to complete an internship and take classes through the program in L.A. introduced him not only to the city, but also to the skills and connections he would use to establish a career in the entertainment capital of the world.
Carl Laguerre was part of the inaugural Hollywood Program class, and has since started his career in Los Angeles.
Every spring semester, the program offers highly motivated students the chance to intern for entertainment companies during one of Hollywood’s busiest seasons, while still taking Penn State courses onsite or online.
“I didn’t know what to think about it because it was the first year,” Laguerre said. “One of the things I think is important with this program is that it gives you the insight, the inside look, on an industry that otherwise is closed off.”
Now, five years later, another cohort of juniors and seniors in the Bellisario College is hoping to gain that same perspective as they prepare to embark on the same adventure. Under the guidance of program creator and director Robert Richards, the program complements classroom and internship
experience with networking dinners and guest speakers. Housing is provided at an apartment complex located in close proximity to both the Warner Bros. and Universal Studios lots.
Richards, the John and Ann Curley Professor of First Amendment Studies, is a respected and well-known First Amendment scholar who established the Stanley E. Degler Washington Program more than two decades ago at Penn State. The model for that successful program in the nation’s capital provided the blueprint for the Hollywood Program. And, these days, Richards retains membership in the National Press Club as well as the Screen Actors Guild.
Though Laguerre did not know much about the program before flying to L.A., the opportunity to work and study in Hollywood is now actively drawing students like Jenna Minnig (senior-journalism) to the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.
Minnig has loved the entertainment industry for as long as she can remember, having grown up watching E! News every night. After hearing about the Hollywood Program on a tour of Penn State, she saw it as a chance to try to make her childhood dreams a reality. It was a major reason she choose to attend Penn State.
Since she got accepted, a semester in L.A. has been the motivating factor in Minnig’s dedication to completing internships at Young Hollywood and the Bryce Jordan Center, getting involved on campus with CommRadio and “Centre County Report” and even working to graduate a year early.
“I am just so happy and honored, honestly, that I was accepted into it,” Minnig said of the Hollywood Program. “I’ve been taking extra credits so that hopefully I can turn whatever internship I have into a job, or I can find a job out there and just stay out there after graduation.”
Bellisario College Fellow Jacob Saar (junior-film) also hopes his experience in the spring will lead to a job down the road. After working hard to get the on-campus, off-campus and internship experience necessary to apply for the Hollywood Program, Saar said this is an opportunity he has looked forward to since switching his major from mechanical engineering his freshman year.
Christine Kovell (junior-telecommunications and finance) and Emma Furry (senior-public relations) have similar stories. For both students, the Hollywood Program was a deciding factor in their choice to pursue majors in the Bellisario College; Kovell decided to double-major and Furry transferred into the Bellisario College from the College of Human Health and Development.
“The entertainment industry is so relationship based and it’s so daunting to think about how you really have to know someone to get in there,” said Kovell, who considered transferring to a school in Los Angeles earlier in her college career. She ultimately decided to stay and apply for the Hollywood Program. “I knew I loved Penn State and I knew it (the Hollywood Program) was still going to give me the opportunity to make
those relationships.”
Laguerre confirmed the networking opportunities were part of what made his experience in 2016 so valuable, along with the chance to see that there is more to the entertainment industry than the traditional roles like production, script writing and acting. He learned that through his digital, publicity and marketing internship in distribution with Open Road Films, where he discovered the perfect career path to mix his
salesman flair and love for media.
Minnig looks forward to finding the same success in combining her interest in broadcast journalism with a passion for event marketing.
Meanwhile, Furry sees the program as an opportunity to explore the start of a long-term career in entertainment.
“It’s just as important to know what you don’t want to do,” Furry said. “I feel like this program offers us a really good way into seeing if we really want to do entertainment, and if we don’t, it’s just as valid, which is awesome.”
Leo Massey (senior-film), already confident in his passion for entertainment, plans to use his Hollywood semester to discover how he can best contribute to the industry. He’s hoping to secure an internship with a company that focuses both its work culture and productions on inclusivity, specifically in the LGBTQ community. He has applied to multiple independent production companies.
That is part of the flexibility of the program.
Students have the opportunity to work for organizations diverse in size, focus and culture, depending on their expressed interest. In the first four years of the program, companies including ABC Studios, HBO, Viacom and more have welcomed Penn State Hollywood Program interns onto their teams.
While this year’s class of students is still in the process of confirming their internships for the spring, its members are excited to get started and gain
hands-on experience.
Laguerre said they can also look forward to learning how to manage their time and master the L.A. commute — skills he still uses every day.
As January quickly approaches, the spring class is eager to gain experience supported by the Bellisario College before starting careers on their own.
“They always say ‘big school resources, small school feel.’ I’m trying to utilize the resources and the connections, especially with the alumni network out there,” Saar said. “I’m glad to be going as part of Penn State.”
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