New York — In recent years, many of the high School students clamoring for a coveted spot in New York University’s Future Filmmakers Workshop — designated for members of “traditionally underrepresented” groups — have challenged the boundaries of what that means.
Among the more than 100 applicants competing for the program’s 15 or 20 slots, there are students who have declared “Latino-Scandinavian” or “Jamaican-French” roots, says Carlos de Jesus who directs the program. When it began, the nine-year-old training program was aimed primarily at African-American and Latino students.
The film industry itself offers the clearest picture of who is underrepresented, says de Jesus — “women, Blacks, Asians, Latinos.”
“It’s not a mystery. It’s pretty blatant,” he argues. “The film industry has been dominated, especially at the upper echelons, by white males.”
Lacking systematic entry points, training programs or affirmative action that would allow outsiders access to power, Hollywood has long been dominated by an active old-boy network. But programs like NYU’s Future Filmmakers are challenging that dominance by producing highly trained young filmmakers of all races and ethnicities whose vision may eventually change the way movies and television shows are made.
“We’re going to make a whole bunch of people ready,” said Sheril Antonio, assistant dean for the undergraduate film and television department at NYU’s Tisch School. “We’re not making people to fit,” adds Antonio who helps select students for the 12-week training program.
Keisha Cameron, an undergraduate in the NYU’s film and television program, got her start in film through Future Filmmakers. “A big part of why people apply to the program is to see the down and dirty realities of filmmaking.
