As Louisiana steps into the spotlight as a premier Hollywood filming location, the University prepares for its close-up by implementing a bachelor of arts in screen arts degree program.
Per student demand, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Music and Dramatic Arts are working together to create the program. “Screen arts” would marry the School of Theatre’s film and television concentrations with CHSS’ film and media arts concentration.
CHSS dean Stacia Haynie said the idea for the degree program evolved from conversations she and CMDA dean Todd Queen started having within the first six weeks of their dean appointments in July 2014.
“We decided we wanted to collaborate and try to leverage the strengths of both programs,” Haynie said.
Their conversations sparked a series of meetings with potential faculty members who could contribute to the degree, who then engaged in a year of meetings to discuss their visions for the program. Now, the faculty committee fleshes out the dreams Haynie and Queen concocted nearly two years ago.
Haynie said they see the degree as one in which multiple colleges will find a vested interest in meeting the student demand. CHSS’ film and media arts program has grown from “a few dozen” students to around 85, she said.
She said she expects screen arts to serve as a broad umbrella for a myriad of concentrations. For example, Haynie said they are looking into screenwriting, special effects or financing concentrations through different colleges, including the Manship School of Mass Communication, the College of Art and Design, the College of Engineering and the E.J. Ourso College of Business, in addition to CHSS and CMDA.
“We’ve got faculty across six colleges, all of whom potentially could have either a vested interest or actually create a degree path for students,” she said.
With a concentration in film and television, theatre junior Cole Barranco said he has noticed a “feud” between CMDA’s film and television and CHSS’ film and media arts programs, which compete for students. He said he hopes the new screen arts degree will mend fences between the two.
Despite his major, Barranco said he does not care for theatre, and joined the degree program solely for its film focus. He said he wished a degree like screen arts would have existed when he declared his major.
“I’ve taken all my film classes, so I’m stuck taking all these theatre courses that I have no interest in. It seems like there’s too many right now,” Barranco said.
Though envisioned years ago, Haynie said she, Queen and their faculties will wait patiently for the plan to bear fruit. Since this is the University’s first time trying to create a screen arts degree, she said they want to take their time crafting the academic infrastructure.
For Louisiana to retain a successful film industry, Haynie said the University needs to build intellectual capital as the state’s flagship institution. She said she wants students to have the opportunity to remain in the state and pursue screen arts as a profession.
“The vision was to build a degree that could support an infrastructure that was indigenous, and not something that was imported or something that was temporaneous,” Haynie said.