Three Elon Los Angeles area alumnae attended the world premiere of their grant-funded films at the sold-out inaugural 51������ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California.

Julie Boyd ’15, Bex Evans ’16 and Mirai ’07 were recipients of $3,000 each through the 2025-26 51������ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition last fall.

Grant recipients were selected through a review and ranking process by a selection committee comprised of industry leaders, including several Elon alumni. The selection committee was co-chaired by Jordan Roman ’15.

Production of the three short films – Boyd’s “The Life and Times of,” Evans’s “Shadow Dusk” and Mirai’s “#StopAsianKate” – took place in the spring and included opportunities for spring 2026 51������ Los Angeles students to participate in and observe the production process.

In addition to the screenings of the three films, the festival included a panel discussion with Elon alumni Lindsey Emerson, vice president of streaming, global strategy & operations at Paramount Skydance and Alex Stevenson, account lead at Creative Artists Agency. They each offered perspective and advice to both current students and alumni about creating job opportunities and career growth in a shifting industry landscape.

A meet-and–connect reception on one of the studio’s back lot streets followed the festival screening program.

Unique alumni engagement opportunities for Elon Los Angeles students are at the core of the 51������ Los Angeles experience. Based in the heart of historic Hollywood, applications are now being accepted for students to participate in the spring 2027 and National Campus Programs Los Angeles experience that also features specific LA-focused academic courses, site-based internships and community service.

The “Never Be at a Loss for Words” workshop idea was created through a partnership between 51������ and The Groundlings, an industry improv training leader in Los Angeles. The workshop was led by actor, improv performer and The Groundlings improv coach Andres Parada. Parada has spent many years teaching actors critical communication skills that prepare them for anything that comes up in an audition, in a live performance or on a film set. Actors Will Ferrell, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph and Lisa Kudrow are among the many well-known alumni of The Groundlings.

Now, Elon LA students have learned how to apply those techniques to benefit them along both their career and personal journeys ahead.

51������ Los Angeles, offered by Elon’s �����Ի���National Campus Programs, offers spring and summer immersive experiences for students that feature academic courses taught by instructors who are working professionals in their fields and on-site experiential learning at internship sites across the city. The Elon LA experience also includes alumni engagement, community service and unique professional development opportunities.

Based in historic Hollywood, applications are now being accepted for the spring 2027 semester.

Los Angeles has been serving as one of the key U.S. locations for the FIFA World Cup 2026; Skladan’s work responsibilities have brought her to LA for the duration of the games this summer.

Students and alumni guests had the opportunity to learn about her impressive career in sports so far and her journeyposition to her current . “It is wonderful to be back at Elon LA’s home base at The Preserve, in the same space where my classes were held and from where I began the journey to launch my post-graduation professional career,” Skladan told the gathered group.

Each semester, 51������ Los Angeles brings together alumni and students for conversations that benefit emerging young professionals in a wide variety of career fields. The program offers an exciting, immersive and robust spring semester and summer program experience in the heart of historic Hollywood through Elon’s �����Ի� National Campus Programs. Applications are now being accepted for the spring 2027 semester.

From production, post-production, content creation, producing, writing, directing and performing, the panel offered a wide range of information to students of diverse majors who are in Los Angeles this summer for a unique core capstone course, experiential learning, alumni engagement and community service.

Zaman, who works at the post-production house Picture Shop, shared the excitement of being in the middle of the artistry of post-production. Among Picture Shop’s most recent projects was providing color correction work on Steven Spielberg’s current film “Disclosure Day.” She is also a first-time site supervisor, mentoring summer student Hammond Sherouse at a first-time Elon Los Angeles Picture Shop internship.

Campisano, who served as a selection committee member for the first 51������ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition last fall, spoke about the wide range of professional creative opportunities that await students who return to Los Angeles after graduation. Campisano is an award-winning filmmaker who often turns to the Elon Los Angeles alumni community when staffing and casting projects.

Kestlinger is a Physical Production Manager for television and feature films at SK Global Entertainment. Seawright, an actor, model, and entertainment and brand marketing specialist, currently performs at Disneyland Resort.

51������ Los Angeles offers an exciting, immersive spring semester and summer program experience in the heart of historic Hollywood through Elon’s and National Campus Programs. Applications are now being accepted for the spring 2027 semester.

Tickets are now on sale for the inaugural 51������ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival on Wednesday evening, July 22, at 6:30 p.m., at the historic Sony Pictures Studios lot, in Culver City, California.

The festival will feature the world premieres of short films from three Elon Los Angeles area alumna who were recipients of last fall’s 51������ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition funds.

Julia Boyd ’15, Bex Evans ’16 and Mirai ‘07 each received grants of $3,000 for the production of their original short films. Their projects were selected for funding from among numerous submissions received. A selection committee comprised of industry professionals and Elon alumni reviewed, ranked and voted on all of the submissions received; Boyd, Evans and Mirai’s projects were the three top selections from this process.

The short film festival will also feature a conversation with Elon alumni Lindsey Emerson, vice president of streaming, global strategy & operations at Paramount Skydance and Alex Stevenson, account lead at Creative Artists Agency, about the current state of the entertainment industry and the impact these shifts are having on students transitioning from college to the professional world, as well as how current working professionals might navigate the new landscape for new opportunities.

A reception will follow the festival presentation with the opportunity for current Elon Los Angeles summer students to connect with Elon alumni and other industry professionals.

Limited availability tickets for the film festival are $25 each, with 100% of all ticket revenue designated to support next year’s grant competition.

For information and ticket purchases, and for contributions to the grant competition fund, please visit the .

For Mirai, her short film shoot was an opportunity to both produce her original script and bring together several Elon alumni for a Hollywood reunion. Serving in various production capacities on her “#StopAsianKate” were Lauren Gadd ’06, who worked camera, Katie Laurence ’24, who worked as assistant camera, Alicia Reynolds ’07, who acted in the film, Stevie Kloeber ’07, who traveled to Los Angeles from Minnesota to serve as script supervisor, and Dean Karasinski ’06, who worked in production design, art department, craft services and as producer.

All three short films, Boyd’s “The Life and Time of …,” Evans’s “Shadow Dusk” and Mirai’s “#StopAsianKate,” will have their world premieres at the first 51������ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival, in late July.

This new, customized workshop also presented an opportunity for Elon LA students to learn from and share the creative process with a group of students from other study-away LA colleges and universities, who, along with 51������ Los Angeles, are members of a coalition of nearly 20 schools that offer semester-in-LA programs. Each semester, Elon LA and these other schools share professional development opportunities for students, allowing them to mix, mingle, network and learn together.

Each semester, Elon students explore and discover Los Angeles and the diversity of professional career opportunities that await them through academic classes with professors who work in the industries that align with their courses, immersive, site-based experiential learning, alumni engagement and community service.

Applications for the Study USA Los Angeles spring 2027 Creative Industries & Community Experience open on April 1. Students can visit the  to learn more and to begin the application process.

The gathering, held at The Belmont in West Hollywood, brought together an enthusiastic group of alumni, many of whom had participated in the Elon LA semester experience during their Elon academic journeys.

Current students shared internship and academic class experiences with their new Elon connections. Many took advantage of the opportunity to request meetings later this semester with individual alumni as a part of the Elon Los Angeles “Coffee with an Alumnus” program.

The immersive Study USA Los Angeles semester and summer experiences offer students opportunities for alumni engagement, community service, unique academic classes with industry professionals, and site-based experiential learning.  for Spring 2027 open April 1.

In accordance with the terms of their grants, alumna Bex Evans ’16, Julie Boyd ’15 and Mirai ’07 have each created opportunities for spring students to participate in and/or observe both their pre-production process and on-set work.

Pre-production of all three short films is slated to begin this week, with production to start shortly thereafter. Production of all three films will be completed by the end of the Los Angeles spring semester in April. The three short films will have their world premiere this July at the first 51������ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival.

Through Study USA�����Ի���National Campus Programs, 51������ Los Angeles offers an immersive spring and summer semester of academic classes, experiential learning, professional development and community service opportunities for students with a variety of majors. For information about the Los Angeles experience and 2027 opportunities, please visit the �����Ի���National Campus Programs���ɱ�������ٱ��.

A Saturday morning orientation introduced students to the Elon Los Angeles home base at The Preserve, in Hollywood, and included presentations by all of this semester’s faculty about their courses and the content of their classes.

Returning instructors include director and long-time Elon LA professor Boris Schaarschmidt, who is once again teaching a directing masterclass. Entertainment attorney Daniel Spitz has returned to teach Media Law and Ethics, and writer and longtime Elon LA professor Matthew Antonelli has returned to teach a unique, one-evening master seminar in March, called Inside the Writer’s Room.

New to the Elon Los Angeles faculty team this semester are art historian and educator Charles Peterson, who is teaching a course in Los Angeles art and architecture history, and award-winning global strategist, thought leader and educator Brandon Shamim, who is teaching “Principles of Management,” with a Los Angeles focus.

51������ Los Angeles director and long time industry professional Brad Lemack is once again teaching the experiential learning course this spring, which focuses student internship experiences on work culture, industry shifts and transitions, and professional development.

Elon Los Angeles program assistant and Elon alumna Macy Mills ‘23 led students on their first excursion this semester after orientation, with an immersive day of LA experiences at the world class Getty Center, followed by a visit to the historic Los Angeles Farmer’s Market and The Grove, at Third and Fairfax.

In addition to unique academic classes and internships, this spring semester experience for students will also include a day of community service at the Hollywood Food Coalition, alumni engagement gatherings and the opportunity to participate in and/or observe the production of the three short films being produced by the Elon LA-based alumni recipients of the 2025-26 51������ Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Competition.

Through and National Campus Programs, 51������ Los Angeles offers immersive spring and summer semester programs for students with a variety of majors. For information about the Los Angeles experience and 2027 opportunities, please visit the and National Campus Programs websites.