BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the members of the 2022 class of HPA Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP). 

The YEP program is designed to nurture the growth of the industry and elevate talented early-career professionals working in the media content industry, HPA said. It has provided support, education, and encouragement to over one hundred young professionals to date and has helped foster a diverse next generation of industry professionals.

Overseen by the YEP steering committee, the program was conceived by HPA’s Women In Post Committee, led by Kari Grubin and Loren Nielsen. 

“We are delighted to open another year of engagement for this truly talented group,” Grubin said. “Every year the relationships that form between our YEPs, mentors, and the HPA community inspire growth on all fronts.” 

The YEPs of past classes have voiced that while mentorship is significant in the program, the building of peer groups is invaluable. 

Nielsen noted that “YEPs have built a tremendously supportive professional and peer community. To have a network to which you turn for information and camaraderie is profoundly meaningful. YEP has done that.”

Determined by application and endorsement, YEP class members are invited to engage in the full spectrum of HPA activities, including the legendary HPA Tech Retreat and HPA Awards, as well as being paired with advanced career mentors in the second half of the year. YEPs network and learn from peers and mentors, beginning with an exclusive YEP event in January.

The 2022 YEP Class is: 

• Barbara Banda, Netflix
• Eduardo Becerril, Entravision Communications
• Benjamin Cantle, Monster Lighting
• George Diaz, BuzzFeed
• Matthew Klein, Company 3
• Alexa Lowndes, Company 3
• Kathryn Lynyak, Netflix
• Jaxson McLennan, Freelance
• Alexandra Pann, 3BMG Productions
• Alexis Pfeffer, Freelance
• Beatriz Rodriguez, Amazon’s Hunters S2
• Nan Su, Youth Beat

The YEP program is supported by AVID. For further information, visit hpaonline.com.

BURBANK, Calif.—HPA is once again offering an avenue for young entertainment professionals to advance their careers through its Young Entertainment Professionals program. Applications for the 2021 program are now being accepted.

Since its founding in 2015, YEP has sought to connect young professionals between the ages of 21 and 32 with mentors and provide educational offerings that can help accelerate their professional development into industry leadership positions.

As part of the program, YEP participants receive free or reduced fee access to YEP and HPA events, like the HPA Tech Retreat, YEP Roundtable Mentor Event, HPA’s virtual event series and more. They also receive an annual membership in HPA and SMPTE.

There are two phases of the year-long YEP program. Phase 1 takes place from January through May and requires that participant to attend the YEP orientation day as well as one other major event and at least four virtual events or casual meet-ups throughout the year. Phase 2 begins in May and will pair participants with an industry leader as a mentor. At the end of Phase 2, participants are evaluated on their eligibility to receive a certificate of completion.

“HPA is a place where those who participate make connections that last a lifetime,” said Kari Grubin, who co-created the YEP program. “Becoming a YEP puts you in a great position to do just that, and if you are able to invest in your YEP experience, it will be an invaluable asset as you build your career.”

Applications are being accepted until Oct. 12, which entails an online application and one letter of recommendation. Applicants will be notified of their status in mid-November, with classes starting in January 2021.

For more information, visit www.hpaonline.com.  

BURBANK, Calif.—The HPA is now accepting applications for its 2020 Young Entertainment Professionals program, a year-long program designed to help professionals between the ages of 21 and 32 to network and learn from peers and industry leaders.

Now in its fourth year, the YEP Program will begin in October and provides its participants with mentoring and education, introductions to industry leaders, invitations to events and access to resources to help further their careers. In the past, YEPs have taken part in HPA Tech Retreat and SMPTE Annual Technical Conference panels, produced webinar series and contributed columns to the HPA NewsLine e-newsletter.

New for this year’s participants will be the introduction of two distinct sections. Section 1 takes place from October to February, starting with an orientation at the SMPTE Annual Technical Conference and finishing with the HPA Tech Retreat. Attendance at the SMPTE conference is mandatory, while YEPs must attend one other event during the four-month timeframe.

Section 2 custom pairs YEP participants with an industry leader from March to September and will receive free or reduced fee access to YEP and other HPA community events. At the end of this section, YEPs will be evaluated by the Mentorship committee for eligibility to receive the Certificate of Completion.

To apply for the program, applicants must be currently working in media content creation in a creative, technical or project management/administrative role and be between the ages of 21 and 32 as of Oct. 23. In addition to filling out the application, applicants must provide a recommendation from an employer or professional project supervisor. The deadline for submitting applications is Sept. 20. Selected participants will be notified by Oct. 1.

For more information on what participation in YEP provides and to officially apply, visit HPA’s website.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.—A simple look at the numbers reveals the SMPTE 2017 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition last week in Hollywood, Calif., was a success. More than 2,500 registered attendees (a record); 105 exhibitors, and 70 presentations on some of the most important technical issues facing the motion picture and television industry adds up to another high mark for the standards body.

More than 100 exhibitors showcased their latest technology at the SMPTE 2017.

However, there was a far more important number for the industry in general and SMPTE in particular being discussed at the event. That number is 30.

On the last day of the conference (Oct. 26), John Footen, a leader in Deloitte’s Technology Strategy and Architecture Practice for Technology, Media & Telecoms asked those attending his “The Future of Technology in the Future of Broadcasting” to stand up if they were younger than 30 years old. Of the estimated 200 people in attendance, two said they were younger than 30. One was a scientist, not an engineer, and the other declined to identify her role in the industry.

YEP PROGRAM

While certainly not a scientific survey, a casual observation of those attending other sessions—wandering the aisles from booth to booth in the two exhibit halls and participating in after-hour events like the SMPTE Oktoberfest and Spooktacular—indicates Footen’s poll wasn’t too far off the mark.

SMPTE has recognized the need to attract younger professionals for some time. On the creative side of the business, the organization—along with HPA, which consolidated with SMPTE two years ago—has attracted young filmmakers with the annual SMPTE-HPA Student Film Festival. Likewise, on the technical side—where SMPTE has made its bones for just over 100 years—the pair are tackling the dearth of young blood as well, according to Matthew Goldman, SMPTE president.

SMPTE President Matthew Goldman talks with attendees at SMPTE’s Young Entertainment Professional day-long conference.

“I just came from an all-day event here [at the Loews Hollywood Hotel] that is actually the HPA’s event—sponsored along with SMPTE—called the ‘Young Entertainment Professional,’ or the YEP, program,” said Goldman, who is also senior vice president of technology at Ericsson. YEP is a yearlong program for young engineers five to seven years into their careers, he said.

In Hollywood, the daylong YEP event was focused on mentorship for the “huge crowd” of YEP participants in attendance, Goldman added. “In broadcast in general, it’s the aging of the population. If you look at professional media as a whole, it’s not that way,” he said. “We are looking to strengthen our programs to be more relevant to people in the early part of their carriers, which is usually when you are in your 20s.”

VISION 2020

To that end, SMPTE is on a mission as part of its Vision2020 strategic plan to have 30 percent of its members under 30 years of age, according to Goldman. Back in Salon 2 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom where Footen was making his presentation, the conversation turned to changes in areas where television engineers and tech personnel work and what that may hold for the future. To illustrate the diminishing role for R&D engineers at broadcast organizations, Footen invited Bob Seidel, vice president of engineering and advanced technology at CBS and past president of SMPTE, to the microphone to talk for a few minutes about the CBS Technology Center in Stamford, Conn.

In its heyday, the lab, which closed in 1986, employed as many as 150 engineers tackling R&D projects in areas like videodisc, high definition television, color cameras, image processing and tape, he said. Today, there are five CBS R&D engineers, one of whom previously worked at the tech center.

While HPA has YEP and SMPTE its 30-under-30 goal, the industry at large must find a way to make television attractive to younger people, said Footen. “Our industry is not considered sexy anymore,” he said. “A TV station in the ‘60s or ‘70s was like a startup. It was the hot place to work. It was a place you wanted to go work.”

Footen sees the situation eventually working itself out with a large number of engineers retiring over the next several years and wages becoming more competitive with the IT industry. The approach to management must also change, he said. “I need to be able to walk into a TV station and see the ping-pong table and latte machine,” he said. “Make it sexy. Make it that the next generation will want to work in our field. Make it like it was before.”