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Film and Television Summer Institute – Film Production

Learn the aesthetics, techniques, and practices of filmmaking from story pitch to post-production

An intensive program that shapes the filmmakers of tomorrow in the heart of Los Angeles

The UCLA Film & Television Film Production Summer Institute gives students from across the country and around the globe an unparalleled opportunity to study filmmaking at one of the most prestigious film schools in the world. This intensive immersion filmmaking workshop is intended for beginning and intermediate filmmakers of all ages (18+).

Students immerse themselves in the art and craft of filmmaking by collaboratively producing short films. Under the guidance of UCLA faculty, they engage in hands-on training in directing, cinematography, editing, and production, while honing their skills in creative collaboration. Utilizing professional-grade equipment and working on UCLA’s sound stages, students gain practical, hands-on experience that mirrors the workflows and standards of the film industry.

The UCLA Film & Television Summer Institute shapes the filmmakers of tomorrow right in the heart of Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world.

Fees and Payment Info

The program fee includes the unit fees for the UCLA coursework offered as part of the program and thus varies by UC student status. In addition to the program fee, students are assessed other campus and administrative fees during the summer. This is a summary of fees that commonly apply to the selected student type.

Actual tuition and fees are subject to change by the University of California. Visit the fees, payment, and financial aid section for important disclaimer, as well as more details on fees, payment instructions, and information on delinquency, refunds, and financial aid.

Program Fee
TBD
Ackerman Student Union Fee
$16.20
Ackerman / Kerckhoff Seismic Fee
$37.67
Wooden Center Fee
$7.80
SPARC Fee
$27.00
Undergraduate Student Association Fee
$55.45
PLEDGE Fee
$22.84
IEI Fee
$61.00
Document Fee (incoming UCLA students only)
$50.00
Total Estimated Fees:
$277.96
* Fees only apply for certain student types

Meet your instructors

Instructors for the UCLA Film and Television Summer Institutes are UCLA Department of Film, Television and Digital Media faculty.

Melissa Finell

Instructor – FTV 178 Production Laboratory

Melissa Finell is an award-winning director and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. SENSITIVITY TRAINING, her first feature film, had its world premiere at the LA Film Festival, where it was named a “Can’t Miss” film by the Hollywood Reporter. Her script for SENSITIVITY TRAINING won an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Production Grant and a Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award. The film went on to screen at numerous festivals worldwide including Woodstock, Frameline, and TIFF Inside Out. It was released by Random Media in partnership with The Orchard and is currently available on Prime and all major platforms.

Mel’s short films have screened for festival audiences around the world. “Disaster Preparedness” was a Semi-Finalist for the Student Academy Awards and has been broadcast on PBS Stations across the country as part of KQED’s “Film School Shorts” series. The film premiered at Palm Springs International ShortFest, where it was named an Audience Favorite and screened in the “Best of the Fest” program. The film also screened at Mill Valley, Cleveland, Frameline, and NewFest; it won the “Best Short Film” Jury Award at the Seattle Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and was selected for “Best of Fest” at Outfest.

Mel has written feature screenplays for Lionsgate, Gunpowder & Sky, CJ Entertainment, and Tyler Perry’s 34th Street Films. Originally from New York, she received her B.A. in Gender Studies at Smith College and studied sketch comedy writing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Mel is a graduate of UCLA’s MFA program in Film and Television Directing, a former Film Independent Project Involve Directing Fellow, a Ryan Murphy Television Half Initiative mentee, and she recently completed the Warner Brothers Discovery episodic directing workshop. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America West and is represented by CAA and Writ Large.

Kelly Pike

Instructor – FTV 178 Production Laboratory

Kelly Pike is a writer/director who is a recipient of the DGA “Award of Outstanding Directorial Achievement”, included on Austin Film Festival’s “25 Screenwriters to Watch” list, and a graduate of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW+).

With an established career in fine arts she first expanded her practice into filmmaking by working with documentarian Albert Maysles. She then went on to earn her M.F.A in Narrative Film & Television from UCLA.

Her films have screened at festivals around the world, winning awards from the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Savannah (SCAD) Film Festival, Warsaw International Film Festival, Bahamas Film Festival, and many more. Her latest short film, PICTURE DAY, is currently qualified for the 2024 Academy Awards.

Other than festivals, her work has also earned recognition from PBS, NATO, Vimeo, the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors, the Puffin Foundation, and Short of The Week.

She is currently based in Los Angeles.

Lia Lenart

Instructor – Film TV 122D Editing

Lia believes that stories give us a structure to help us understand our experiences, values, identity and place in history. She is drawn towards complex stories that challenge stereotypes and avoid simple conclusions. Originally from Cambridge, MA, Lia graduated with honors from Harvard. As a Directing MFA at UCLA’s School of Theater Film and Television, she was a UCLA TFT/Telluride FilmLAB Fellow, and received the Streisand Sony Fellowship and Jim Morrison Film Award. Her thesis, Cassandra, won the Women in Film Verna Fields Memorial Fellowship, Lynn Weston Fellowship in Film, Adrienne Shelley Award, and Caucus Foundation Grant. Her final year in the program, she was selected to direct one of three UCLA Theater-Film collaboration films. She is an Associate Editor on the upcoming feature doc “Would You Hide Me?” and an Instructor at Loyola Marymount University and UCLA Film School Summer Sessions.

David Berry

Instructor – FTV 122E Digital Cinematography

David has been an active working cinematographer for over fifteen years, with a filmography spanning multiple feature films, shorts, commercials, music videos and documentaries. He received a B.A in Communication from Trinity University, and then attended UCLA for graduate studies in Cinematography. David has also worked as a gaffer and DIT, bringing a deep technical and creative understanding of both lighting and digital video best practices. He currently serves as a Technical Consultant to Filmgear, a leading global manufacturer of cinema lighting equipment, helping design new next generation lighting fixtures. Across his work as a  cinematographer, David is consistently praised for expressive lighting and camera movement as well as an aptitude for making projects look far more expensive than they are. He has been a cinematography instructor during the summer at UCLA for the past four years. His focus while teaching is to get students to understand not only creative and technical cinematography techniques, but to fully appreciate the connections between story, script, and cinematography as well as the underlying constant dialog between the filmmaker and audience.