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.
They 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.
Spring Internship In the Motion Picture Industry: Interview now through Drop/Add Week
Interviews begin this Thursday, November 20th 2014 and will remain available through January 9th 2015
Join The Torchlight Program and become a part of a feature length motion picture marketing internship available through The Torchlight Program for Spring 2015. This spring semester runs from January 7th to May 1st. They are recruiting a select group of student team members to directly assist in their independent motion picture marketing company that consults with a variety of producer, director and distribution clients in the film industry.
Available interview windows may be scheduled in person or on the phone as follows:
This spring we anticipate marketing 8-10 new independent features, through my entrepreneurial marketing company. Our new title lineup for this spring semester
will include a number of films that premiered at prominent film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Hamptons Int. FF and Festival de Cannes.
We will respond promptly to your inquiry for a personal interview while you are on campus; or a phone interview while you are off campus during the holiday breaks.
Contact:
– Gayle Gari / Administrative Assistant:
E-mail: pcasstgayle@gmail.com
Mobile: 845.300.0268
(Reserve a position if you call or email, and schedule a follow up personal or phone interview as soon as possible. Please be sure to include your mobile and email contacts in order to determine if this is opportunity is of interest to you)
-Paul Cohen / Executive Director
email: paulcohenfilm@gmail.com
Phone: 646.244.5598
REQUIREMENTS For the Internship: Interns must provide each of the following.
Course credit for this internship is available through your department in most instances. Although, this is a non-paying internship, this opportunity has led to a powerful resume building professional experience for previous students.
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.
Among the films they will begin Spring semester with are: White Rabbit, directed by Tim McCann, starring Britt Robertson and Nick Krause, about a bullied high school student who starts having visions of a rabbit that he killed when he was a kid, soon putting him in a state where his imagination threatens to cause him to carry out violent acts; Dislecksia: The Movie, a lighthearted documentary on a serious subject, directed by Harvey Hubbell V and created to enact change and to stop dyslexics from suffering unnecessarily. Unexpected celebrities including Billy Bob Thornton and Joey Pantoliano describe how dyslexia is a learning difference; Marfa Girl, directed by Larry Clark (Kids), starring Drake Burnette and Adam Mediano, a story centered on a directionless 16-year-old living in Marfa, Texas and his relationships with his girlfriend, his neighbor, his teacher, a newly arrived local artist, and a local Border Patrol officer.
Additionally, they will promote a very prominent, internationally recognized film industry blog this semester that will be an outstanding resume building credit.
The Torchlight Program has been invited to again participate in the production of the 2015 Opening Nights in February. This past spring, The Torchlight Program once again invited Geoffrey Gilmore (former director of the Sundance Film Festival and currently Chief Creative Officer for Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Enterprises) to present a new independent feature film at the annual event with “A Movie You Haven’t Seen”. At the 2014 Opening Nights event, they 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.
This past fall semester, Torchlight interns participated with the FSU Student Veteran Film Festival by presenting an award winning feature film and hosting its director at FSU. This November, during the 4th Annual FSU Student Veteran Film Festival, Rory Kennedy was honored with the FSU Student Veteran / Torchlight Award of $25,000 during the presentation of her latest film, Last Days in Vietnam.
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:
The Torchlight Program Information
INTERVIEW Process:
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).
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.)
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.“