Creative Media Institute students, Dominic Vincent, a senior studying film production, and Brandon Trevizo, a junior studying animation, were selected for a fellowship program hosted by the Television Academy Foundation. 

This fellowship program will give Vincent and Trevizo opportunities to learn from studios such as ABC Studios, CBS, Nickelodeon and Hulu. Typically, it would be an in-person experience in Los Angeles, Calif. However, with COVID-19, the fellowship will be hosted in weekly online panels. 

Vincent applied for the fellowship in his Portfolio Design class, which all graduating film majors are required to take for their last semester. 

“I literally just Googled in [Portfolio Design] class ‘film internships 2021’ and that was there, the Television Academy, and so I was like ‘Alright, screw it, let’s do it,’” Vincent said. “We applied for two of them, and that was one of them that I applied for.” 

Vincent said production is a broad area of film. Most schools focus on one aspect of film, but New Mexico State University allows students to experiment with the area of focus they want. 

“The fellowship that I got is called production, so it’s pretty broad. Production can be anything. There was like directing and cinematography and editing, you know, all these different things, but production is a little bit of everything,” Vincent said. “At CMI, that’s what they teach us- a little bit of everything. That kind of experience at NMSU isn’t something that most other film schools do. Usually, you have to pick a specific path. Here at NMSU, we get to figure it out for ourselves.” 

Trevizo found that the CMI program encourages its students to try for anything and everything, even Star Trek work programs. 

“Amy Lanasa sent out a mass email about a Star Trek program and I looked into that website. Instead of applying to the Star Trek program, I saw that there was an animation fellowship, and I was like ‘Oh, well, that’s more of my speed, might as well try for that,’” Trevizo said. “NMSU is always trying to push opportunities for us and I feel like if I didn’t go to NMSU, I wouldn’t have found those opportunities.” 

Vincent is excited to meet with professionals of film and learn from them. 

“They’re going to teach me ‘Yo, these are the ropes, this is what you need to do.’ I don’t know who I’m going to be talking to, but that’s part of the excitement,” Vincent said. 

Trevizo hopes to use this experience to prepare for life after college. 

“What I am really hoping to gain is just more insight about how the industry works, because I know as a college student, the biggest insecurity that every major has is like how are they going to enter the field of their industry and how it functions,” Trevizo said. 

Both students will start their fellowship experience on June 21.