Concentration combines creative skills with business savvy to empower MOPA students
David Eusebio // Contributor
Coralie Mayer // Illustrator
“Anyone who wants to make their own content needs to learn to produce”
Claire Querée
Starting in Fall 2021, Capilano University (CapU) students enrolled in the Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts (BMPA) program can pursue a concentration in producing for film. Claire Querée, an instructor in the Motion Picture Arts Program, explained that the concentration came to fruition as a result of growing demand from current BMPA students.
“There was already a pent-up demand from our current students for the producing concentration,” said Querée. “My fellow instructor Patti Poskitt and I had been doing research on a producer concentration to start in 2021/22, but when we pitched it to administration, they accelerated the timeline so it could launch this year.”
“Producing requires an increasingly broad set skillset,” said Querée, noting that the concentration will allow students to acquire and strengthen an array of skills to equip them for the film industry, from both creative and business aspects.
“The Producing concentration empowers students to specialize in film business affairs and producing, gaining in-demand skills that are needed in today’s rapidly evolving and growing motion picture industry … This development represents an exciting step forward for the BMPA program,” said Dean of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts Ted Gervan in a CapU press release.
“Filmmaking is as much a business as it is a salad bar of creative skilled persons—I believe the business fundamentals of product monetization, film business affairs and ethical producing practices are essential for all entertainment content creators,” said Poskitt. “I think the addition of the upper-level Producing Stream provides MOPA students the opportunity to choose the business aspects of filmmaking.”
The new concentration was designed in collaboration with the BC Branch of the Canadian Media Producers Association. Tracey Friesen, managing vice-president of the CMPA-BC, said in a recent press release that “[Canadian film producers] are keen to discover and nurture a diverse range of emerging producers in this province … it’s encouraging to see Capilano University’s film school develop to include a concentration of professional business related courses. This is exactly what our dynamic motion picture industry needs.”
Gervan has expressed gratitude to the MOPA faculty who helped kickstart the concentration. He tweeted, “Huge thanks goes to Patti Poskitt, Claire [Querée], Michael Thoma, AIP [Academic Initiatives and Planning], and the CMPA for your input/support on CapU’s new Producing Concentration in the Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts.”
“I hope our producing concentration students will be able to not just get their creative projects made, but also contribute to a sustainable and thriving industry,” said Querée. Students can enroll in the new concentration starting in September 2021.