Faculty Directors Catherine Licata and Laska Jimsen discuss the “Make it” in Hollywood: CAMS Production in Los Angeles program, which will run next in Spring of 2027.
What was the inspiration behind this program? Why study CAMS production in Los Angeles?
Catherine: We developed this program to give Carleton students the chance to learn
filmmaking directly in the heart of the industry. While we offer a strong foundation in film production here on campus, it can be difficult to access the hands-on experiences, professional connections, and creative communities that are available in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the center of the American entertainment industry and one of the most diverse creative hubs in the world. By living and studying there, students not only gain technical and artistic skills, they also learn how films and television shows are developed, written, and produced.
Laska: We had talked about a CAMS LA OCS for years. In spring 2023 Bob Daily (‘82), who works as a tv writer in LA, was our Screenwriter-in-Residence. Students loved getting to know an industry veteran and learning from him. That helped catalyze launching the program. Los Angeles also has a strong, lesser-known history in experimental cinema and media arts. Our program gives students an opportunity to learn more about the industry while also expanding their ideas about filmmaking and artist moving image work.
What does a typical day look like on the program?
Catherine: Students have a TV writing class one evening per week throughout the term. I teach Collaborative Narrative Filmmaking in the middle of the term. Students focus on producing a narrative short film. This involves workshopping ideas, learning film equipment, preparing for production, shooting, and editing.
Laska: The first three weeks I teach Iconic Los Angeles. We think critically about histories of the entertainment industry while visiting important landmarks. In the final three weeks of the term I teach Experimental Los Angeles which includes film festivals and studio visits. Students explore the city in both of these classes and independently, reflecting on their experiences through reflexive writing and creative exercises.
Catherine: Throughout the program we have industry guests and field trips like studio visits, archives, and tv show tapings.
How is student housing organized?
Catherine: Students live together in shared apartments near our local partner in Burbank, which is right in the heart of the production world. It’s an ideal location —close to studios, creative spaces, and the communities we’ll be engaging with. Living together helps foster collaboration, and it mirrors the kind of teamwork filmmaking requires. Our class location is walkable from the apartments, which include onsite amenities like gyms, pools, and plenty of shared outdoor and common space.
Laska: Students really appreciated the “campus” feel of the housing and property.
What makes this program unique? What do you want students to know about LA?
Catherine: What’s special about this program is the combination of creative practice and immersion. Students make films surrounded by the people and places that define the industry. It’s a rare opportunity to learn about the industry, gain hands-on experience, and see how Los Angeles itself shapes media culture.
Laska: Los Angeles is much more than a backdrop for film and television. It’s a sprawling, layered, multicultural, and deeply creative city — one that constantly reveals new dimensions the more time you spend in it. It’s a place of intersections: between art and industry, nature and architecture, past and present. Students who come with curiosity and openness will find endless sources of inspiration there.
What are you most looking forward to?
Catherine: I’m especially excited to guide students through the process of making a short narrative film as a crew, helping them discover the power of collaboration and role specialization in filmmaking.
Laska: I love introducing students to Los Angeles’s rich history of experimental and avant-garde cinema and encouraging them to see the city through a creative and interdisciplinary lens.
Catherine: We’re also very much looking forward to the sunny weather!
Why should students consider going on an off-campus studies program?
Laska: Off-campus study gives students the chance to learn in a completely different way. It builds independence, self-responsibility, flexibility, and a sense of how their academic interests connect to the larger world.
Catherine: In the case of this program, it’s also about professional exposure — getting to see how the industry works up close, meeting people who make film and television for a living, those who are engaged in alternative and independent media arts, and imagining themselves as part of that creative ecosystem.
