Life and Learning in the City

Los Angeles has great weather, a vibrant and culturally diverse population and inseparable ties to the film industry. Go almost anywhere in Los Angeles and it is apparent that you are in the heart of movie land. You can cruise Sunset Strip and check out the giant billboards for the summer's blockbusters. Stroll down the Hollywood Walk of Fame to see the stars of the film and television universe planted in the sidewalk. Everywhere you go the world-famous Hollywood sign seems to follow you. All are reminders that you, too, can be a part of the exciting world of film and television one day.

Inside the Universal Studios Headquarters, movie magic happens. This is where Focus Features, the 'little company that could,' brought us Oscar winners like Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Lost in Translation. Here, Stephen Soderbergh and George Clooney housed the production offices for Ocean's Eleven and where the production departments for Minority Report, Seabiscuit, Live Free or Die Hard and countless others brought their visions to the screen.

It is also where students at the New York Film Academy learn what it takes to be the directors, screenwriters, actors, producers, cinematographers and editors of tomorrow. Here in the heart of the film industry, our students study their craft and develop their ideas.

The Backlot and Shooting in LA

Universal Studios sprawls over 390 acres of offices, interior sound stages and outdoor movie sets. In-class production exercises are shot on the world-famous Universal Studios backlot.

Driving around the lot, one alternately happens across a dusty Mexican villa, an imposing Roman square, a New York alley straight from the 1930s and a street with saloons and wooden sidewalks that would be right at home in an old Western. Nearby, multiple lakes, (including the infamous Jaws lake!), an old New England street and a Renaissance courtyard make up the landscape of the Studios' backlot.

For their individual films, students shoot in Los Angeles, where a wide variety of locations can be found. Participants in our filmmaking workshop can shoot in gritty, urban neighborhoods downtown; on a beach at sunset in Malibu; on the famed shopping strip of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills; or on the boardwalk of Venice Beach. Indeed, one of the attractions of Los Angeles for the film industry has been the city's incredibly varied landscape - from seaside to desert to mountain slope and fruit grove.