My LACC Story: From Dream Career to Reality
Growing up in Sydney, Australia, Los Angeles was a far-away mythical place where all the beautiful movie stars lived and films that shaped my life came from. After graduating high school, I had the opportunity to take a two year working holiday in the UK and was lucky enough to start working in a trade association for Television Rights.
Once my time in the UK ran out I knew that the next step was Film School and to learn how TV and Film was actually created. I couldn’t think of a better place to learn the trade than Hollywood itself! After looking into the options, I found that the flexibility, affordability, and amazing facilities at LACC meant it was the perfect choice for me.
Arriving in a taxi straight from my flight, I found myself on Melrose and Vermont wondering what I had signed up for. As soon as classes started, it all made sense. Being surrounded by other international students and incredible professors helped cinema come to life. The practical elements of the training and hands on approach to filmmaking helped me secure a job on set as production coordinator and my life in television began!
From there, it was only a short while before I was working as a producer back in Australia on entertainment programs like Australia’s Got Talent, The Biggest Loser, So You Think You Can Dance, Beauty and the Geek, and many more. The skills I gained at LACC equipped me to be a confident member of the crew. Reliability and training is second-to-none in our industry and in a business where you can be replaced during the lunch break, you have to have your wits about you.
Since acquiring my AA in Film and Television, I have added further study in personality profiling, and now work as the Casting Director for the Seven Network, Australia’s leading television broadcaster.
For any new students I would suggest a few obvious and less obvious tips. Firstly, do the reading and get involved – the more you give in your classes, the more you will get from your lecturers who will soon become valued mentors. Secondly, don’t resent the need for General Education electives! Embrace it and take the opportunity to learn from the huge variety of subjects available at LACC. One of my favorite classes was African American History, something that in a faraway land like Australia is never offered. I must also confess I loved the math classes, despite being a shockingly bad math student in high school. I was lucky to have an excellent teacher at LACC, which helped my confidence grow and I found a new love for mathematics.
All in all I am incredibly grateful for my time at LACC. It gave me the building blocks to get into an industry that seemed to be a fantasy. I wake up every day loving my career and excited to go to work.
