Screen Credits: The Cash of Hollywood

College credits are great -- and essential to your career -- but the currency of the movie and television industries is screen credit: your name appearing in the credits as having performed significant jobs on films or TV shows.  Whenever a producer is looking for people to hire, he or she checks out the credits of prospective employees.  It lets them know if the person has actually done a particular job -- if they've proven themselves -- or if they're just a "wanna be."  But how do you get real screen credits as a student? 

At NNU, all you have to do is participate.

Whether it's on the television side, working on one of our broadcast programs, or on production of a feature or short film, we provide students with opportunities to earn real screen credits.  When we say that students produce our annual Christmas Special, we don't mean they just pull cables and hand out snacks: they really produce the show, making all the decisions about performers, locations, timing, accompaniment, lighting packages, etc.  They even have to go out and secure the financing, negotiate contracts, work with the broadcaster, and so on.  They produce the show!

They also Direct it, live, in a 48 foot production truck.  And operate the cameras.  And manage the stage.  And on and on. 

Or when we do a departmental film shoot, or even a senior film, the students work as camera operators, dolly grips, gaffers, key grips and so on.     But it doesn't stop there.  With our contacts in the industry, we are constantly placing students on television and film crews throughout the Northwest.  These are generally weekend jobs that not only give real-world experience, but pay real money as well (beyond just travel, lodging and meals).  In the last year alone, Mass Comm students have worked at football games, cattle auctions, hockey games, basketball games, corporate meetings and live interview uplinks, for clients such as ESPN, MSNBC and Univision.  They've worked with a wide range of professionals using a wide range of production gear.

College credits are great -- and essential in today's market.  But when you leave NNU, you'll have much more than that.  You'll have screen credits.     It's the cash of Hollywood.