CULLOWHEE – The Motion Picture and Television Production Program at Western Carolina University has a new name – one that program leaders say better reflects the terminology used in the industry.
Approval of the new name – the Film and Television Production Program – came earlier this summer from the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
“We feel that ‘film’ is the generic term that best represents what we do, even though we shoot everything digitally,” said Jack Sholder, director of the program at WCU. “‘Film’ also is the term that most prospective students search for on the web, rather than ‘motion picture production.’ The name change should increase the number and quality of students applying for the program.”
WCU launched its program in film and TV production in 2006, with Sholder, a Hollywood director and screenwriter, at the helm since its inception.
The program has renovated an underutilized TV recording venue in the Ramsey Regional Activity Center to create a modern film production stage. Earlier this year, WCU was one of fewer than a dozen film programs across the nation to receive the gift of a state-of-the-art professional camera from Sony valued at nearly $100,000.
Approximately 90 percent of the graduates of the program contacted recently either were working in some aspect of the film/video business or were in graduate film or media programs.
For more information about the Film and Television Production Program at Western Carolina University, or any of the programs in WCU’s School of Stage and Screen, visit the website stageandscreen.wcu.edu or call 828-227-7491.
– WCU
