Author: Cyndi

Our first 10 week program at Nickerson Gardens has come to an end. We gave out certificates of completion and HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS T-shirts to our grads. We look forward to starting our next course over the summer. It looks like it will be centered more on drama & music, but we’re still in the planning stages. We’d like to thank the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks for helping kick this all off. Congratulations to our graduates. Thanks for all the hard work and dedication.

Our acting teach Josh Holt with some of our young aspiring actresses…

It is so incredable to see how God is working through the ministry. While doing some research on jail/prison recidivism rates. I came across this interesting statistic; according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department the total recidivism rate for inmates who have been released from jail for only 3 months are re-arrested at a 42.2% rate and within 6 months of their release, the total rate jumps to 57.4%.

This has to be “a God thing” because since we started in June of 2009, HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS has had approx. 20-25 graduates released from custody. At the time of this writing we have NOT HAD A SINGLE GRADUATE RE-ARRESTED! Some of are graduates are already gainfully employed, others are taking advantage of additional schooling and scholarships supplied by HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS.

I know this program is still young and we’re going to have some disappointments, but you’ve got to admit a 0% recidivism rate at this time is pretty darn neat! Praise God.

Last weekend, we packed up the cars with equipment and headed down to Nickerson Gardens. Chris Fallin taught a camera and lighting workshop. It was so interesting to see that when we took the camera outside into the common area, kids flocked from throughout the housing project. Everyone got a chance to do some “hands-on” work with the camera.

It was neat to see people who’d never seen a camera clap board or hi-definition camera, step up and give it a try.

Thanks again to everyone who made the trek. Thanks especially to Chris Fallin, he’s such a terrific teacher. God just continues to bless this ministry with terrific, caring volunteers.

Two weeks ago, we had another field trip for our students at Nickerson Gardens. We brought them to Carolyn Fallin’s recording studio in Burbank to try their hand at voice over recording.

They all did a terrific job and had a lot of fun. A couple of the guys may look toward sound recording as a profession. This was a day they’ll all remember for a very long time. Thank you Carolyn for sharing your truly God given gifts.

We’ve got to give a big shout out of thanks to 20th Century Fox! They have donated 3 Protools systems, (2) JVC HD Cameras and some terrific lighting equipment. Everyone at HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS wants to say THANK YOU FOX!!

The Nickerson Gardens program is rolling along nicely, but this week we want to bring you up to speed on what’s been happening at the Jail Program… Stan Cassio finished up basic, technical Avid editing and he turned it over to our creative editing teacher Brandon “Chandler” who has been teaching our guys creative editing.

Chandler finished his basic instruction last week and now has created (5) inmate/student teams who will compete in creating a HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS promo video. We’re excited to see what the guys come up with.

There is a lot happening! I’m going to start with our program at Nickerson Gardens in Watts. This last week, our students had their second class held on the Fox Lot. They have really enjoyed it and have finally begun to open up to the possibilities…

These classes went over both production and post production and the careers they have to offer. They got to tour the entire Fox Lot; visiting Wardrobe, Grip & Electric, the Foley Stage and Fox Sports. But one of their highlights was visiting the scoring stage where Fox had an 80 piece orchestra. One of those 80 was our very own Cyndi Hall, who took some time to share her journey.

One of the truly neat developments in this ministry is that some of our alumni from the Pitchess Detention Center Program, who’ve now been out of jail for over 6 months, are coming alongside our kids at Nickerson Gardens. It’s coming full circle! Praise God!

Next week I’ll cover all the amazing things that are going on with Semester 3 at Pitchess Detention Center. Thank you all for your continued support.

Hollywood Impact Studios continues to grow. We’ve started our third semester at the Pitchess Detention Center with (28) student/inmates. We’re also excited to announce that we’ve started a second program, this time, at The Nickerson Gardens Rec Center in Watts, California. We have (13) students ranging in age 13 to 21. Besides teaching in the classroom they will be taking some exciting field trips and will get some hands-on workshops. We’re excited to see what God does with this new program.

Here’s some video from the story below. HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS alumni out shooting footage in Hollywood! Good going guys!

YouTube – HIS Alumni – working the camera

Our Director of Photography instructor, Chris Fallin, is so amazing and dedicated. He continues to come alongside our HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS grads as they come out of jail. Last weekend we went out with him as he took them for a shoot throughout Hollywood. They got some real hands-on camera training.

Way to go guys. Thanks Chris Fallin!!