Production Assistant Training
Streetlights Production Assistant Program is the only entry-level production training of its kind, requiring each graduate to complete 240 hours of industry-dictated job preparation, 120 of which are spent working on actual productions. Taught by industry professionals, aspiring Production Assistants learn everything from walkie-talkies to petty cash reconciliation, from lock-up to Who’s Who on the job, as well office and on-set practices and protocols. Extensive preparation allows the new P.A.s to be valuable crew members from their very first day on the job.
A Production Assistant (P.A.) is an entry-level position behind-the-camera in Films, TV and Commercials. It is an excellent and accepted way to get your foot in the door and learn the ropes. Taught by Industry professionals, our P.A. curriculum is the only one of its kind. Given the freelance nature of production, job placement is provided so graduates can establish a network of contacts.
Qualifying for our program is rigorous—applicants undergo a thorough selection process. Due to the limited availability of jobs, only the most motivated will gain admittance into class. Classes are conducted a maximum of four times per year. Applications are accepted year round.
CDI Union Membership Program
The Commercial Diversity Initiative, or “CDI” Union Program, was created in 2001 by Streetlights, alongside partners Procter & Gamble and Saatchi & Saatchi specifically for the world of TV commercial production. We currently collaborate with a number of corporate advertisers and ad agencies who empower Streetlights’ grads to move up the career ladder through Union Traineeships and fulfill their own commitments to company-wide diversity in a simple and expeditious way. Streetlights handles all the logistics, while partners provide job opportunities, financial support and apprenticeships which provide one of the very few pathways to Union Membership.
CDI now offers qualified, experienced Streetlights P.A.’s a chance to make that difficult first move up the career ladder. At the same time, it is building a much needed industry-wide minority talent pool representing a range of job categories: from Prop Maker to Producer. Through this endeavor, experienced graduates work as a Union Trainee, earn Union eligibility days in their chosen department, and then join their Union local. At the same time, the financial assistance of our partner companies allows us to train more Production Assistants, so they, too, can eventually advance, join Union locals and become part of our minority database.
Advanced Job Placements
For those more interested in executive and creative pursuits, we develop long-term and on-staff careers at studios, networks and production companies to help our senior graduates advance as job skills grow. Manager of Post Production at TNT/TBS, Writer/Supervising Producer for the Starz network new production “Power,” Director, Music Videos (Beyoncé) and Production Company owners are just a few of our graduate’s achievements. More recently, several senior grads have advanced into long-term positions with major studios including 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros.
Production Vets
Streetlights has a commitment to forge Entertainment Industry careers for Post 9/11 Minority Veterans by starting a new level of training: ProductionVets. In recent years employment needs for this severely low-income “community of brothers and sisters in arms” has grown urgent. ProductionVets Job Training, Job Placement and Career Advancement program moves young Vets from financial distress to long term economic stability. Many have distinguished, even heroic, military records, yet are under- or unemployed. The goal is for Vets and their families to find the peace that comes from financial stability through one of the many careers behind-the-camera.
ProductionVets is unique in that it creates economic and social parity for the newest generation of Veterans for whom reintegration into the civilian workforce has not been easy. Post 9/11 Veterans accepted into the ProductionVets program receive a full complement of no cost Job Training, guaranteed Job Placement and comprehensive Career Advancement services in order to work behind-the-camera in Film, TV and Commercials. The program includes soft skills training, as well as intense Industry-directed vocational training. At the same time ProductionVets provides adjunct services tailored specifically for Veterans, whose issues are vastly different than nonveteran trainees. We serve Vets in all areas of life and in all the ways that would otherwise keep him/her from being successful by providing personalized case management.
