Ithaca College

A new program being created by the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College takes the idea of the traditional Hollywood movie studio and gives it a modern twist, providing students with unparalleled opportunities to produce and distribute projects across multiple media platforms. The Transmedia Studio will be a cocurricular organization, mirroring the structure of the school’s award-winning student television, radio and newspaper operations.

An executive staff made up of Park School students will run the studio, listening to “pitches” from fellow students and deciding which project proposals to fund. The projects can range from narrative films to online webisodes, and draw upon the talents of students across the entire campus, from writing, producing, directing and acting to editing, budgeting, scoring, set and costume design and marketing.

“I am continually impressed by our students’ entrepreneurial spirit and the high quality of their productions,” said Dean Diane Gayeski. “It is gratifying to be able to recognize their talent and energy and to provide them with this novel environment to produce, manage and distribute their own projects in a center of innovation.”

With its own budget and production space, the studio will be open year-round, thus supporting the creation of much more ambitious projects than could be accomplished within existing courses.

It will be overseen by Carol Jennings, director of the Park Media Lab.