TV Production / DOCUMENTARY Option Portfolio Review Application - Spring 2025

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TV-DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION OPTION Portfolio Review Application - Spring 2025

(Submissions will close end of the day on MARCH 23, 2025)

            Applying for admission into the TV-DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION OPTION requires you to submit an application using a completely ONLINE process. No paper submissions of any kind will be accepted.

            Submission of an online Portfolio assumes that you have read and agree to ALL of the terms and conditions of the Television (TV) Production Option (outlined below).

            Because there is a tremendous demand for TV Production courses, and because there is a limit to the number of people the TV-DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION OPTION can effectively serve, we must use the portfolio process to identify those people who are most likely to benefit from the program. 

The following are requirements for eligibility and acceptance into the TV-DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION OPTION:

  • Because students will be researching, developing and making short documentary films, the TV-DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION OPTION requires a time commitment outside of class greater than other CTVA non-production options, increasing during the thesis semester.
  • Candidates MUST have completed all CTVA Television Production Lower Division Courses with a grade of “C” or better in CTVA 100, CTVA 210, CTVA 220, and ONE of either CTVA 240, CTVA 250, or CTVA 260. Tentative admission will be granted to students in progress for the remaining courses during the semester of submission, assuming they will reach these benchmarks.
  • Final acceptance into the Television Production Option is conditional until all grades for pre-requisite courses in progress are finalized and verified.
  • Student MUST begin the program the semester after acceptance. You spot is not guaranteed beyond that.
  • Please be aware that this is a THREE SEMESTER-long program to complete the production sequence. You must take each of CTVA 331, 341, and 441 in order. None of these can be taken at the same time.
  • The student is expected to have official Junior standing by the time they enter the Television Production / Documentary Option (60 units).

Student will choose a preferred skill area at the portfolio submission level amongst: producing, cinematography, picture editing, or sound. If the student is accepted, the TV Option Faculty will consider accommodating the request but if not possible will offer alternative paths to the student.

  • The best candidates will be able to express themselves well in written form, have something interesting to say, and be able to demonstrate a high degree of visual literacy.
  • Upon acceptance into the TV-DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION OPTION, the student is expected to begin their program of study when admitted, and continue without a break in enrollment or attendance until the program is completed. Failure to do so relinquishes your place in the program. If not accepted into the TV-DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION OPTION, students can submit a portfolio a second time for consideration in a future semester (Note: No more than 2 total submissions are allowed.)

DEADLINE for submitting your online TV-DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION OPTION Portfolio Application for entry starting in the FALL 2025 Semester: 11:59 p.m. on MARCH 23, 2025.

            You MUST answer all questions and provide all information requested. Applications that are not completed by the application deadline or deemed to contain intentionally inaccurate or misleading information will NOT be considered.

            For online TV Portfolio submission, in addition to providing general information about yourself, you will be required to submit/upload the following:

  1. DPR: A recent copy of your CSUN Degree Progress Report (DPR) in PDF format.
  2. Transcripts: Copies of your transcripts from other colleges/universities that are not included on your CSUN DPR in PDF format.
  3. Skill Area Preference: Rank your preferred skill area (Producing, Cinematography, Sound, Editing) from 1 (most desirable) to 4 (least desirable) 
  4. Personal Video Submission: Upload a video of no more than :60 seconds in length of yourself speaking directly to camera, with no edits, responding to the following prompt: Being a documentary filmmaker requires a deep curiosity for real stories, a dedication to authenticity and a commitment to the time and energy it takes to make meaningful and creative non-fiction films. Explain your definition of documentary filmmaking, and tell us why you are a strong candidate for pursuing documentary filmmaking
  5. Original Written Documentary Idea Pitch: Submit a maximum one-page written, original to you, Documentary Idea Pitch that gives a very specific example of a non-fiction story you would like to make a film about. This should be a real, non-fiction story. It should be about a real person, place, thing or idea, not something fictional or invented. With your own words, give us a vivid idea of what you'd like to make a documentary about by addressing the following questions with specificity and detail: Who or what is the subject of your story? What is the story or journey your film would take us on? What is your artistic approach to telling the story (the style of filming, editing, sound, music)? What is your personal relationship to this story and why are you the person to tell it? Why is this story important to tell right now? 
  6. Still Photo "Character Study" Project: Capture and upload 7 still photographs (landscape/horizontal format) that will give us a feeling of the character or personality of an individual real person (this person should not be you and it should not be an actor). Only one of the photos may show their face. The other 6 photos should show interesting details surrounding them -- these could be around their living space (contents of their fridge or closet or bookshelf or desk), closeups of their hands or their shoes -- details that reveal something about who they are and what they are interested in. The idea here is to closely observe the revealing details of a real person with ARTFULLY composed imagery. Pay attention to composition and quality of the natural light. Don't "art direct" or pose or add artificial light to the imagery -- just capture what is really there. It is important that you have the permission of the person you are photographing. IMPORTANT: Upload the (7) separate horizontal/landscape images in JPEG file format, naming each photo in chronological order using the following sequential file naming method: (YourLastName_01.jpg, YourLastName_02.jpg, YourLastName_03.jpg, etc.). No single JPEG image file should exceed 2 GB in size.


A note about use of ChatGPT, Midjourney, or other Generative AI models: 

Your Original Documentary Idea Pitch should be exactly that: original and personal. Write it yourself and write it from the heart. We are less interested in 'perfect' writing than we are in your authentic voice and ideas. Do not outsource your own point of view or thinking about the world, and the way you express it. There are legitimate uses for AI generated language, but the writing of this pitch is not one of them. If you are using an AI language model to help you generate ideas, use it as a reference for structure and formatting only, and be transparent in your use of AI by crediting it appropriately. For the Still Photos do not use any AI image generator -- the still photos should be taken by you, with permission from your subject, for the purpose of this portfolio submission.

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After the close of submissions, applicants will be notified regarding their admission status via email within 3 weeks. The email will be sent to your CSUN email account. If you do not receive an email prior to the mandatory TV Production / DOCUMENTARY OPTION Advisement meeting, please contact the CTVA Main Office to check your status.

         You can save your online work as a draft version by using the <Save Draft> button until everything is uploaded and complete. Once you have checked your work and completed/submitted all required portfolio information, press the <Submit> button. Once you press the <Submit> button, your portfolio submission is finalized and you will no longer be able to make changes.

         Note that applications are NOT considered complete and cannot be considered for admission into the TV-Documentary Production Option until you press the <Submit> button.

         If this is your first time using Submittable.com, you MUST first create a new account using your full name and CSUN email address. If at any time you forget your account login password, you can request a password reset on the Submittable.com login page by entering your email address and then clicking the Forgot? 

  • Students who have taken a course at another college that is not recognized by SOLAR as being the equivalent of a required lower division course, must contact the Documentary Option advisor, Prof. Judy Korin  (judy.korin@csun.edu), in order to get course substitution approval. Please provide Prof. Korin with a course description and syllabus for the course in question. Include any documentation of email correspondence with Prof. Korin in the "Email Correspondence" section of the online TV-Documentary Production Portfolio Review Application.
  • It is the student’s responsibility to indicate any substitutions or irregularities regarding these requirements in the Television Portfolio online application. If a substitution was accepted by Prof. Korin or other CTVA faculty member, please attach a PDF copy of the faculty member's email correspondence in the "Email Correspondence" section of the online application. Documentary Option advisor, Prof. Korin, reserves the right to accept or reject all requested course substitutions.

If you encounter any problems or issues with your online portfolio submission, please contact Professor Korin (judy.korin@csun.edu).

We use Submittable to accept and review our submissions.
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