In February 2014, after 28 years working in commercial production, veteran executive producer Jonathan Weinstein shifted his career into academia, accepting a teaching position at The Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He sold GO Film, the company he started back in 1999, to his business partner Gary Rose and began teaching the Short Commercial Forms course at NYU.
Weinstein began as a set PA and worked his way up in the production community before becoming head of sales at Big City Films. In '93, as independent rep firms began to proliferate, he launched his own indie firm before partnering with director Blair Hayes to form the production company Sticks and Stones (which eventually morphed into GO Film). For the next 14 years at GO, Weinstein helped manage the careers of many directors, producing spots all over the world. As an EP, he remained extremely hands on by making a point not to abandon his production roots, attending pre-pro meetings and shoots for his entire roster of directors.
He had been a guest lecturer in the film program at NYU, both graduate and undergrad, as well as at The School of Visual Arts for many years. After speaking in the NYU Short Commercial Form class in the fall of '13, Weinstein wsa introduced to the department chair, Joe Pichirallo, an industry veteran studio executive who held positions at HBO, Fox Searchlight, Focus Features and Will Smith's company Overbrook Entertainment before taking over Undergraduate Film and TV (UGFTV) at NYU. Films he produced include The Secret Life of Bees, Antwone Fisher, Hollywood Land and One Hour Photo. As their conversations overlapped into the commercial directing world, the idea of a similar transition into academia came to Weinstein and the fire was lit.
"Jonathan's been a great addition to our department. He brings years of industry experience from the production side, having worked closely with so many directors throughout his career," said Pichirallo. "And he's been able to help our recent graduates land paying jobs right out of school."
Given the inherent fear new college graduates have of "making it in the business," the idea of creating the role of an apprencticeship liaison was hatched by Pichirallo. "Jonathan is someone with industry connections, able to help open doors for young filmmakers right out of NYU." By simply reaching out to business friends Weinstein made through his years as an exec producer, he began connecting NYU's filmmakers to production companies, post houses and visual effects studios that were looking for new hires.
Weinstein finds himself teaching the first YouTube generation, kids who grew up with affordable capture technology and editing software resources, along with free distribution platforms at their disposal. Weinstein said his students bring a new perspective to filmic storytelling and are highly creative as writers, directors, producers and editors, often assuming multiple roles. This multi-tasking has made them well-rounded content creatives who as entry-level workers quickly prove themselves as assets to a company.
Pichirallo said, "Since Jonathan took on the industry liaison responsibilities, he's matched the right NYU grads to the needs of numerous production, post and VFX companies. He's helped a bunch of graduates land full-time jobs thanks to the doors he's opened. So I'd say yes, we are very happy with the results."
SHOOT: What was behind your decision to become a teacher at NYU?
Weinstein: I have teachers in my family and have always considered a second career as a teacher. My dad taught high school biology his entire career and his brother taught constitutional law at Smith College. They actually rededicated their law building in my uncle Leo's name after he passed away. Having guest lectured so often, I thought it would be great to have my own class of film students and what better place than NYU. I'm an alumnus of Tisch myself.
SHOOT: Share with us your responsibilities at NYU, teaching and otherwise.
Weinstein: I teach the "Intermediate Production: The Short Commercial Forms" class in the undergraduate program. The curriculum focuses on the production of TV commercials, music videos and all forms of branded content. As an intermediate course, it's populated mostly with upperclassmen who create three completed film projects per semester. They start to build their reel before they graduate. The class became so popular, they added a second section and the work coming out of the class is very high quality storytelling. I take my students on numerous site visits to VFX houses, production companies, post houses and sound design shops. We've also visited places like Silvercup Studios, YouTube and House Casting. It's very important for them to see how companies run in all facets of our industry so they get a clear picture of the job possibilities out there. It helps them formulate who and what they ultimately want to be.
I recently created a new syllabus for "An Introduction to VFX" course. I'm excited about that and it looks like it will be approved for me to teach next fall.
I serve as a production supervisor to not only my own classes, but to the Intermediate Television Workshop class. I'm tasked with reviewing student production packages prior to students securing permission to shoot, to ensure safety regulations and production requirements have been met re: insurance, use of SAG actors, equipment rentals and location permitting.
I helped organize and set up a Master Class to be taught in February by the folks from Oculus Rift. They will bring in VR equipment and teach our students what the technology can do and how to create narrative stories for its use. It should be an awesome experience for our students.
I also started in January '14 as the industry apprenticeship liaison, helping to connect and place recent graduates in full-time film industry positions while helping others land freelance production work so they can get their feet wet on set. The experience has been great so far and I've been able to open doors and help 17 former NYU students land jobs. It's incredibly rewarding to place a talented graduate in a company where I have a long-standing friendship with a peer from my years in the business. I've stayed connected to many of my friends who are EPs, producers, directors and reps, which has allowed me to connect them with great new employees when they are looking. I'm really hoping to become a go-to person for any company in our business that may be looking to fill a position, whether they know me or not. I can save on search and interview time with the access I have to a young, talented, responsible workforce. Think of me as a pre-screener; I've yet to have a single placement at a company not work out.
SHOOT: On the latter score, update us on where you have placed graduates and how this has benefited them and the industry, and the long-term implications of all this for the industry at large.
Weinstein: This year, I've helped fill staff positions at Arcade Edit, Nomad, JWT, FCB, Michael Schrom & Co., Vice, Sunset Land Entertainment, Marabigo Films and MacGuffin Films. I've also helped numerous others secure freelance content projects at FCB, Vice, Pepsi Content Studio, NY Post, on the Bernie Madoff miniseries and numerous New York commercial production shoots.
I think one of the long-term implications for the industry is that by having access (through the service I can provide from NYU) to the right people for the right job, employee retention levels should go up. I'm only putting forward talented, eager, responsible candidates who fit the qualifications and have the training to back it up. These are also people who know for sure, after four years of film school, that they want to be in the business. This should save time for companies when they are in a fast hiring mode and create a higher retention rate in their new hires. The placements I can help with are office manager positions, staff PAs, IT, editing assistants, research/visual reference for presentations, director assistants and other entry-level slots. The NYU candidates come with well-managed expectations and a working knowledge of the industry.
SHOOT: Are your student apprenticeships/job placements contributing to industry diversity and is diversity part of what you are hoping to contribute to through your industry liaison program?
Weinstein: Absolutely. NYU's current undergraduate film population of some 1,200 students is a 50-50 mix of young men and women. We have film students of all ethnicities from all over the world in our program. It's highly rated and sought after as one of the best film schools available and equally with one of the most diverse populations. As one example, our Fusion Film Festival is in its 12th year. Fusion celebrates collaboration, emphasizing the creative contributions of women in film and television, and explores ways to break down barriers that separate women and men in the various artistic disciplines at Tisch.
Fusion has been proud to attract accomplished artists and entertainment visionaries such as Lena Dunham (HBO's Girls), Maria Zuckerman (VP of HBO Films), the writer and producers for Sex & The City, the writers of Orange is the New Black, Beasts of the Southern Wild writer Lucy Alibar, Lauren Zalaznick (chairman of NBC Universal Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integrated Media), and actor Paul Rudd. Every spring, Fusion mounts a multi-day film festival with multiple screenings, industry panels, pitch meetings, master classes, retrospectives, and student showcases.
The same students creating, running, entering and winning festivals like Fusion today are graduating and ready to work toward building their own careers in our industry tomorrow. They are the alumni I'm helping to place.
Editor's note: If you are growing your company and looking to create or fill a role with a new hire, Weinstein can be readched at jonathan.weinstein@nyu.edu
