New Diversity Initiative to Expand Opportunities in Entertainment Law & Policy

Do you want to work for the Motion Picture Association or its member studios? Here’s you chance! The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program (EICOP) recently launched the first-ever MPA-EICOP Entertainment Law & Policy Fellowship program. The Fellowship will offer two recent college, university, or law school, graduates from Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), a year-long, paid program with the legal and government affairs departments of the MPA and one of its six-member studios. The fellowship targets law school and college graduates from HBCUs, HSIs, and other minority serving institutions. “As we honor the MPA’s 100th anniversary, ten years of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative, and now five years in partnership with EICOP, I am thrilled to officially launch this new Fellowship,” said Charles Rivkin, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association. “ This prestigious program will strengthen our ongoing efforts to diversify the Hollywood pipeline, which is critical to ensuring that our industry continues to create and tell stories in innovative ways that push boundaries and shape culture.” Founded in 2012, the MPA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program today supports 51 civil rights,
multicultural, and educational organizations, including Southern University and A&M College, and the
White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The MPA and its six-member
studios are all existing partners of EICOP and its programs. The MPA-EICOP Entertainment Law & Policy Fellowship will eliminate systemic barriers by providing housing, travel, and pay stipends to ensure participants have opportunities to gain valuable exposure to the entertainment industry. Each year’s class of fellows will spend three months working at the MPA’s Los Angeles office, followed by three months at the MPA’s global headquarters in Washington, D.C., and will finish with six months of hands-on work experience at one of the association’s member studios (Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros.) As part of that rotational schedule, Fellows will interact with industry leaders, build networking skills, and attend industry events, including visits to studio lots and top law firms to further expand the Fellows’ knowledge of entertainment law and policy. Applicants must be recent graduates of accredited HBCU, HSI, or MSI colleges, universities, or law schools by the time the Fellowship begins. The inaugural class must commit to participating in the program from June 1, 2022 to June 1, 2023. Applications are now open through December 30, 2021. Additional information about the program, the application process, and criteria for selecting Fellows is available at EICOP.org/Fellowship.