Even more Columbia students will have a chance to chase “the California Dream” next semester, thanks to a growing program setting participants on the fast track to Hollywood success.

Columbia’s Semester in LA program, which was launched nearly 10 years ago out of the Film and Video Department as a means to get eager seniors a head start in the industry, has grown since its inception to include classes from seven different college departments. Spring 2009 will mark the first time it will offer journalism classes, which will focus on entertainment writing and reporting.

Juniors and seniors who have taken the prerequisite courses need to be approved to register for the SILA program in the next few weeks.

Don Smith, co-founder and Chicago coordinator of the program, said journalism is a natural fit for the program.

“LA is a good beat,” Smith said. “The program will center around the business of the entertainment industry, which is actually fascinating.”

The journalism program will join the Film and Video, Marketing, Music, TV, Theater and Fine and Performing Arts Departments, which all offer classes in the program’s Los Angeles center, located on the historic Raleigh Studios Hollywood lot. Four classes will be offered to up to 12 of the department’s strongest applicants, said Nancy Day, chair of the Journalism Department.

Classes last for roughly five weeks, at which point students are strongly encouraged to find an internship in their field. These often lead to actual jobs.

Since it was founded in 1999 by Smith and former faculty member Bob Enrietto, the program has expanded its scope to give students from other courses of study the chance to reap the benefits of learning in a career-oriented environment.

Jon Katzman, the program’s director, said its organizers are always looking for ways to incorporate new departments where it would benefit students.

“When there’s enough student demand for [a SILA program], and we feel we can provide an experience that’s different than what we can provide in Chicago, then we try and offer it,” Katzman said.

Day said she and Katzman recruited top-notch industry experts to teach the program’s intensive five-week courses. She said those who made the cut will add a valuable new dimension to students’ education.

“We wanted people who are entertainment professionals with demonstrated excellence in their crafts and who know a lot of people,” Day said. “We want to provide great contacts for students.”

Day said instructors will include Andrew Wallenstein, an editor at The Hollywood Reporter; Nina Zacuto, a former NBC network news producer; Nadine Mendoza, a freelance writer for People magazine’s LA bureau; and Janice Littlejohn, a columnist for The Associated Press.

In addition to classes on covering and reporting entertainment industry news and LA itself, Day said Littlejohn will teach a class about diversity in the media. Smith said there are a lot of specifics that make LA an interesting market to cover, but the skills students gain can translate to other writing and reporting concentrations.

“If you can learn how to report on the entertainment business, you’re a business reporter,” Smith said. “LA is a funny town, and [the journalism component] looks like a pretty solid program.”

Smith said contacts and networking are huge draws for all program participants, because many help them break into their respective industries.

Sarah Klegman, a film and video major who participated in this semester’s SILA program in producing, said the immersion element that sets the program apart from any class offered in Chicago made all the difference in her experience.

“I thought it would be a good bridge from Chicago to LA, but it was more like being tossed in the water and forced to swim,” Klegman said. “You learn immediately how to talk to these incredibly successful people, what their path was to get there and that everybody you meet could be very important to you someday.”

Katzman said journalism is the only area of study that will be added to the LA offerings this year, but an interdisciplinary course of study is in the works that Smith said would focus on writing for different entertainment media. Smith said he hopes this will “give writers a wider range of tools to get them in front of a bigger audience.”

Katzman said he hopes students continue to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

“We want students to learn what is taught in Chicago but to have as many chances as possible to begin their careers in places where people are hired,” he said. “We are very invested in students’ success, and we see this as an integral part of that.”

For more information about the Journalism Department’s Semester in LA program, contact Nancy Day at nday@colum.edu.