Saturday, July 17, 2021

In-Depth: Group aims to mentor Utah's future filmmakers

Mentorship Program to Prepare Utah’s Next Generation of Filmmakers

Thousands of aspiring filmmakers who set out to pursue their dreams of becoming industry professionals often get taken advantage of and fall short of finding success.

[Salt Lake City, Utah – July 15th] The Utah FilmmakersAssociation, working with the Utah Film Commission, is implementing a new mentorship program to provide Utah’s students and community filmmakers with guided opportunities to work in the film industry.

The Utah FilmmakersMentorship Program places emphasis on established filmmaking professionals mentoring those that aspire to become working filmmakers themselves. The program endeavors to serve members of the local film community seeking practical experience in a professional and safe work environment.

There is a long and sad history of people who call themselves ‘producers’ taking advantage of aspiring filmmakers. Someone that's new to the film community—regardless of whether they went to film school or are self-taught—usually has no way of distinguishing legitimate opportunities from exploitive situations. The Utah FilmmakersMentorship Program is about connecting aspiring filmmakers with vetted industry professionals” said Joe Puente, Founder and Administrator of the Utah FilmmakersAssociation.

Official UFA Mentors, including Travis Babcock of LENZ-works Productions and one of the program’s authors, will impart knowledge in their areas of expertise, and cultivate a resource of knowledgeable and experienced professionals available to work in the local film industry.

UFA™ Mentees will be given the opportunity to develop skills with the guidance of vetted professionals, enabling them to contribute their talents to local productions while learning essential industry standards and aspects of the craft that are not usually taught in most academic programs.

The Utah FilmmakersMentorship Program is accepting applications from professional Utah filmmakers interested in volunteering their time and expertise as mentors and individuals that want to be mentored at its official website: https://mentors.utahfilmmakers.org/[mentors.utahfilmmakers.org]