Feedback on Collaboration Essay Ideas? USC Film and Television Production MFA Application 2021

[rainydays]

Hi everyone! (repost because I unfortunately didn't get any feedback the 1st time, understandable though because this post is kind of long)

I'm brainstorming topics for the Collaboration Essay for USC film/tv production MFA and so far I've come up with a few ideas. I was wondering if I could get some feedback on if any of them are any good and could work? I'm having a LOT of trouble with this question and would really appreciate any help!

 

[sarahkwUT]

Hi! I would bring your entire experience as an editor into an essay OR your experience in planning these events. I think I would lean towards the editor role and your lessons learned there. You'll be collaborating with a lot of people with a lot of opinions as a filmmaker and you can use your experience with being an editor to draw on what you learned about collaborating - what worked, what didn't work, etc. Does that make sense?

Basically, you want to showcase that you have been in a position of needing to collaborate and have learned from the give and take that collaborating requires.

 

[rainydays]

Thank you so so much for the feedback!

 

[Asar]

Thank you so so much for the feedback!

Based off it, I'm thinking maybe doing the newspaper Opinions editor as my positive collaboration and talking about the various ways we give and took, and then contrasting with my Senior Editor position and how there was no give and take (eventually leading to a stagnated and stale publication) could be good then?

Hey, so one piece of advice I saw somewhere (maybe on here or in my endless google search) was trying to make every single aspect of your application showcase a different side of you. I say this to say that if you're going to use the newspaper experience for your positive collaboration, maybe use a different experience (such as the Black Students Formal) for the negative collaboration. It'll not only show your strengths in both a successful and failing situation, but also show variety in your involvement.

Also, as you're writing these two essays be sure that you are hitting the questions and sub-questions in the prompts, and really bring it home in the last part of each prompt after the "Finally," because that's where they'll see the impact those situations had on the way you think and what you'll bring to the institution and industry.

And don't forget to tell a story! It's one thing to read an essay, another to read a story posing as an essay lol.

 

[rainydays]

Thank you so much!