As part of its commitment to cultivating engaged, informed citizens, the University of Southern California is proud to announce the launch of a new Media Institute for Social Change, a non-profit organization housed at the USC School of Cinematic Arts that focuses on how to harness the power and reach of film and television entertainment for positive social change.

Led by Michael Taylor, Chair of Film and Television Production at USC School of Cinematic Arts, the Media Institute for Social Change will provide an important first step in the education of making media for social change for top film school students - who are poised to write, direct and produce the blockbuster and independent works of entertainment that will affect attitudes and public policy for decades to come.

While many disciplines - including business, law and journalism - have long made ethics a core part of their curricula, the Media Institute for Social Change at the USC School of Cinematic Arts is an important first step in developing an social change curriculum for storytellers, particularly storytellers who will be armed with the reach of film, television and new media.

"It is a great pleasure to provide for our students the opportunity to combine the filmmaking expertise they have learned with a conversation about content and the specific issues that arise in combining entertainment and advocacy," Taylor said. "That's what the Media Institute for Social Change will set out to do - help students understand that they have an opportunity to reach huge audiences and then help them think about how best to infuse their work with the issues they care about."

In addition to the course "Making Media for Social Change" at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the Media Institute for Social Change will offer scholarships to student filmmakers who are creating projects that integrate entertainment, storytelling and messages of positive social change. The course, co-taught by Taylor and Emmy Award-winning director Jeremy Kagan, professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, provides an opportunity for film students to deeply consider rhetorical and ethical challenges in narrative film and television, including how to tell stories that impact the global culture, how to tell stories for a sustainable future and the role of truth in persuasion.

The Media Institute for Social Change will also serve as a research hub for media scholars at USC and around the world who are seeking to quantify and to provide rigorous analysis of the correlations between media depictions and shifts in public opinion and policy. Does the so-called "Will and Grace" effect actually track with changing attitudes toward gay marriage in the United States? How have depictions of race in movies driven the national conversation? What elements of successful narratives actually move people to action in personal responsibility or civic engagement?

"The Media Institute for Social Change is rigorously nonpartisan. We do not have a political agenda; we are not taking a position on issues," said Taylor, former Motion Picture Executive at United Artists Corporation and an acclaimed producer behind such films as Phenomenon, Instinct and Bottle Rocket. "We are about integrating social issues into stories. As filmmakers, the work we do has a large impact on the culture and we have a responsibility to use that impact in a positive way."

Drawing on the experiences of the Hollywood, Health and Society Program at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, for which Taylor serves as a Board Member, the Media Institute for Social Change will also help connect industry professionals to faculty experts at USC who can provide fact-driven scholarship and guidance on such issues as human rights, environmental justice, medical ethics and public health, law and politics, immigration, and religion, among other topics.


Source: University of Southern California