By Joshua Robison / The Jambar
I have always dreamed and desired to have a professional career in filmmaking. In recent years, I’ve done everything I could to build my creative resume that would one day put me on the team to make the next big movie. I wrote and directed my own short films, and I acted in some other ones. However, when it came time that I needed to consider my future, I was left with few options.
I never ended up studying film in college. I became a student at Youngstown State University in 2024 and have been on a track astray from my prior aspirations. As you may know, YSU does not have a legitimate film program that allows aspiring filmmakers to live out their dreams in filmmaking.
The closest program that people like me had to studying film was a bachelor’s in theatre studies on a film and video track that was minimally involved with film. With the passing of the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, that degree program has since been “sunset.” When I was a theatre studies major under the film and video track, I felt that remaining in it was not worth staying in.
Recently, I joined a newly formed club called Penguin Media Works. This club will be centered around filmmaking and script writing that we will even use in content-creation competitions. As I was discussing this club with a friend of mine, I began to think that, as insane and overtly ambitious as it sounds, a spark ignited in my soul that rekindled my dying love for film. Then it came to me.
I began thinking that this club could be the kickstarter to bringing a legitimate and successful film program to YSU. The university already offers a film minor, but having a film major I believe is more than possible.
I believe that a film major at YSU would be nothing but a benefit to the university and the whole city. Youngstown is a dying city and needs something that will bring back the youth and give life back to the city. What better option to bring back life to the community than the arts, specifically film?
Adding a film major is idyllic for the Youngstown area because major cities, such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh are filmmaking havens — due to tax cuts received from filming in these cities.
It is important for the YSU community to take action on this matter. Adding another major to YSU seems like something insignificant, and probably out of many’s control. Regardless of circumstances, it is in the university’s best interests to make efforts into the matter such as making projections of a potential student body that would declare the major, the necessary funding the major would need and determining the coursework of the major.
A challenge such as adding a film major to YSU would be difficult with factors such as budget, enrollment in the program and finding professors to teach specific courses catered to the major.
However, I believe that YSU faculty working alongside their students, and in collaboration with the community, would eventually be able to sponsor a film major for YSU.