Yesterday, the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) announced its inaugural virtual internship program as part of their new IFP EDU initiative. IFP EDU is built as a year-round opportunity for college students eager to explore careers in the New York film and media industries, while offering a hub for recent graduates, alumni and faculty to expand their professional skills through career development and technical workshops. To launch the program, IFP EDU is working closely with students, faculty, and administrators from schools including Colgate University, Columbia University, Lincoln University, Ohio State University, Princeton University, Rhode Island School of Design, Rutgers University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia.
The internship programs, which began on Monday, June 8, will run seven weeks through Thursday, July 23, and are designed to provide students with opportunities to expand their professional skills as they relate to the film industry through various opportunities, including group projects, participating in master classes hosted by industry leaders, and gaining insightful perspectives from mentors during one-on-one sessions. Students will also spend time gaining real-life experience working virtually with IFP staff on their year-round programming supporting independent storytelling, as well as other partner companies and organizations. Students will present final projects at the close of the program to IFP staff, faculty, and industry decision-makers.
Students will attend the program remotely through a virtual platform called Symba, an online hub where students can review assigned tasks, reference resources, collect feedback from supervisors, and interact with their peers. Each week during the internship, a new topic pertaining to the film industry will be introduced. The master classes, workshops, and staff-supervised projects and tasks will correlate to the theme assigned for the week. Some weekly topics will include: film production, distribution, festival programming, PR and marketing, partnership and development, as well post-production and design opportunities.
“We are excited to provide students with an opportunity to gain new perspectives of the film industry by expanding their horizons as it relates to potential career paths during a very uncertain time as a way of encouraging the next generation of filmmakers,” said IFP Executive Director Jeff Sharp. “We appreciate the generous support of all our partners, including our founding partner, Colgate University, for their support of this program and allowing us to expand our reach to schools throughout the U.S. We hope that this program will not only inspire our students to pursue their dreams in the film and media arts industry but also to explore those dreams in the New York region.”
“Colgate is very excited to partner with this leading film and arts institution and to work with our fellow colleges and universities,” said Colgate President Brian W. Casey. “This opportunity with IFP provides a strong internship experience during a time when so many industries have contracted in response to the pandemic. We believe this artistic and academic collaboration will flourish in exciting ways for many years to come.”
The IFP EDU Internship Program is supported by the Burke Family Foundation and Variety Insight.