UCLA Interview

[Icarus Ascending]

This is Icarus Ascending reporting from Cloud 9. Just got an e-mail inviting me for a UCLA interview in the city. Anyone else heard???

--IA

 

[Russell Blanchard]

I just heard from UCLA that Producing Invites will be going out soon.

 

[cabezon]

That's funny I just emailed Ben @ UCLA a second ago asking if all the interview invites had been sent out. Either way that's good to know. There is still a chance. Good luck Russ! Hope we both get an interview.

 

[ediebeale]

Are there any other cinematography interviewees on here? Just checkin . . .

 

[tomsundies]

I found this board a few weeks ago -- and I've just been humbled by the graciousness of the community. I'm sure I've read every single post in the 'graduate section' (from this year and last) and most of those posts I've read at least twice.

I found the board to be especially helpful in preparing for (and recovering from) my interview with AFI, SO I thought I'd pass along what help I could to those preparing for their UCLA interviews:

I interviewed for the MFA Directing/Production program earlier today, and I really feel like it couldn't have been more different than my AFI interview (my only other point of reference).

re: my AFI interview, I think Icarus Ascending put it best (in the AFI thread) as "somewhat south of triumphant. It wasn't a disaster or anything, but I wasn't exactly left with the impression that they had been dazzled." I felt exactly the same way, just far less succinct.

At UCLA, I interviewed with Professors Becky Smith, Rory Kelly and Gyula Gazdag. Also, both graduate counselors were on site and a third-year directing student was there to answer any questions I might have before the interview.

The interviews were scheduled an hour apart, and my interview lasted about forty minutes.

I had every intention of sharing the questions they asked -- for those who might find that helpful -- but there really didn't seem to be a standard list of questions.

The interviewers were well-prepared and all of the questions were based off either my application materials or things that we had talked about in the room. I can't imagine there being more than two or three 'stock' questions in any of the interviews (aside from, of course, the two-minute pitch).

Overall, I found the UCLA faculty (including the graduate counselors) to be warm, intelligent, thoughtful people who were really interested in getting to know me as a person. I enjoyed the interview, and I left with a really good feeling about the UCLA program as a whole.

By this point in my rambling, I'm sure I've overstayed my welcome, but if you think I can be of any help in preparing for your interview, please don't hesitate to let me know -- I really do feel like I owe the community-at-large such a debt of gratitude and I'll happily repay in anyway I can.

Best of luck!

ps... sorry if I've been in anyway incoherent, I think I'm emotionally drained. Not necessarily in a bad way, but emotionally drained nonetheless.

 

[cabezon]

welcome aboard tomsundies. I wish you the best of luck with your interview @ UCLA.

Feel free to say whatever you have to say on here. Even the smallest thing can help us all out. Especially those of us who are waiting or will be interviewing soon. I too have read just about all the posts on here from last year until recent. They have all been very helful. (minus all the redundant ones that just rant/vent...lol)

You mentioned in your post that you had to do the 2 minute pitch. I know this is a regular thing they do. I assume they told you to prepare one ahead of time? Was there any guidelines regarding the pitch? How did it go for you?

 

[Allen Ho]

I just came from my UCLA interview and I agree with tomsundies experience. I definitely didnt feel like I dazzled them. I was caught off guard by one of the questions and I don't know if I answered it as well as I should. I froze and stuttered a bit here and there cause I was nervous.

Becky Smith and Gyula Gazdag interviewed me. They were very nice people but it was still a bit nerve racking because they had actually taught my old professor when she went to school there.

I am not sure how I did. I thought that we would watch one of the films I brought in and discuss it but we didnt. I just handed them a dvd at the end and they said they would look over it later.

I am really not sure what they're looking for, I felt that the questions they asked didn't really tell a whole lot about me...but then again they already knew a lot through my personal statement.

They said they will notify people in the last two weeks of April after all the interviews are finished so I guess Ill just have to wait until then...

 

[notorious]

I'm wondering if anybody else interviewed with UCLA and NYU for Directing. I've had both interviews, and I felt totally different about both. The NYU one felt way more intimidating, and kinda pretentious, with the feeling that they were forcing me to tell stories on the spot. I don't really think I bedazzled them at all. I just had my interview at UCLA on Sat. and I have to say that i felt like I was "on" and was myself. I had the same three people, and the vibe was totally different than NYU. Much friendlier and relaxed.

I don't know if it's because I was more "prepared" cuz I already went thru it at nyu,but i was wondering if anyone else has gone thru both school's interview process? Or wants to comment on either..

 

[Allen Ho]

Yeah, I felt my UCLA interview was relaxed...but I definitely wasn't as prepared as I should've been. It was my first interview with a grad program and I feel like if I had been interviewed before with another school, the UCLA one would've went smoother.

Also, my interview was the last of the day and I kind of regret scheduling it that way because you could tell the faculty was tired. Rory Kelly had to step out to attend to a student's production, and so it was just with Becky and Gyula.

When the interview was concluding I thought, "Wait...that's it??" Because the 40 minutes went by really fast and I definitely didnt feel like they got a grasp of who I was.

I am going to try to stay optimistic though, hopefully they will see something in the portfolio I handed them or hopefully they see some potential in me.

 

[robertish]

hey notorious ... two weeks from now I'll be able to speak on NYU UCLA interview comparisons. Had my NYU last friday and I did feel the pressure, and I dont feel I dazzled them. Just felt like I seemed like some crazed caffienated lunatic. So I'm certainly hoping I'll have a lot of contrasts to be making.

 

[swilsey]

For those who said some questions caught them off-guard, what were they? I have my interview in a couple of weeks and am just curious at what kind of questions tend to throw you off. Are they questions about your personal life, directors, styles, etc. Any detailed information on the types of things asked would be very helpful. Thanks and best of luck to everyone!

 

[tomsundies]

Originally posted by cabezon:
You mentioned in your post that you had to do the 2 minute pitch. I know this is a regular thing they do. I assume they told you to prepare one ahead of time? Was there any guidelines regarding the pitch? How did it go for you?

For me, this was the most difficult part of the interview. They asked me to prepare a narrative short film idea (the proposed short was to be under five minutes) and they 'recommended' that you focus on an emotional moment that had a beginning, middle and end.

They e-mailed me the details a couple of days ahead of the interview, and my first inclination was, unfortunately, to be 'clever.' AND I came up with about four just awful pitches, all of which I, fortunately, scrapped on the drive to the interview.

I instead focused on an emotional moment from my own life, and turned that into a simple story pitch. I got off to a bit of a rough start, but overall they laughed when I needed them to laugh and they nodded when I needed them to nod so I'm glad I kept it simple.

AND while I definitely didn't blow them away with the pitch, I don't think they were underwhelmed either.

 

[Allen Ho]

An interesting thing that happened after my pitch was that Becky gave a criticism of it, of what I could show to possibly end it differently.

I am not sure what to think of it, it could be positive because I showed that there was something there to work with and that they found it interesting enough to give suggestions...or it could've been bad because the ending of my story wasn't all there.

The question that threw me off was phrased weird. It was basically asking what are my strengths and weaknesses as a director...but they worded it in a way that sort of confused me. I think it was something like "what would the people on your crew say is positive and negative about you" ...and it was just hard for me to answer because the people I usually work with are all my really good friends and are really supportive of each other. The only thing I could come up with was one time I remember we were trying to make a deadline and I was yelling to get people together on set and my friend criticized me for yelling because he thought it was stressing people out. This probably wasn't the best thing to say...Gyula called me out on it and asked "Why are you yelling? What is it that makes you yell?" And I couldnt really answer because it seemed like I'd be making excuses.

All in all, the other questions they asked because were mostly pertained to questions stemming from my application, pitch, etc.

 

[dahinducow]

One of the things I read is to avoid coming of as psychotic or antisocial in any shape or form. So, saying you yelled probably wasn't the BEST thing to do. Because you will be working with 21 people for four years straight in a high stress environment.

It's good that you were honest and my best advice for everyone is to just be yourself, but you just don't want to give them any reason to not accept you.

That's the tricky part about a question like weaknesses/strengths.

But honestly, I think they know who the top 20 or so people are going into the interview, and the interview is really to make sure people aren't crazy, haha.

So, don't act crazy.

 

[lucid]

I'm still pretty unclear about what actually goes down in the interview, specifically the screenwriting interview.

What kind of questions do they ask you? Is it mostly focused on your life experience, your knowledge of film, your future plans? Is the two minute pitch just for directors, or do you have to do that in the screenwriting interview as well? Where are the questions drawn from? your statment, writing sample, recommendations? I think any info on the actual content of the interview would be really helpful for all of us applying.

And thanks to duders and jayimess and everyone else who replied to my last post.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[Allen Ho]

Originally posted by dahinducow:
One of the things I read is to avoid coming of as psychotic or antisocial in any shape or form. So, saying you yelled probably wasn't the BEST thing to do. Because you will be working with 21 people for four years straight in a high stress environment.

One of the things I did not want to do is give a bull**** answer like "I am a perfectionist" or "I work too hard"

The student I talked to before the interview told me that they will see right through any kind of bull****.

The yelling thing might have been an honest critique and I think what I should have said was that "I don't have any formal training in production and neither have any of the crews I worked with so things can become extremely chaotic, and I yell not to yell at someone but to motivate people to push through and keep going" I also explained that I was an Assistant Director (aka the ******* on set) when this happened so I think that might have alleviated my answer a bit.

 

[Jayimess]

Originally posted by lucid:
I'm still pretty unclear about what actually goes down in the interview, specifically the screenwriting interview.

I think any info on the actual content of the interview would be really helpful for all of us applying.

If you check out last year's thread on this subject, you'll see that no interviews are alike.

Here's what I recall from my interview with R. Walter and H. Ackerman last March.

In the lobby, I spoke with the applicant who was going before me. Here are our parallels:

He: Messy, stained, wrinkled clothes, tennis shoes
Me: All dressed up with nowhere to go

He: Third time interviewing
Me: First time interviewing

He: State college for BA
Me: State college for BA

He: Thinks he flopped his "favorite movie and why" question last time and that's what kept him out
Me: Had no such question

He: Done in 20 minutes
Me: Done in an hour or so

My interview was just a conversation. They talked about the program, I asked about the program. We talked about writing, LA, my visit to NYC for the interview, the weather in Ohio.

It was really low key, though I was dressed for a boardroom segment of "The Apprentice."

The other dude, however, was dressed like he starred on "Mythbusters," and from what he shared, got a formulaic interview.

I don't know if he got in, but I did. And I can sincerely tell you, I had no doubt in my mind that I nailed it...I wouldn't allow myself to say it, but I somehow knew that I was gonna get in.


So the answer is, there is no answer. Just be prepared.

 

[Allen Ho]

Jayimess,

what made you choose USC over UCLA?

 

[dahinducow]

Yeah Allen,

I commend you for being honest, I was just giving you advice for any future interviews. You want to be yourself, but still hold back any sociopathic tendencies... and unfortunately, yelling kinda fits into that category. Good luck!

 

[Jayimess]

Originally posted by Allen Ho:
Jayimess,

what made you choose USC over UCLA?

There were several factors that made me choose USC over both UCLA and later, AFI.

The most significant one was the ability to cross over and explore other disciplines, namely production, and the integration of the students from all programs as well. I liked that here at USC, I could explore. As those of you who have researched AFI know, that is not an option. At my UCLA interview, I was informed that the writing department is kind of isolated, and you only work with other departments if you seek it out yourself.

At USC, we have classes with other departments, and every semester we get the opportunity to have our scripts chosen for advanced production projects every semester. (The 546) Four of my incoming classmates got chosen last semester. I'm also currently working on a special Stark project, which if chosen, will be produced by the school, with $15K. We collaborate on 508s, anything and everything we can...and it's encouraged. Also, within the writing division, there are several "tracks" which permit you to diversify your education and resulting portfolio. I'm taking the "Writer-Director," and its very existence was the tipping point.

 

[Allen Ho]

Originally posted by dahinducow:
Yeah Allen,

I commend you for being honest, I was just giving you advice for any future interviews. You want to be yourself, but still hold back any sociopathic tendencies... and unfortunately, yelling kinda fits into that category. Good luck!

Oops, sorry if my reply came off the wrong way. I agree with your advice. I knew the second it came out of my mouth during the interview, it wasn't the right thing to say. Especially when "yelling" has many different connotations to it.

I regret not providing the context of why I was yelling during my interview. I was the assistant director on a 48 hour contest managing 50+ cast and crew members, over a dozen moving vehicles and a crane for a musical called Traffic Jam. That probably would've given me a better justification for raising my voice on set.