{"id":7718,"date":"2014-04-09T09:15:57","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T16:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/dodge\/2014\/04\/09\/alumni-spotlight-rebecca-kirsch\/"},"modified":"2014-04-09T09:15:57","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T16:15:57","slug":"alumni-spotlight-rebecca-kirsch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/2014\/04\/09\/alumni-spotlight-rebecca-kirsch\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rebecca Kirsch, B.A. Screenwriting \u201805<\/h1>\n
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Current Occupation: Television writer for NBC\u2019s \u201cDracula\u201d<\/p>\n

What is a typical day like for you at your job?<\/b><\/p>\n

As part of a television Writers\u2019 Room, my colleagues and I develop the storylines and thematic arcs for each episode of a show and the series as a whole. \u00a0We craft emotional paths for our characters to travel, and work together to discover the most cinematic ways to portray those journeys. \u00a0We \u201cbreak\u201d individual episodes as a group, from FADE IN to FADE OUT, and then one writer (or a team of writers) creates an outline, and then a script.<\/p>\n

No two Writers\u2019 Rooms are the same. \u00a0The showrunners that I\u2019ve worked with have put together amazing teams of clever, dedicated writers, and have made it a point to promote a supportive creative environment where we are all working toward the same single goal; to make the show the very best that it can be. Working side by side with higher-level writers than myself can be a fascinating education (and you\u2019ll hear some pretty great war stories, too). \u00a0A Writers\u2019 Room is a unique creative atmosphere; when the room\u2019s working at its finest, you can feel it in the air. \u00a0It\u2019s pure magic.<\/p>\n

Now that you’ve graduated, what have you taken from the classroom and applied to your career?<\/b><\/p>\n

What I appreciated about Dodge College was that, no matter your particular emphasis within the film school, you were required to take introductory classes in many different areas of the industry. As a Screenwriting major, for instance, I also took classes in editing, directing, and cinematography. Though I didn\u2019t always see a future career for myself in each of these specific fields, I recognized the importance of experiencing these worlds firsthand, especially in a medium as collaborative as film and television. Now, in a professional setting, I have a different appreciation for the artists I work with in each of those intricate departments, and feel that I am better versed in their unique languages than I would have been without my Dodge College education.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Reflecting on your years at Dodge College, what one thing you would do again, and what one thing would change?<\/b><\/p>\n

One thing I would change is I would have taken the \u201cArt of the Documentary\u201d production class. \u00a0At the time, I was too afraid \u2013 of what, I\u2019m not sure. Probably the heavy responsibility that one undertakes when portraying an important, emotionally weighted topic like \u201cBorn into Brothels\u201d did, for instance. \u00a0Then again, other documentaries are beautiful, hopeful stories like \u201cMad Hot Ballroom\u201d and the UK\u2019s \u201cUp Series.\u201d Some of the most powerful and moving films I\u2019ve ever seen have been risky documentaries that push the envelope; these are the films that have the ability to truly change the world. \u00a0I wish I had tried my hand at one in a safe and nurturing environment like film school, so that I might have had a solid ground to stand on before undertaking one in a professional setting, which I hope to do someday.<\/p>\n

One thing I would do again is crew on student films! \u00a0There\u2019s nothing more exhilarating than being in the trenches with your classmates and getting your hands dirty on a production. And it\u2019s important to have an opportunity to make mistakes in order to find clever ways to get through them. In production, you make plans that rarely go exactly as predicted for one reason or another, and it\u2019s important to be able to think on your feet and adapt quickly to make something work.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to current students?<\/b><\/p>\n

The film and television industry is notoriously cutthroat. Because of that reputation, I think that some students enter the industry with the notion that it\u2019s necessary to view every colleague as a competitive threat, and to be prepared to act like one of the Career characters in \u201cThe Hunger Games\u201d in order to move ahead.<\/p>\n

Through the thick and thin of long hours crewing on student films and midnight screenwriting marathons, my Dodge College classmates and I grew very close. Without their support and encouragement during film school and especially after, there\u2019s no way I\u2019d have survived emotionally through the first difficult years of unpaid internships and grueling assistant positions. We\u2019ve been there post-college to support one another with writers\u2019 groups, after-hours script notes, and job leads. I just don\u2019t know what I would do without them. Someday when I\u2019m able to make decisions about who to hire on my own projects, these are the first people that I plan on calling.<\/p>\n

My advice? \u00a0Stick together. Film and television, by their very nature, are collaborative media. We\u2019re all in this together, and we\u2019ll get further if we help each other along the way. Otherwise, I think it would be a rather lonely journey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Kirsch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":526,"featured_media":19923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,385],"tags":[384],"class_list":["post-7718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-alumni-spotlight","tag-alumni-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/526"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/dodge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}