I spoke with the administrative coordinator for Film and Electronic Arts at Long Beach last week. She said that interview notifications for the Production Option will begin mid April, interviews will be held early-to-mid May, and notifications will begin late May. Fifty students will be selected for the Production Option, and those not admitted to Production will be allowed to enroll in the Media Option (Critical Studies).

The open house at CSULB will be on Saturday, April 25. Faculty, staff, and students from the Film Department will be available for questions. Hope to meet some of you there.

definitely

Just got off the phone with Long Beach. The lady said calls for production interviews will go out next week.

u get a call?

just got a call for thursday 30th. group interview???

Yeah, I got a call for Thursday the 30th as well.

Hey all, I've been a little too busy to post over the last few days. I got a call too. I talked to the production students who were interviewed last year, and they said not to stress it. It's really informal, and they're not going to grill us on our apps or anything like that.

slacks and ties? group interview seems like we all gotta fight for the spotlight, and im not really like that.

Yeah, I'm doing the slacks and tie thing. There will be no fighting. I'm gonna PM you.

Wow. This is exciting news. I'm rootin' ya on!
Please let us all know how the interviews go.

Woo-hoo! I got in.

And to my fellow admitted students, congratulations, and let's not spoil the surprise for next year's applicants.

good stuff man. you blitzed outta there before i got to say hi.

Yeah, I bailed quick too. That was pretty long and I was ready to go home. Look forward to seeing you guys next year, if you choose to enroll.

Does anyone happen to know if you can transfer from the Media Option to the Production Option? And how will it affect me? (I.E. will I have to retake certain courses, etc.)

I can't seem to find that information anywhere.

When I applied for CSLB, I had no idea there were 2 different options, so I was defaulted into the Media Option. However, it seems like the Production Option is what I'm more interested in terms of the classes I want to take.

Also what's the surprise?! I want to know! Spoil it for me And what's the interview like?

Thanks!! and Congrats to all those who got in already.

Hey, I'm sorry to have to break it to you, but the Production Option is only open for applications once per year, and only for junior-level transfers and junior-level Long Beach students. In other words, you can't go from the Media Option to the Production Option, and you can't start the Production Option your senior year.

The good news is, you can take a lot of the production courses even if you're not in the Production Option. There are only three production courses that are absolutely off-limits to non-production students. There are also a few production courses that require instructor approval for non-production students to enroll, but most of the time, the teachers will let you in. You just have to make sure that you don't get side-tracked taking a bunch of production courses and forget to finish the requirements for the Media Option, otherwise you may end up taking three years to finish your program.

The interview was low-key, informal, and informative. As for the surprise, I've been sworn to secrecy.

noooo u can PM it to me .

Anyways, would you suggest that I not transfer into the Media Option and apply for the Production Option next year?

I know a guy who had his heart set on transferring to UCLA or USC for film. He applied 4 years in a row, and was rejected every time. He finally ended up applying to Long Beach, and was rejected by the Production Option. He ended up going into the Media Option.

I guess what I'm saying is, it depends on you and how much of your life you're willing to put on hold. You may be better off going into the Media Option where you can build a strong writing portfolio and take some basic production courses, and then apply to some of the big schools for an MFA.

Remember, the Production Option at Long Beach is competitive. There is no guarantee that you will be admitted next year. Out of my junior college, we had 25 people apply to the Production Option, and only 6 were offered admission.

Long Beach doesn't receive as many applications as USC or UCLA, and they admit 50 people per year (broken up between internal Long Beach applicants and junior college transfers), so your chances of getting in are decent (somewhere around 15% admissions rate for the Production Option). However, that's still an 85% rejection rate.

If you decide to wait a year, I can offer you this advice. If your GPA is below 3.5, take some more classes to build it up. No one I met when I went for my interview had lower than a 3.6 GPA. Also, make sure you have a solid personal essay, a solid critical essay, and an exemplary creative sample to turn in. They want people with a natural ability to create stories, and then they guide you on how to make your stories better and on translating your stories into meaningful images.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: airborne911,

ah....

well my gpa is 3.4 right now. But yea... good point about not putting my life on hold.

just curious though... what type of creative sample did you submit and what junior college are you attending currently?

thanks

I'm currently at El Camino College. I submitted a short story for my writing sample.

wow i dint know the production option was that competitive sosa. my creative sample was only photos and my music video (http://vimeo.com/2359318) I honestly have no strength in telling a story or even coming up with one. perhaps its cause i dont like to write. i can collab like a mother****er and come up with some good ****, but i like my stuff to be realistic in a way even if it is a story about a robot. realistic in a sense of mentality and socially. make sense?