INTERNSHIPS CAN UNLOCK HOLLYWOOD CAREER DOOR.

A new internship program is seeking to open the doors of Hollywood opportunity at the entry level to young people from diverse economic and ethnic backgrounds.

The Hollywood Internship Program (HIP) is working with community groups such as Plaza de La Raza, the Hollenbeck Youth Center, Challenger Boys & Girls Club, and the South Central Organizing Committee to recruit young adults ages 17-24 to work as production assistants on movies and television shows.

More than 100 paid internships were firm when HIP was launched Feb. 26, and the program expects to arrange 10 times that many opportunities in its first year, said Brad Krevoy, a movie executive who founded the program in conjunction with Mayor Richard Riordan and the city's Entertainment Industry Development Corp. (EIDC).

Krevoy, who heads the independent Motion Picture Corp. of America, said he became motivated to create the program after the riots on realizing that the entertainment industry has not done much to remedy inner-city frustration.

His company's production ``Beverly Hills Ninja,'' starring Chris Farley, began shooting in Los Angeles last month, becoming the first to hire from the HIP program.

Young adults 17-24 who are interested should apply to program administrator Stephanie Hershey Liner of the EIDC through their local community group or one of the community organizations mentioned above.

SOURCE: - Amy Dawes