Explore the sports entertainment industry while pursuing a production-based internship in live-sports media

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

David Goffin most recently worked for the LA Clippers, creating their first fan section and planning a revolutionary in-game experience for their new arena, the Intuit Dome. He formerly managed all creative and production and still advises WAVE Sports and Entertainment, one of the largest sports content publishers with over 300m subscribers and producers of New Heights, the smash hit Kelce Brothers vodcast.

Prior to WAVE, David was a founding partner in VIMBY (“Video In My Backyard”) a national studio funded by Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Voice) eventually part of MGM/Amazon. He managed VIMBY’s relationship with Walmart and co-created the most successful ad campaign in Walmart’s 54-year history; the famous “Local Basket Claim”.

Prior to VIMBY, Goffin was a Show Creator and Executive Producer with Mark Burnett Productions, Fox Sports and FremantleMedia. With Burnett, he produces the Emmy award-winning adventure race Eco-Challenge and the military special forces competition show Combat Missions. After that, he was hired by FremantleMedia to supervise the production of the first four cycles and all spin-offs of American Idol, which became the biggest reality show in television history. Mark Burnett tapped Goffin to co-create and executive produce Rock Star: INXS, airing 3-night per week on CBS and in 70+ countries and the world’s largest live voting show. Goffin also executive produced with Steven Spielberg the Fox reality competition show On the Lot, Spielberg’s first network television show in 15 years. He worked at Fox Sports Net for 3 years, producing sports all over the United States.

Jessica Rae is the current Producer for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. She worked her way up from an intern in 2009 to her current role with the company, curating and managing in-game elements and entertainment. She also works as a Producer for Van Wagner Productions, producing various sports at UCLA including Men’s Basketball and Gymnastics. She also has a decade of experience stage managing for a variety of sporting venues and events with the Tennis Channel, Golden Boy Boxing Productions, and many others.

Jessica is also an award-winning director whose films explore character driven chronicles and explodes stereotypes. She weaves together the stories of women on a mission and smart girls and boys who break open played out molds, crafting her tales through drama, comedy, and sometimes a hint of magical realism. Jessica grew up on the mean streets of Minneapolis, to a white orphaned mother and an absent Mexican father in a minority, working-class neighborhood four blocks from where George Floyd was murdered. She’s not a stranger to hard work and hustle, because where she comes from there was no option to fail. Most of her friends either got pregnant, went to jail, or simply never left home. Her mission as a filmmaker is to fill in the gaps of those stories being told about her community right now, the ones missing the most important part of their truths. She also strives to create new stories and spaces to celebrate her people in ways they’ve never been seen on screen before.

Jessica’s feature film, RAISE YOUR HAND, takes us on a best friend journey of two girls in the 90s, living generational curses and aching for ways to escape. The film has screened at many festivals including the Studio City International Film & TV Festival, where it won Best Director, Best Actress, The Social Justice Award, and Best Film of the Decade.

Early in her career, Jessica was mentored by J.J. Abrams as a part of his Bad Robot Diversity Fellowship program. He opened the door for her to cut her teeth as a PA and also funded a short film innovation program, where she dove headfirst into a world of VFX, SPFX, and animation.

Jessica has taught directing at universities in both Mexico and California and holds an MFA from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television and a BFA in Theater Directing from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog Indi, and they are both small and scrappy.