Posts by Brad Lemack | Today at �鶹��Ƶ | �鶹��Ƶ

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles hosts California City Planners for tour of its historic Hollywood home base at The Preserve

Brad Lemack — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 18:42:52 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles director Brad Lemack and The Preserve community manager Hayden Bernard led a tour of �鶹��Ƶ LA’s historic home base for a group of American Planning Association California members.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles, in partnership with The Preserve, hosted 53 city planners from across the state of California this week at �鶹��Ƶ LA’s Hollywood home base. Members of the American Planning Association California convened in Los Angeles for their annual conference that explores topics and challenges facing community development in the Golden State.

With a theme focused on “Crafting Our Narrative: Planning as Storytelling,” the group spent a day-long tour of several diverse sites across Los Angeles. They were keenly interested in how The Preserve property and �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles are using the campus’s unique design and function to offer programming, sustainability and opportunity in the revitalization of Hollywood. The Preserve main building is a designated historic landmark, designed by acclaimed architect Paul Williams, who is known for creating some of the most iconic structures in Los Angeles, including the LAX Theme Building.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Director Brad Lemack and The Preserve community manager Hayden Bernard led the group through a walking tour of the sprawling, lush two-acre urban campus, including time spent in the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles bungalow, where academic classes, special events, meetings and alumni gatherings take place throughout the year.

For nearly 20 years, �鶹��Ƶ, through Study USA��Ի� National Campus Programs, has had a thriving presence in historic Hollywood, where students have an opportunity to spend either a spring semester or participate in a summer core capstone program immersed in professional development-focused academic classes, experiential learning, community service and alumni engagement.

Students consistently come away with rave reviews of how their time at The Preserve has enhanced their �鶹��Ƶ LA experience.

The �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles home base bungalow was a popular stop for city planners from across California during their recent tour of The Preserve.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles announces 2026-27 funding opportunity for LA alumni-created short films

Brad Lemack — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:37:41 +0000

The �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Funding Competition is designed to support, promote and encourage the production of original short films across all genres by �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles-based alumni. This year’s funding competition, which was created and first launched in 2025, will award a grant of $3,000 to each of three LA-based �鶹��Ƶ alumni for the production of their films in early 2027.

Submissions for funding consideration will be accepted from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. Funds awarded will come directly from contributions by �鶹��Ƶ LA-based alumni, alumni from other geographic areas and contributions from other sources.

�鶹��Ƶ alumnae filmmakers Bex Evans ’16, Julia Boyd ’15 and Mirai ’07 at the world premieres of their �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles grant award-winning short films at the Inaugural �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival, at Sony Picture Studios.

The 2025-26 grant competition awarded funds to �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles alumnae Julia Boyd ’15, Bex Evans ’16 and Mirai ’07. Their films had their world premieres last July at the sold-out Inaugural �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival, at Sony Pictures Studios, in Culver City, California. For all three filmmakers, being awarded these funds and the world premiere event have been enormously impactful, both personally and professionally.

“Winning the grant gave me the seed money, a deadline and the accountability I needed to actually produce my film,” Mirai said of her project “#StopAsianKate,” which she wrote, produced and starred in. She proudly added, “Since its premiere at Sony, my film has gone on to screen at the Oscar-qualifying Hollyshorts Festival, the Catalina Film Festival and the Broad Humor Festival, where we won the Audience Award.”

Boyd, who received funds for her short film “The Life and Times of,” said, “Receiving this grant allowed me to create my narrative directorial debut and tell a story that is deeply personal to me in the exact way I want to.” She wrote, directed and starred in the film. Boyd added, “I feel so buoyed by the support I received from the �鶹��Ƶ community as I make my creative dreams a reality.”

Evans, who was awarded a production grant for their short film “Shadow Dusk,” was thrilled to get a green light for their project.

“The �鶹��Ƶ grant gave me a great base to start making a film I’d been thinking about for years,” said Evans. “It was great for requiring accountability, giving me a framework to start from and affirming for me that this was something that I could do.”

Selected filmmakers are required to make production, performance and other opportunities available in their projects for students who are participating in the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Spring 2027 immersive experience.

Funding award decisions will be made by a selection committee comprised of �鶹��Ƶ community-associated and entertainment industry-affiliated individuals. The announcement of award recipients will be made in December.

�鶹��Ƶ alumnus Jordan Roman ’15, who co-chaired the selection committee for the 2025-26 grant competition, will serve as chair of the selection committee for this year’s competition.

“The dream was to create to a program to remove the barriers to (production) funding for our LA alumni grant recipients and to provide �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles students with an opportunity for hands-on learning experiences in the professional production process,” Roman said. “With such great work coming out of last year’s competition, we’re all excited to see the great submissions we’re expecting for funding consideration this year.”

The three projects selected for production will have their world premieres at a special festival screening event at Sony Pictures Studios in July 2027.

For information about the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition and for detailed submission requirements, visit the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles National Campus alumni grant information page.

A conversation with last year’s grant recipients, via Zoom, will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET). The online gathering will explore how to create, craft and submit a grant award-worthy submission package with an opportunity to ask questions about the process. To receive a link to join the Zoom session, e-mail LAShortFilms@elon.edu.

For nearly 20 years, �鶹��Ƶ, through Study USA and National Campus Programs, has had a thriving presence in historic Hollywood, where students have an opportunity to spend a spring semester or summer core capstone program immersed in professional development-focused academic classes, experiential learning, community service and alumni engagement.

�鶹��Ƶ alumnae stars shine bright at inaugural �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival at Sony Pictures Studios

Brad Lemack — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:17:54 +0000

Three �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles area alumnae attended the world premiere of their grant-funded films at the sold-out inaugural �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California.

Julie Boyd ’15, Bex Evans ’16 and Mirai ’07 were recipients of $3,000 each through the 2025-26 �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition last fall.

Grant recipients were selected through a review and ranking process by a selection committee comprised of industry leaders, including several �鶹��Ƶ alumni. The selection committee was co-chaired by Jordan Roman ’15.

To view photos from the festival, .

Production of the three short films – Boyd’s “The Life and Times of,” Evans’s “Shadow Dusk” and Mirai’s “#StopAsianKate” – took place in the spring and included opportunities for spring 2026 �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles students to participate in and observe the production process.

In addition to the screenings of the three films, the festival included a panel discussion with �鶹��Ƶ alumni Lindsey Emerson, vice president of streaming, global strategy & operations at Paramount Skydance and Alex Stevenson, account lead at Creative Artists Agency. They each offered perspective and advice to both current students and alumni about creating job opportunities and career growth in a shifting industry landscape.

A meet-and–connect reception on one of the studio’s back lot streets followed the festival screening program.

Unique alumni engagement opportunities for �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles students are at the core of the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles experience. Based in the heart of historic Hollywood, applications are now being accepted for students to participate in the spring 2027 and National Campus Programs Los Angeles experience that also features specific LA-focused academic courses, site-based internships and community service.

�鶹��Ƶ alumni Gabe Salvador ’18, Eric Hernandez ’16 and Jordan Roman ’15 at the Inaugural �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival. Salvador was a crew member on alumna Bex Evans’s film “Shadow Dusk.” Roman was co-chair of the short film grant competition selection committee.

�鶹��Ƶ alumni and spouses Miranda Romano ’16 and Frankie Campisano ’16 at the inaugural �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival, where the world premieres of three �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles grant-funded short films took place. Campisano was a member of the short film grant competition selection committee.

The Groundlings award-winning improv training comes to �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles

Brad Lemack — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:48:18 +0000

Summer students at �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles, joined by a group of students from other summer LA study away programs, had the opportunity to participate in a new and innovative workshop that teaches students how to think on their feet in a variety of situations. From an internship interview, to a job interview, to social and classroom situations, “thinking on your feet” training can benefit them in myriad of ways.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Director Brad Lemack moderated a conversation about the history and styles of improv with The Groundlings improv coach Andres Parada.

The “Never Be at a Loss for Words” workshop idea was created through a partnership between �鶹��Ƶ and The Groundlings, an industry improv training leader in Los Angeles. The workshop was led by actor, improv performer and The Groundlings improv coach Andres Parada. Parada has spent many years teaching actors critical communication skills that prepare them for anything that comes up in an audition, in a live performance or on a film set. Actors Will Ferrell, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph and Lisa Kudrow are among the many well-known alumni of The Groundlings.

Now, �鶹��Ƶ LA students have learned how to apply those techniques to benefit them along both their career and personal journeys ahead.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles, offered by �鶹��Ƶ’s ��Ի� National Campus Programs, offers spring and summer immersive experiences for students that feature academic courses taught by instructors who are working professionals in their fields and on-site experiential learning at internship sites across the city. The �鶹��Ƶ LA experience also includes alumni engagement, community service and unique professional development opportunities.

Based in historic Hollywood, applications are now being accepted for the spring 2027 semester.

Improv coach Andres Parada brought “think on your feet” improv exercises to �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles.

Laughter and skill building were the orders of a night of improv training for non-actors at �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles summer students learned how to “Never Be at a Loss for Words” at a fun, new, innovative improv workshop.

U.S. Soccer comes to �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles

Brad Lemack — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 13:20:31 +0000

Atlanta-based �鶹��Ƶ alumna Abbie Skladan ‘23, who is the manager of sporting and specialty retail development at U.S. Soccer, reunited with her �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles roots during a visit with summer �鶹��Ƶ Loss and local alumni to discuss Angeles student U.S. Soccer’s initiatives in retail partnerships and community engagement. Skladan spent a semester at �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles during her academic career at �鶹��Ƶ.

Abbie Skladan ’23 serves as manager of sporting and specialty retail development at U.S. Soccer.

Los Angeles has been serving as one of the key U.S. locations for the FIFA World Cup 2026; Skladan’s work responsibilities have brought her to LA for the duration of the games this summer.

Students and alumni guests had the opportunity to learn about her impressive career in sports so far and her journeyposition to her current . “It is wonderful to be back at �鶹��Ƶ LA’s home base at The Preserve, in the same space where my classes were held and from where I began the journey to launch my post-graduation professional career,” Skladan told the gathered group.

Each semester, �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles brings together alumni and students for conversations that benefit emerging young professionals in a wide variety of career fields. The program offers an exciting, immersive and robust spring semester and summer program experience in the heart of historic Hollywood through �鶹��Ƶ’s ��Ի� National Campus Programs. Applications are now being accepted for the spring 2027 semester.

Abbie Skladan ’23 chats about her work with U.S. Soccer with a group of summer �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles students.

Mentoring sets the tone for �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles summer ‘Alumni Wisdom’ event

Brad Lemack — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 19:10:29 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ alumni Landon Kestlinger ’19, Dezirae Zaman ‘24, Frankie Campisano ‘16 and Cierra Seawright ’18 returned to �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles with a wide variety of personal experiences to share with students during a panel in June.

�鶹��Ƶ alumnus Frankie Campisano ’16 talks with �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles summer student Hammond Sherouse.

From production, post-production, content creation, producing, writing, directing and performing, the panel offered a wide range of information to students of diverse majors who are in Los Angeles this summer for a unique core capstone course, experiential learning, alumni engagement and community service.

Zaman, who works at the post-production house Picture Shop, shared the excitement of being in the middle of the artistry of post-production. Among Picture Shop’s most recent projects was providing color correction work on Steven Spielberg’s current film “Disclosure Day.” She is also a first-time site supervisor, mentoring summer student Hammond Sherouse at a first-time �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Picture Shop internship.

Campisano, who served as a selection committee member for the first �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition last fall, spoke about the wide range of professional creative opportunities that await students who return to Los Angeles after graduation. Campisano is an award-winning filmmaker who often turns to the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles alumni community when staffing and casting projects.

Kestlinger is a Physical Production Manager for television and feature films at SK Global Entertainment. Seawright, an actor, model, and entertainment and brand marketing specialist, currently performs at Disneyland Resort.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles offers an exciting, immersive spring semester and summer program experience in the heart of historic Hollywood through �鶹��Ƶ’s and National Campus Programs. Applications are now being accepted for the spring 2027 semester.

�鶹��Ƶ alumna Dezirae Zaman ’24 with �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles summer faculty-in-residence Doug Kass.

�鶹��Ƶ alumnus Landon Kestlinger ’19 talks with students following the Alumni Wisdom Panel session discussion at the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles home base, the historic property The Preserve, in Hollywood.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles area alumnae to premiere award-winning short films at inaugural �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles film festival July 22

Brad Lemack — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 13:57:15 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ alumna Bex Evans, Julia Boyd and Mirai will have the world premieres of their �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles grant-funded short films at the first �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival.

Tickets are now on sale for the inaugural �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival on Wednesday evening, July 22, at 6:30 p.m., at the historic Sony Pictures Studios lot, in Culver City, California.

The festival will feature the world premieres of short films from three �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles area alumna who were recipients of last fall’s �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition funds.

Julia Boyd ’15, Bex Evans ’16 and Mirai ‘07 each received grants of $3,000 for the production of their original short films. Their projects were selected for funding from among numerous submissions received. A selection committee comprised of industry professionals and �鶹��Ƶ alumni reviewed, ranked and voted on all of the submissions received; Boyd, Evans and Mirai’s projects were the three top selections from this process.

The short film festival will also feature a conversation with �鶹��Ƶ alumni Lindsey Emerson, vice president of streaming, global strategy & operations at Paramount Skydance and Alex Stevenson, account lead at Creative Artists Agency, about the current state of the entertainment industry and the impact these shifts are having on students transitioning from college to the professional world, as well as how current working professionals might navigate the new landscape for new opportunities.

A reception will follow the festival presentation with the opportunity for current �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles summer students to connect with �鶹��Ƶ alumni and other industry professionals.

Limited availability tickets for the film festival are $25 each, with 100% of all ticket revenue designated to support next year’s grant competition.

For information and ticket purchases, and for contributions to the grant competition fund, please visit the .

Grant recipients near completion of films in �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Short Film Grant Competition

Brad Lemack — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:01:12 +0000

Production is well underway and nearing completion by all three of the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles-area alumna who were recipients of the 2025-26 �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition. Filmmakers Julia Boyd ‘15, Bex Evans ‘16 and Mirai ‘07 are all expected to wrap their productions by the end of the month.

For Mirai, her short film shoot was an opportunity to both produce her original script and bring together several �鶹��Ƶ alumni for a Hollywood reunion. Serving in various production capacities on her “#StopAsianKate” were Lauren Gadd ’06, who worked camera, Katie Laurence ’24, who worked as assistant camera, Alicia Reynolds ’07, who acted in the film, Stevie Kloeber ’07, who traveled to Los Angeles from Minnesota to serve as script supervisor, and Dean Karasinski ’06, who worked in production design, art department, craft services and as producer.

All three short films, Boyd’s “The Life and Time of …,” Evans’s “Shadow Dusk” and Mirai’s “#StopAsianKate,” will have their world premieres at the first �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival, in late July.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles students spend an evening ‘Inside the Writer’s Room’

Brad Lemack — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 18:53:22 +0000

A group of �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles spring students spent March 18 “Inside the Writer’s Room” in a unique, creative learning experience led by television and film writer Matthew Antonelli.

This new, customized workshop also presented an opportunity for �鶹��Ƶ LA students to learn from and share the creative process with a group of students from other study-away LA colleges and universities, who, along with �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles, are members of a coalition of nearly 20 schools that offer semester-in-LA programs. Each semester, �鶹��Ƶ LA and these other schools share professional development opportunities for students, allowing them to mix, mingle, network and learn together.

Television and film writer Matthew Antonelli introduced �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles students to the life of a working writer in a special professional development workshop opportunity.

Each semester, �鶹��Ƶ students explore and discover Los Angeles and the diversity of professional career opportunities that await them through academic classes with professors who work in the industries that align with their courses, immersive, site-based experiential learning, alumni engagement and community service.

Applications for the Study USA Los Angeles spring 2027 Creative Industries & Community Experience open on April 1. Students can visit the to learn more and to begin the application process.

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles students celebrate �鶹��Ƶ Day in LA

Brad Lemack — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:16:53 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles spring semester students had the opportunity to mix, mingle and connect with �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles-area alumni at the packed �鶹��Ƶ Day LA event on March 5, hosted by LA alumni chapter Co-Presidents Cameron Jackson and Taylor Martin.

The gathering, held at The Belmont in West Hollywood, brought together an enthusiastic group of alumni, many of whom had participated in the �鶹��Ƶ LA semester experience during their �鶹��Ƶ academic journeys.

Current students shared internship and academic class experiences with their new �鶹��Ƶ connections. Many took advantage of the opportunity to request meetings later this semester with individual alumni as a part of the �鶹��Ƶ Los Angeles “Coffee with an Alumnus” program.

�鶹��Ƶ LA spring semester students Kevin Reda and Jackson Bennett connected with �鶹��Ƶ alumnus Jordan Roman ’15 (center) at the �鶹��Ƶ Day event in Los Angeles.

The immersive Study USA Los Angeles semester and summer experiences offer students opportunities for alumni engagement, community service, unique academic classes with industry professionals, and site-based experiential learning. for Spring 2027 open April 1.