According to a recent article in The Hollywood Reporter, George Clooney, Kerry Washington, Don Cheadle, Eva Longoria, Mindy Kaling, Grant Heslov, Nicole Avant, along with Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and CAA’s Bryan Lourd, have joined forces with the Los Angeles Unified School District to found the Roybal School of Film and Television Production.

Housed within the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, the school will aim to drive transformational change across the industry for students from underserved communities and is set to launch in Fall 2022. 

The A-listers mentioned have a goal to create a more inclusive pipeline of career-ready talent for the film and television industry.

Bryan Lourd said, “The combination of education and hands-on training opens up life-changing opportunities. We invite every interested and committed person and company in our industry to join this effort. We have the collective power to accelerate the academic and professional trajectories of so many students and bring about positive change.”

Clooney said in a statement, “Our aim is to better reflect the diversity of our country. That means starting early. It means creating high school programs that teach young people about cameras and editing and visual effects and sound and all the career opportunities that this industry has to offer. It means internships that lead to well-paying careers. It means understanding that we’re all in this together.” 

LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said, “This effort will help open the doors of opportunity for a diverse group of students from underserved communities, this groundbreaking program will help prepare students for good-paying jobs in the film and television industry by integrating practical industry experience and internships for students into the curriculum.”

ABC7 reports that the school "will start with ninth- and 10th-grade students, and include grades 11 and 12 over the next two years, with potential to expand the pilot program to more schools throughout the Los Angeles area."

More to come.

film schooldiversityinclusion
Film School