Since its inception some eight and a half years ago, the Streetlights Production Assistant Program, a Hollywood-based nonprofit organization, has received numerous community service awards for helping economically disadvantaged ethnic minorities gain entry into spot and longform production. Honors have included the National Philanthropy Award, the Northern Trust Bank Award, Bank of America’s Community Catalyst Award, and a Pathfinder kudo from the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.
But arguably the most significant recognition to date has been bestowed by Procter & Gamble (P&G), which recently became the first advertiser to formally link with Streetlights (SHOOT, 11/24, p. 1). P&G is generally requiring that two or three Streetlights graduates be hired for each company spot project shot in Greater Los Angeles. These hirings can consist of two Streetlights P.A.s and frequently a top Streetlights grad who is being groomed for an advanced crew capacity.
According to P&G senior advertising production manager Jerry Rice, the advertiser’s five agencies—Leo Burnett Co., Chicago; Saatchi & Saatchi, New York; D’Arcy, New York; Jordan McGrath Case & Partners, New York; and Grey Advertising, New York—are also firmly committed to the initiative.
Streetlights represents a silver lining to the May 1992 rioting in Los Angeles, which was triggered by the acquittal of four police officers in the much-publicized Rodney King beating incident. (Those officers were later convicted by federal prosecutors.) Veteran freelance commercial producer Dorothy Thompson watched the riots unfold on television and wanted to respond in a meaningful fashion. Originally, she helped to launch a group that gathered donations of food and clothing in the San Fernando Valley and relayed them to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Central Los Angeles. But in the ensuing weeks, phone calls and donations dwindled, prompting Thompson to begin thinking of ways to make a more lasting positive impact. So in June ’92, she formed Streetlights to help gain industry employment opportunities for African-American and Latino residents of South Central and East Los Angeles. The program has since gone on to recruit talent from throughout Los Angeles County.
Today, Streetlights has some 280 P.A. graduates, a number of whom have transitioned to such industry careers as second assistant director, grip, camera loader and assistant editor. To qualify for the P.A. roster, graduates must have successfully completed 240 hours of Streetlights training, evenly divided between the classroom and on-the-job experience. The Streetlights program additionally offers ongoing mentoring; job placement and counseling; transitional financial support services; a life skills management seminar; and scholarships for advanced training courses.
The top graduates get this advanced training as part of the Streetlights Apprenticeship Program to help them move up the ladder into crew capacities in which they have demonstrated an interest and aptitude. Thompson describes the more experienced Streetlights grads as "apprentices." These apprentices are exposed to and educated in the crew craft to which they aspire, via such means as spec spot work, UCLA film extension classes, industry-sponsored tutorials and interaction with assorted crew members.
P&G’s commitment to hire Streetlights P.A.s as well as leading graduate "apprentices" was heralded by Thompson as being "a giant step toward diversity behind the camera … I hope this prompts other advertisers and ad agencies to get involved."
Streetlights maintains a data base of its crew people so that they can be regularly accessed by production houses and ad agencies. "We are helping to create a minority talent pool that companies can draw upon to bring diversity to their productions," said Thompson, noting that her goal is to open up careers, not just jobs, for Streetlights graduates.
