Contact us for A Cinematic Fall 2015 Session August 24th – December 11th
Interviews Begin Again This Week Appointments for interviews are available During Drop/Add week daily, August 24th – 28th .
Please join us and become a member of a feature length motion picture marketing internship team available through The Torchlight Program for fall 2015. This program has grown to be recognized nationally for its work. The fall semester runs from August 24th to December 11th. I am continuing to recruit a select group of student team members to directly assist me in my independent motion picture marketing company that consults with a variety of producer, director and distribution clients in the motion picture industry.
This falls highly anticipated projects include Torchlight interns presenting the guests for this years Student Veteran Film Festival where the $25,000. The FSU Torchlight/ Student Veteran Film Award will be presented to an outstanding filmmaker as their film is presented to a packed Ruby Diamond Auditorium. Our interns will be privileged to attend Torchlight film presentations at Thomasville’s, Covey Film Festival founded and hosted by Jane Fonda. Interns will also be offered discount travel packages by the festival directors to attend the Key West Film Festival to support our FSU Student Short Films as they compete against Florida’s other film programs. Additionally, we anticipate marketing more new independent features from the film industry’s top distributors through my entrepreneurial marketing company. Our new title lineup for this fall semester will include a number of films that premiered at prominent film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Hamptons Int. FF and Festival de Cannes.
IMPORTANT: Call for an interview appointment. Interviews are being scheduled Monday August 24th through Friday August 28th from Noon to 7:30 p.m. at The Torchlight Center. Once you receive this advisory please contact Gayle Gari – Administrative Assistant or call 845-300-0268.
Please reserve a position by taking a moment to call or email now so we may schedule a follow up personal or phone interview as soon as your schedule permits. Be sure to include your mobile # and email contacts.
You may also contact Paul Cohen – Executive Director or call 646-244-5598
Interns must provide each of the following:
Course credit for this internship is available through your department in most instances and can be arranged during Drop/Add week. Although, this is a non-paying internship, this opportunity has led to a powerful resume building professional experience for previous students going on to graduate programs or beginning their careers in their industry.
Please take this opportunity to call or email to set up a personal interview to secure a spot in the internship. All personal interviews will take place at The Torchlight Center, 387 Commerce Boulevard/ Midway, Florida 32343. Driving directions are in the paragraphs below. The Center is approximately 10 miles from campus (90W, Tennessee St., to Commerce Blvd., or take I-10 to Exit 192).
Selected interns will work on social media marketing of a number of new feature length motion picture releases, (a number of Sundance Film Festival favorites) as well as engage in other film industry opportunities, such as film festival development and screenings, during this upcoming semester.
A few of the projects we are scheduled to work on are:
After Words, directed by Juan Feldman and starring Academy Award Winner Marcia Gay Harden (Fifty Shades of Grey) as a librarian who attempts to escape her mid -life crisis by traveling to Costa Rica.
Horrorfest: “8 Films To Die For” www.8filmstodiefor.com the nationally anticipated, pre Halloween, national theatrical release of 8 new thrilling motion pictures and we will be creating the early awareness in different cities across the U.S.
www.tentsquare.com, the social network exclusively devoted to original and movie programing and events, helping artists find their audiences.
www.filmfestivalflix.com, the social film festival network that allows filmmakers and audiences to enjoy the opportunity to both present their feature films and/or to view feature independent films that are often just being released, along with special events such as Halloween Horror Fest, coming in October.
Interning students will work on films opening in theaters and on VOD across the U.S. during this fall semester. Additionally, we will promote a very prominent, internationally recognized film industry blog this semester that will be an outstanding resume building credit.
This year on November 9th, Torchlight interns will participate in the 5th Annual FSU Student Veteran Film Festival, by presenting an award winning feature film and hosting its director and special guests at FSU. This past November, during the 4th Annual FSU Student Veteran Film Festival, documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy was honored with the FSU Student Veteran / Torchlight Award of $25,000 during the presentation of her latest film, the 2015 Academy Award Nominee for Documentary Feature, Last Days in Vietnam. Planning and design for the November 11th, 2015 festival will begin during this fall session. ( Indiewire article: SydneysBuzzSVFF2014 )
Torchlight interns will have an opportunity to work with a number of film festivals through The Torchlight Program including Jane Fonda’s Covey Film Festival in Thomasville, Georgia this October.
DIRECTIONS To The Torchlight Center: From campus take 90 W to Commerce Blvd in Midway (Gadsden County), which is at the stoplight just after passing under I-10. Turn hard right (almost a U-turn) onto Commerce Blvd and stay right as you proceed around a winding road. After you pass the two new motels on your left, you will see a blue-grey art deco building just above the trees, also on the left. Pull into the driveway and park in the upper-left parking lot. Take walkway to glass doors located on the north side of the building. Please contact Gayle directly on her cell (845) 300-0268 if you have any problem locating the Center.
(Note: The Torchlight Center was originally built for the Allman Brothers Band by Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman as their Pegasus Recording Studio.)
In February 2015, The Torchlight Program presented a new independent feature film at the annual Opening Nights with “A Movie You Haven’t Seen” and hosted our special guests. This year’s film was Racing Extinction directed by Louie Psihoyos, director of The Cove the Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary Feature in 2010. Mr. Psihoyos attended the event and did a Q & A after the screening. Several Florida State alumni worked on the film, including Co-Producer Gina Papabeis (’08) and Associate Producer Adrianne Hall (‘13). Both Papabeis and Hall were assistants in The Torchlight Program during their FSU collegiate careers.
At the 2014 Opening Nights event, we hosted the acclaimed Palo Alto, starring James Franco and Emma Roberts, presented by its director Gia Coppola, who attended as the Opening Nights special guest and did a Q & A for the audience afterwards. Torchlight’s interning students helped to arrange for and manage the evening’s presentation as they have for the past 6 years, with films including (500) Days of Summer, Blue Valentine, Win Win, and War Witch. This is a unique and exciting opportunity for FSU interning students.
Whether you’re interested in traditional marketing, graphic design, social media marketing and promotion, developing your professional writing skills for social media platforms, still photography, editing, and distribution, there may be an opportunity to find an appropriate internship through The Torchlight Program and its association with companies and individuals within the entertainment industry.
The filmography below outlines and represents some of the opportunities students and interns have had while interning in my marketing company and/or through participating in The Torchlight Program presentations. Information may be viewed by clicking the following links:
Paul Cohen – Faculty Page
Torchlight Filmography
The Torchlight Program Information
Josh Tickell, the director of the Festival De Cannes Film Festival official selection, The Big Fix, as well as the Sundance Film Festival Best Documentary, Audience Award winning movie, FUEL recently offered these words about The Torchlight Program;
All of the Torchlight Interns we have worked with on our visits to Florida had been trained to the highest level of professionalism. We could not resist grabbing one and hiring him for our production company, where he has since outperformed many employees who came from “big film schools” or professional film backgrounds. Overall, The Torchlight Program radically accelerates the trainee’s ability to interact with people in one of the most dynamic, challenging social environments – the film industry. Thank you Torchlight for producing such stellar people – and for setting the Gold Standard for Hollywood and beyond. Your team did a fantastic job spreading the word and it was a certainly a pleasure working with everyone.
Leon Toomey
Producer/Executive Producer
Detroit Unleaded
March 2014
The Torchlight Program at the College of Motion Picture Arts was created to educate students in current and emerging motion picture business practices with a focus on marketing, financing, and distribution strategies that have proven to be effective in releasing feature films. Through strategic relationships with industry professionals, The Torchlight Program facilitates unique internship opportunities with industry that provide students with hands-on experience with motion picture production and distribution companies.
We also work to identify internship opportunities for students to work with members of the esteemed faculty of professionals who teach at the College of Motion Picture Arts, many who are currently working on creative and professional projects in various stages of development, production, and distribution.