TheThings recently spoke to Hollywood producer Rachel Miller, founder of FILM2FUTURE, an intensive educational program that is working towards solving the problem of a lack of diversity in Hollywood. Specifically, the plethora of good behind-the-scenes jobs that are available but are typically only for those who have an “in.” Miller told us why a direct pipeline was needed for minority youth into the well-paying, union and benefit-providing careers that Hollywood provides, and how she and the folks at FILM2FUTURE worked hard to build it.
Frustrated with seeing no female directors nominated for an Academy Award year after year and a lack of minority representation both in front of and behind the cameras, Miller saw that the solution was early education for kids who may not even know they have been harboring a passion for content-creating.
“[There are] many great jobs out there that people don’t know about and don’t have a way in,” Miller told us.
Now four years strong, Miller’s FILM2FUTURE teaches subjects like editing, narrative filmmaking, animation, VR (virtual reality), advertising, sound design, post production and much more in their classes which last for 3 action-packed months.
Please enjoy this uplifting exclusive interview!
TheThings (TH): “Rachel, FILM2FUTURE give inner-city minority high school students an amazing opportunity to learn the ins and outs of filmmaking from narrative filmmaking, animation, advertising and more and most of your students graduate your program with full college scholarships or jobs in the industry. How did this incredible idea come to be?”
Rachel Miller (RM): “So my background is a little interesting. I hated high school. Didn’t have any arts in high school. I was definitely the kid who, let’s say, acted out because I was bored and didn’t have my tribe and all those things. I randomly fell into film, I had no connections with it, and it saved my life and it changed who I was and it showed me what I wanted to with my life. I ended up getting into a summer program at NYU Film School where I fell in love with film and I used that to apply to Tisch. I got into Tisch but I didn’t have enough money to go to Tisch all four years.
Read the rest of Film2Future Founder Rachel Miller Discusses Her Answer To Hollywood’s Diversity Issue via The Things website.
