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Gender inequities in behind-the-camera positions of power in the film industry: an evaluation study

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Gender inequities in behind-the-camera positions of power in the film industry: an evaluation study

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Content Running head: GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

Gender Inequities in Behind-the-Camera Positions of Power in the Film Industry:
An Evaluation Study
by
Jacqueline Cavalier Nelson

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2019

Copyright 2019 Jacqueline Cavalier Nelson
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Table of Contents
List of Tables 4
List of Figures 5
Introduction of the Problem of Practice 9
Organizational Context and Mission 9
Importance of Addressing the Problem 10
Organization Performance Goal 10
Description of Stakeholder Groups 10
Stakeholder Group of Focus and Stakeholder Goal 12
Purpose of the Project and Questions 14
Methodological Approach 15
Review of Literature 16
Knowledge Influences 26
Motivational Influences 30
Organizational Influences 33
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Faculty Members’ Knowledge,
Motivation, and the Organizational Context 37
Participating Stakeholders: Sampling and Recruitment 41
Interview Sampling and Recruitment 42
Criterion 1 43
Criterion 2 43
Data Collection and Instrumentation 44
Interviews 44
Interview Protocol 44
Interview Procedure 45
Data Analysis 46
Participating Stakeholders 47
Findings 50
Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge Findings 51
Motivation Results and Findings 59
Organizational Influences Findings 63
Summary of Findings 66
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences 67
Knowledge Recommendations 67
Motivation Recommendations 73
Organization Recommendations 79
Overview of Implementation and Evaluation Plan 84
Future Questions and Research 86
Conclusion 87
References 89

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Appendix A: Interview Protocol 96
Appendix B: Credibility and Trustworthiness 98
Appendix C: Ethics 100
Appendix D: Limitations and Delimitations 102
Appendix E: Implementation and Evaluation Plan 104
Appendix F: Survey to Measure Mentor’s Training 121
Appendix G: Rate Mentor’s Skills and Ability to Connect 123

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List of Tables

Table 1: Organizational Mission, Global Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goals Page 11
Table 2: Knowledge Influences Page 30
Table 3: Motivation Influences Page 32
Table 4: Organizational Influences Page 36
Table 5: Interview Participants Page 48
Table 6: Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations Page 69
Table 7: Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendation Page 74
Table 8: Summary of Organization Influences and recommendations Page 81
Table 9: Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes Page 106
Table 10: Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation Page 108
Table 11: Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors Page 109
Table 12: Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program Page 114
Table 13: Components to Measure Reactions for the Program Page 115
Table 14: Mentor Progress and Accountability of Performance Goals Page 118

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework: Interaction of the Stakeholder Knowledge and Motivation
Within the Organizational Cultural Models Page 40

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Dedication

To my daughter, Olivia Camille Nelson; you are the reason I continue to strive to be the
best possible version of myself. You have owned my heart since the moment I first saw you.
Thank you for the thousands of meals you prepared during this journey, the unending cups of tea
you made for me, the housework you took on, and the loving care you gave to Vin, Rip, Hugs,
and the rest of our beloved zoo. I love you with all of my heart, Liv! You are my greatest
accomplishment! Here’s to beginning our work together and creating your empire!
And, to my dad, John Camille Cavalier, whose support, unwavering confidence, and
endless love propelled me to the finish line. I am especially grateful for the daily text messages
and the frequent phone calls filled with love and encouragement. Thank you for believing in me,
Dad! I love you!
- Jacqueline Camille Cavalier Nelson

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Acknowledgement

A dissertation is not a solitary effort and as this study suggests, my chair, Dr. Helena Seli,
exemplified the role of mentor with her invaluable input and continued support. Thank you so
much, Dr. Seli. I was truly blessed to have been assigned to your dissertation cohort and am
forever grateful to you! Dr. Maria Ott was very enthusiastic to partake in this dissertation as a
committee member and brought a passion for gender inequity in the behind-the-camera positions
of power to this project. Thank you for your passionate and insightful input, Dr. Ott! I am truly
blessed that you agreed to accompany me on this journey. And, last but not least, I am
incredibly fortunate that Dr. William Bewley added the male perspective to my team. Dr.
Bewley graciously offered his expertise to this study and his methodical approach throughout my
dissertation added a richness to my vision. Thank you so much, Dr. Bewley. It is my hope to
pass on your level of commitment to another student one day. Dr. Helena Seli, Dr. Maria Ott,
and Dr. William Bewley perfectly demonstrated the role of mentor by providing the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences to me throughout my dissertation journey. Their
combined dedication to my success never failed in the mentor-mentee relationship. I am forever
indebted. And, a huge shout out to everyone who encouraged me, cheered me on, and propped
me up when I needed it the most; you know who you are. I am especially thankful to Dr.
Christina Gonzalez and Dr. Bertha Hale. Your friendship, support, and motivation throughout
our journey was unwavering and helped propel me to the finish line! It is my hope I returned the
favor. Finally, this study would not have been possible without the Grace of God! All the glory
to you, my Lord!

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Abstract

This dissertation explores the film school faculty mentors’ capacity to mentor female graduate
students in the film and television production program and their capacity to support the female
students in creating an employee portfolio to use to gain mentorship and employment
opportunities in the film and television industry. The study used interviews to gather
information from eight faculty mentors teaching at the film school. The data revealed
knowledge, motivation, and organizational assets and gaps and presented recommendations to
address the revealed gaps. Based on the findings, the dissertation concludes with
recommendations on ways to create a structured mentorship program and the resources needed to
help the faculty mentors achieve the organization’s performance goals.

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Introduction to the Problem of Practice
Conor, Gill and Taylor (2015) found that inequities in gender, race, class, ethnicity, age,
and disabilities within the film and television industry are an industry norm and especially true
with the behind-the-camera positions of power. As an example of how women are
underrepresented in the industry, out of 250 domestic grossing films in the United States in 2010,
women comprised only 16% of the behind-the-camera positions of power: directors, writers,
producers, cinematographers, and editors (Ezzedeen, 2015). These positions represent the
decision makers in the film and television industry, giving men an 84% occupational advantage
over their female counterparts. According to Smith (2017), gender inequities in the film and
television industry is so prevalent that it is an inclusivity crisis with women continuing to be
underrepresented in the roles of director, writer, and content creator.
Organizational Context and Mission

The mission of the University of the West Film School (pseudonym) is to develop and
prepare students in the creative arena of moving image art associated with film, television and
interactive media, and inspire the student body to be entrepreneurial, innovative, and
collaborative with their peers. It is the university’s mission for the students to become leaders in
the film and television industry. The film school’s graduate student body is comprised of more
than 500 students of which 40% are female students. The stakeholder group responsible for
achieving the university’s mission are the full-time and part-time faculty members who work
with the students in the various fields of study in the film and television program at the film
school graduate program and participate in the mentorship program.

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Importance of Addressing the Problem

The problem of gender inequities in the behind-the-camera positions of power in the film
and television industry is important to address because the lack of diversified representations can
elicit negative perceptions from a film or television audience regarding gender, race, ethnicity,
age, class, and disabilities across a creative industry designed to represent social norms and
inclusivity (Conor et al., 2015). In like manner, a lack of diversified gender representations can
have negative ramifications for domestic and internationally released films and television
programs (Meisenberg & Erhmann, 2012). This is an important problem to address for several
reasons: continually creating content that does not fully represent a diverse population or depict
socio-cultural norms such as cultural behaviors, customs, or lifestyle choices cannot truly depict
a diverse society or group. Additionally, content created without diversity leads to negative
perceptions and stereotypical outlooks. In contrast, creative narrative content depicting women
in acting lead or co-lead roles positively impacts revenue generated from top-grossing films,
therefore proving the need to diversify narrative content (a story either real or imaginary) in
addition to directors, producers, and cinematographers (Ezzedeen, 2015).
Organizational Performance Goal

The University of the West’s organizational performance goal is by May of 2021 100%
of the female graduate students earning a degree in film or television production at University of
the West Film School to secure employment in the film and television industry within a year of
graduation. At University of the West, performance goal management occurs continually
throughout the year; it is not a one-time annual event. With this in mind, the mentoring faculty
goal is by May of 2021, 100% of the female graduate students earning a degree in film or
television production will create an employee portfolio to showcase the work completed
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throughout their graduate program. The portfolios will be used for mentorship placement in the
film and television industry upon graduation and will help them secure employment in the film
and television industry within a year of graduation. Table 1 identifies the organizational mission
organizational performance goal, and mentoring faculty goal.
Table 1
Organizational Mission, Global Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goals
Organizational Mission
The mission of the University of the West Film School (pseudonym) is to develop and
prepare students in the creative arena of moving image art associated with film, television
and interactive media platforms, and inspire our students to be entrepreneurial, innovative,
and collaborative with their peers.
Organizational Performance Goal
By May of 2021 100% of the female graduate students earning a degree in film or
television production at University of the West Film School will secure employment in the
film and television industry within a year of graduation.
Mentoring Faculty Goal
By May of 2021, film school faculty will effectively mentor female graduate students in
creating an employee portfolio showcasing their individual and collaborative work for
mentorship placement in the film and television industry upon graduation.

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Stakeholder Group of Focus and Stakeholder Goal

The organization of focus is the University of the West Film School and the stakeholder
groups are the faculty members in the various film school departments who participate in the
mentorship program and the graduate students attending the film school. While the contributions
of all stakeholders will impact the achievement of the overall organizational goal of the film
school to effectively support and mentor the female graduate students through completion of the
program and help them gain employment in the film and television industry within a year of
graduation, the stakeholder group of focus for this study was film school faculty members who
participate in the mentorship program. The stakeholder goal is that by May of 2021, all members
of the film school faculty who participate in the mentorship program will effectively mentor
female graduate students earning a master’s degree in film and television production in creating
an employee portfolio showcasing their individual and collaborative work for mentorship
placement in the film and television industry upon graduation. To assist the faculty with
accomplishing this goal, by July 2020, 100% of all faculty members from the film and television
production program who participate in the mentorship program will have knowledge of the
gender inequities in the film and television industry and be able to implement curriculum with
100% accuracy that will help the female graduate students understand the inequities in gender in
the behind-the-camera positions of power. The goal for the organization is to provide the
mentorship curriculum one month prior (July 2020) to the start of the fall 2020 semester.
Additionally, 100% of all faculty members involved in the mentorship program will mentor and
support the female graduate film students with creating the individual employee portfolios to
showcase the students’ individual and collaborative work.
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Mentoring faculty will apply professional-school mentoring curriculum through
instruction and assessment to the female film graduate students. An example of professional-
school mentoring curriculum is learning from faculty who have experience creating employee
portfolios that include developing pitches or sizzle reels of their individual and collaborative
work and using that knowledge to teach their students to develop similar employment portfolios.
As defined by O’Neill and Wrightsman (2001), “a mentor is a resource, sponsor, and transitional
figure who supports, advises, and gives knowledge to those entering the same professional
industry (p. 113). The core responsibilities and goals of the faculty members participating in the
mentorship program at the film school is to support 100% of female graduate students in creating
an employment portfolio to showcase individual and collaborative work they completed in the
graduate program. The employee portfolio will include tools used to gain mentorship or
employment opportunities in the film and television industry such as a sizzle reel, a lookbook,
and a pitch. A sizzle reel is a demo reel containing video, audio, and messaging used to create an
overview of one’s talent or used to pitch a project (sizzleit.com, 2019). In filmmaking, a
lookbook is a visual representation used to express the look or feel the director wants to achieve
for a film project (Garfield, 2014). For film and television projects, a pitch is a brief 20-minute
meeting between the writer and studio executives where the writer will express the concept of a
project (Breman, 2019). Ultimately, by May 2021, female graduate film students will have a
completed employee portfolio showcasing their individual and collaborative work to help them
secure mentorship opportunities in the film and television industry. The portfolio will be
completed at least 30 days prior to completion of their studies.
The faculty members are comprised of full-time professors and part-time professors who
work with the students in the various fields of study in the undergraduate and graduate program
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at the film school. The film school faculty members support, mentor, and guide the female
graduate students throughout their graduate program to completion of their studies. Gender
inequities in the film and television industry are found in all aspects of moving image arts. The
film school has been a guiding focus for the field at large by nurturing writers, directors,
producers, cinematography, editing, and students whose focus is on sound design, composing,
costumes, and set design (some of the other fields of focus within the industry) who have
mastered the construction of film-making in the film and television industry for decades.
The measurable level of achievement, that by May 2021, faculty will effectively mentor
female graduate students in creating an employee portfolio showcasing their individual and
collaborative work for mentorship placement in the film and television industry, was determined
based on existing faculty performance-based measurements currently used by the university.
The measurements used to track progress toward goal achievement will be the percentage of
female graduate students in the mentorship program who create an employee portfolio to gain
mentorship or employment opportunities in the film and television industry upon graduation
from the graduate film program. If this stakeholder goal is not achieved, the risk to the
organization is that female film graduate students may not secure mentorship placement or
employment in the industry upon graduation. As a result, female graduate students may look to
other cinematic art school programs to attend.
Purpose of the Project and Questions

The purpose of this project was to apply the Clark and Estes (2008) conceptual framework
of knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences in order to understand organizational
and stakeholder capacity to reach the organizational performance goal for the University of the
West Film School. The stakeholders of focus for this analysis were the faculty members who
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participate in the mentorship program at the film school. The faculty is directly responsible for
supporting, educating, and preparing the female graduate students to complete their education in
the film program and succeed in the industry. With this in mind, the organizational goal is for
100% of film school female graduate students to secure positions in the film and television
industry within a year of graduation.
The following questions based on the Clark and Estes (2008) knowledge, motivational, and
organizational framework guided the analysis:
1. What is the film school faculty knowledge and motivation related to them being able to
support the female graduate students in creating an employee portfolio to showcase their
individual and collaborative work?
2. What is the impact of film school organizational culture and context on faculty
knowledge and motivation?
3. What are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and organizational solutions?
Methodological Approach
The methodological approach for this study used qualitative interviews to
collect descriptive information about the stakeholders’ organizational perception, industry
experience, and their required performance goals. According to Merriam and Tisdell
(2016), conducting interviews is a primary way to collect qualitative data. Additionally,
Creswell (2014) found that qualitative research provides open-ended data that can evolve
throughout the data collection process. For this study, qualitative data collection of eight
one-on-one interviews was conducted via telephone. Since the entire sample was eight
faculty mentors, conducting one-on-one interviews via telephone is an acceptable form of
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data collection. According to Maxwell (2013), researchers should choose a specific sample
to gather the most relevant information directly related to the research topic. For this
study, this sample was specifically chosen to gather the most relevant information directly
related to this research topic.
Review of the Literature
According to Lauzen (2017), women made up only 11% of director positions out of 5,342
films, which was the exact number reported more than 17-years ago. Further examination by
Lauzen regarding the positions of power represented similar disparities: Out of 250 domestic top
grossing films in 2017, women comprised only 18% directors, writers, producers, editors, and
cinematographers; only a 2% increase since the prior year. A term used in the industry to
describe gender disparity is “the celluloid ceiling” (Lauzen, 2017, p. 310) a name which stems
from the celluloid material used in film stock. Essentially, the celluloid ceiling refers to the
underrepresentation of women in the film and television industry (Lauzen, 2017).
Other research found a contributing factor to gender disparity was a lack of
representation when men are chosen for decision-making positions in the film and television
industry over women. Handy and Rowlands (2014) established that bias relating to gender
disparity is the deciding factor between choosing men over women in behind-the-camera
positions of power. Equally important, they also found conventional thoughts on family
responsibilities, such as women are solely responsible to bear and raise children for their families
and are exclusively responsible for the domestic work within their homes. Based on their
findings, Handy and Rowlands concluded that women are viewed as less suitable in behind-the-
camera positions-of-power than men. According to Meiseberg and Ehrmann (2012), the
diversity gap warrants examination because team members of a diverse production team
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contribute to the film-making process just by the differences in gender, creative styles, and
variations in talent and, of equal importance, gender inequities in representation, pay, and power
warrant examination.
While mentorship programs are developed for employees within the organizational
structure or industry, they are not equally valued for women or people from diverse backgrounds
such as people of color, sexual orientation, age, religion, differences in socio-economic status, or
people with disabilities, as they are valued for men. According to Lutter (2015), white privileged
male networks share more job-related information with men seeking employment than minority
or female based networks because white male dominated networks are linked to social status
with built-in contacts. Equally important, when women are encouraged to partake in mentorship
programs, it is challenging for them to find sponsorship. Lutter (2015) found that women’s
career paths suffer from poor mentorship programs or from mentorship programs that are made
up of mostly men, adding to the difficulty of women finding a mentor. Moreover, women do not
receive the same support from men in a mentorship program as they would from female mentors
(Lutter, 2015). Difficulty finding a sponsor is just one of the challenges facing women seeking
to work with a mentor. Harris (2016) found that women are held back from acquiring
employment or advancing in their careers to top managerial positions because women lack social
connections that their male counterparts usually partake in such as golf outings, memberships in
country clubs, and other social gatherings related to employment entertainment. For example,
Lutter (2015) stated that close-knit gender-specific social networks put men at an advantage and
women at a disadvantage because female-dominated networks have lower societal value than
male networks, leading women to have weaker or fewer connections to decision-making
sponsors. Both Lutter (2015) and Harris (2016) provide research that supports the importance of
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female mentorship and social networks, and the correlation to conceptual knowledge.
Mentorship Defined
Mentorship is a reciprocal relationship between someone with more experience and
knowledge than the person being mentored and is typically based on career development. The
mentor-mentee relationship can be formal or informal, and mentors find it difficult to make the
initial contact with the mentee. According to Fuentes, Alvarado, Berdan and DeAnjelo (2014,
mentor-mentee relationships can be formal or informal and can be formally assigned through the
university or can be informal, as in a verbal agreement between a faculty member and a student.
Mentorship is also defined by looking at who participates in mentorship programs and by
examining the responsibilities of the mentor and mentee. Jacobi (1991) defined mentorship as
follows; (1) focus on achievement, (2) mentorship relationship is reciprocal, (3) the relationship
is personal, (4) mentors exhibit more experience, influence, and achievement, and (5) mentors
take on emotional and psychological support, directly assistance with career development, and
use role modeling. Jacobi also stated that high achieving students are more likely to be mentored
and are more likely to participate in a mentorship program and are chosen because they exhibit
motivation and aspirational influences. He also found some difficulties in the mentor-mentee
relationship. Jacobi stated that faculty who are willing participants in mentorship programs find
it difficult to initiate contact with their mentees, and students need to learn how to interact with
mentoring faculty (1991).
Price (2012) found that student learning in a practiced setting varies and is complex in a
mentor-mentee relationship. Price identified five principles for assessing student-practiced based
learning. Principle One refers to working within the practiced context. It is important to
remember that the mentoring relationship differs from the classroom setting. Principle Two
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refers to consulting on assessment. Mentors need to assess the student’s perceptions of learning
and progress. Principle Three refers to eliminating surprises. When mentors meet regularly with
mentees, both parties understand the expectations and can avoid any difficulties in the
relationship. This only works if the relationship is reciprocal and active communication is
frequent throughout the mentorship timeframe. Principle Four refers to working with insight on
student attitude and comfort level. Assessing students can cause one to judge a student’s attitude
toward the expectations. Mentors need to be aware of biases and probe mentees to assess
comfort level with expectations. Principle Five refers to examining knowledge in use.
Examining knowledge means assessing if students can interpret and apply knowledge to his or
her purpose. For example, the mentor needs to assess if the student can interpret and apply
knowledge, and work independently (Price, 2012).
The Importance of Mentorship for Women
Martin and Barnard (2013) found that following these motivational aspects improved
work motivation: high expectations for continued career opportunities, work that was
challenging and engaging, and successful outcomes being rewarded and recognized. Martin and
Barnard (2013) defined mentorship by explaining that it was a way to gain support and guidance
from a trusted advisor within an organizational setting. Mentorship opportunities help one
achieve career success (Martin & Barnard, 2013). In Martin and Barnard’s (2013) study, women
perceived their work in a negative manner compared to their male counterpart’s work, affecting
their self-confidence and self-efficacy. They found that mentorship is vital for women working
in male-dominant occupations, and the study participants stressed the importance of having
female mentors. The authors concluded that gender-balanced mentorship is fundamental for
organizations to adopt because it helps women succeed and persevere in a male-dominated work
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environment.
The value of professional mentorship is well documented by researchers Hagen and
Parker. Hagen and Parker (2009) explored the importance of mentorship in early stages of career
development. The researchers found that mentors provide introductions and help mentees learn
how to seek out affiliations that are critical to industry relations. When mentees work closely to
mentors, they gain access to inner circles (Hagen & Parker, 2009). A study by Wilkes (2007)
found that both male and female professionals had a strong desire to advance their careers
through mentorship opportunities. Additionally, Hagen and Parker (2009) stated that exclusion
from mentorship programs was detrimental for minorities for career advancement.
Lack of Female Mentorship Opportunities as a Deterrent for Career Advancement
The lack of mentorship opportunities or social networking connections continues to hold
women back from work-related and societal advancement opportunities. According to Harris
(2016), women are held back from acquiring employment or advancing in their careers to top
managerial positions because they lack social connections related to jobs (golf organizations,
country clubs, and social gatherings related to employment). To compound this inequity,
researchers found that both men and women viewed female managers negatively (Harris, 2016).
In situations of work conflict, Harris also found that men are viewed as being easier to get along
with than women. Additionally, Harris stated that male career development has long been
connected to mentorship, unlike mentorship opportunities for female career advancement. Harris
(2016) concluded by stating, the importance of mentorship is to help promote one’s talents, break
through cultural and societal advancement barriers, and give direction on ways to navigate
through the organization or industry.
Gendered Hiring Practices and the Glass Ceiling in the Film Industry
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The glass ceiling in the film and television industry is a result of gender dominant hiring
practices and the misconception that most film genres cater to men alone. These circumstances
have created an industry that underrepresents women in front of and behind the camera.
Ezzedeen (2015) found that inequities in gendered-hiring practices in the industry, called the
celluloid ceiling, means that women are not promoted or valued equally to their male
counterparts, resulting in the predominant hiring practices of men in creative positions
(Ezzedeen, 2015). To illustrate the celluloid ceiling in the film and television industry, out of
250 domestic grossing films in the United States in 2010, women comprised only 16% of
directors, writers, producers, cinematographers, and editors (Ezzedeen, 2015). Additionally, the
researcher found that film and television labor hiring practices are directly related to the industry
norms that women are not a target audience for film makers. Further, the researcher stated that
Hollywood production companies work from a perception that mainstream films cater to men
only, thus impacting hiring practices in positions of power behind the camera. Ezzedeen also
noted that the lack of women in creative positions of power also impacts the number of women
on screen with female characters comprising only 33% of all characters and only 11% of
protagonists in the top 100 films of 2011.
Handy and Rowlands (2014) found that production work in the film and television
industry is highly competitive for both men and women, but more so for women based on
historical gender disparities that continue to exist in the industry. The researchers gathered
statistical data from international surveys which found gender disparities in film production
employees with female crew members comprising under 23% of overall crew. Handy and
Rowlands’ (2014) data also found that of the 23% employed, the female crew worked in female
dominated areas of wardrobe, makeup, and casting, while the male employees worked in male
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22
dominated areas such as cinematography, camera crew, lighting, visual effects, and post-
production editing. The researchers noted that positions associated with domestic
responsibilities like homemaking and childrearing traditionally given to women had changed
only slightly over the past 20-plus years. Handy and Rowlands also reported that gender-based
discrimination was evident with female employees of child-bearing age who did not have
children and their male counterparts of similar age who did have children. Skillset, the British
sector skills council found disparities between film production workers who have dependent
children living with them with only 14% for female film production employees compared to 40%
of their male counterparts (Handy & Rowlands, 2014). In addition, women who forgo having
children should be treated like their male counterparts, but the researchers found gender
discrimination still exists. Although work hours in the film industry are typically considered
incompatible with family commitments, Handy and Rowlands also stated that childless female
production employees continually face gendered patterns of family responsibilities. The film
industry is made up of highly trained and skilled freelance experts who understand the
commitment of various projects, whether male or female, with or without children. Women
continue to struggle to make considerable contributions to the arts, secure funding for projects,
face industry exclusivity, and face gender discrimination toward hiring practices and pay (Handy
& Rowlands, 2014).
Gender Inequities in Male-dominated Work Environments Faced by Women
Women working in male-dominated work environments face continual gender inequities
and work-related disadvantages because male-dominated networks share work-related
opportunities with male associates and the male associates are highly regarded by their peers
based on social status. Lutter (2015) studied gender inequities in network closure and found that
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women’s career paths suffer from poor mentorship programs or from mentorship programs that
are made up of mostly men, adding to the difficulty of finding a mentor. Additionally, Lutter
reported that women do not receive the same support from men in a mentorship program that
they would from female mentors. For example, male mentors do not share as much work-related
information with female mentees as they do with male mentees, and women are not included in
networking events such as afterhours socializing like golf outings (Lutter, 2015). According to
Lutter’s research, white privileged male networks share more job-related information with men
seeking employment than minority or female based networks because white male dominated
networks are linked to social status with built-in contacts. Furthermore, Lutter stated that gender
inequality was most severe when women worked with male dominated teams and was less severe
when women worked in diverse settings. Finally, Lutter (2015) found that close-knit gender-
specific networks put males at an advantage and women at a disadvantage because female-
dominated networks have lower societal value than male networks, leading women to have
weaker or fewer connections to decision-making sponsors.
Similar to the film and television industry, Dace (1996) found gender-pay-and-hire
inequities in the theatre work environment. Similar to current standards, Dace reported that The
Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers found that it was unusual for women to be hired
to direct, and further reported that 80% of its members were men. Dace also found that financial
funding has been an ongoing issue for the professional arts, severely impacting advancement
opportunities for women. Additionally, governmental support for the Arts continues to plague
the industry as perceptions of overall industry contributions are perceived negatively (Dace,
1996). Just as the Arts are marginalized, so too are women and their contributions to society,
and in this particular case, media platforms. Dace also stated that Women do not have power in
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

24
the Arts, impacting the pay scale and advancement opportunities of the few women working in
the industry.
There are determining factors, such as having an industry mentor-network or accepting a
position beneath one’s skill or knowledge level, that contribute to the success or failure of female
film students. Bunting, Herrman, and Johanson (2014) studied hiring practices for the position
of producer in the film industry and found that half of the people they interviewed for their study
reported the importance of having a film education. The researchers also reported that the
prerequisites for women working as a producer in the film and television industry were
answering phones, running errands, and making coffee. Additionally, some of the interviewees
reported that working in remedial positions after attending film school was harmful to the
industry (Bunting, Herrman, & Johanson, 2014). Lastly, the researchers stated that
disadvantaged groups such as film students from diverse backgrounds have difficulty finding
employment because the film and television industry is predominately run by white privileged
men.
Work-Related Mentorship Opportunities and Self-Efficacy
Students who engage in work-related mentorship opportunities improve their motivation
to gain employment in their chosen field of practice and increase their self-efficacy, which
enables them to make bolder employment choices. Freeman and Le Rossignol (2010) found that
students find more value working in their chosen professional setting than they do in learning
theories in the classroom. The researchers also found that engaging students in work-experience
situations helped improve their motivation and self-efficacy for success and increased their
confidence levels. The students were able to apply critical thinking skills through problem-
solving experiences (Freeman & Le Rossignol, 2010). The researchers surmised that the work-
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

25
related mentorship programs motivated the students to see themselves in their chosen field of
study and helped them gain confidence to forego risk and make bolder choices for career
choices.
Faculty Mentors Supporting Mentees in Creating an Employee Portfolio
Curriculum focused on work-related mentorship opportunities supports students’ critical
and analytical thinking applications and employment opportunities in their given field of study.
Petkus (2007) researched the connection between curriculum and mentorship and found that a
professional-school modeling of curriculum, designed to market one’s unique abilities, would
produce more accomplished students. In addition, Petkus (2007) found that meaningful learning
outcomes were recognized when students combined theory with behavior or actions. Blending
theory and outcome supports critical thinking applications. The researcher also found that oral
class presentations provided a unique foundation, teaching the students relevant skills of oral and
written communications. In conclusion, Petkus (2007) supported the need for students to learn
the most advanced marketing techniques to the decision-making processes associated with their
work. This research supports applications of analytical thinking.
Based on this research, mentorship programs are developed for employees within
organizations or industries, but they lack gender equality and work advancement opportunities.
The lack of mentorship opportunities continues to hold women back from work-related and
societal advancement opportunities. Research shows that students who engaged in work-related
mentorship opportunities improved their motivation to gain employment in their chosen field of
practice and increased their self-efficacy.
Faculty Member Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences
The Clark and Estes (2008) analytical framework, which was developed to help
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26
organizations identify and analyze performance gaps between goal setting to performance
outcomes, is used to review the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences associated
with faculty mentorship programs. The following sections examine the knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influences to support the following goal: By May 2020, mentoring faculty
will effectively mentor female graduate students by creating an employee portfolio showcasing
their individual and collaborative work for mentorship placement in the film and television
industry upon graduation. Additionally, the assumed knowledge and motivational influences
associated with faculty performance are examined as are the organizational influences associated
with the faculty achievement.
Knowledge Influences
In order for individuals to successfully complete tasks, they need different types of
knowledge. The cognitive approach to knowledge is broken down into four types: factual,
conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge (Rueda, 2011). Factual knowledge is the
facts of terminology of a subject area (Krathwohl, 2002; Rueda, 2011). Conceptual knowledge is
the relationships and the connections of the principles, theories, and structures of the subject area
(Krathwohl, 2002; Rueda, 2011). Procedural knowledge is the steps and techniques needed to
complete a task (Krathwohl, 2002; Mayer, 2011; Rueda, 2011). Finally, metacognitive
knowledge is an individual’s thinking of their own mental awareness of problem-solving
techniques or performance (Krathwohl, 2002). For the purpose of this research, procedural
knowledge and conceptual knowledge will be applied to the stakeholder group comprised of the
film school faculty who work with female graduate students in the mentorship program. The
literature examines the knowledge influences as they pertain to the history and social
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27
advancement barriers of women working in the film and television industry. The literature also
examines the importance of mentorship opportunities for career advancement and the knowledge
influences associated with faculty mentors effectively mentoring female graduate students by
modeling how to create an employee portfolio to secure mentorship or employment opportunities
in the industry upon graduation.
Faculty knowledge to support the development of mentorship relationships. Harris
(2016) found that the importance of mentorship programs is to help promote one’s talents, break
down cultural and societal advancement barriers, and give direction on ways to navigate through
an organization or industry. Fuentes, Alvarado, Berdan, and DeAngelo (2014) found that
university administrators need to understand the importance of the teacher-student mentorship
program because student outcomes are directly linked to quality teacher-student interactions.
Faculty members need to know how to establish a cohesive relationship with their mentee. For
example, when a faculty member has trouble communicating with a student, it creates an
uncomfortable working relationship. Henery and Thorsen (2018) found that moments of contact
in emerging relationships between teachers and students can immediately influence students’
engagement and motivation. Additionally, faculty mentors need to set clear expectations for the
mentor/mentee relationship and set a clear timeline for the mentee to meet the set expectations.
Furthermore, mentors need to actively listen to their mentee's goals and career aspirations to
support the mentee throughout the graduate program. Last, the mentor needs to employ
strategies to help the mentee understand the avenues available to gain access to film & television
industry positions.
Faculty knowledge about mentorship skills they should possess. Faculty need to
understand the importance of the mentor-mentee relationship and know how to implement
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28
effective strategies in mentoring female graduate students. Freeman and Le Rossignol (2010)
found that the work-related mentorship programs helped students see themselves in their chosen
field of study and helped them gain confidence to take more risks and make bolder career
choices. Rossignol’s research examines metacognitive knowledge and how work-related
mentorships can positively impact women working in the film and television industry.
Mentors need skills such as knowing how to create an employee portfolio to showcase
individual and collaborative work to motivate mentees to learn skill-sets associated with
pitching, sizzle reels, and lookbooks to gain mentorship opportunities in their chosen field of
study. Pitching is a verbal presentation used in the film and television industry to a film
producer or studio executive to secure financial development funds for a project. Sizzle reels are
video presentations containing a culmination of work for someone working in the film and
television industry. Lookbooks are visual presentations usually containing photographs
depicting the artistic direction the director wants a project to represent and they are given to
department heads at the start of a project. Finally, mentors need knowledge regarding the
importance of female mentorship opportunities in the film and television industry to help the
mentees negotiate a path of career independence.
Faculty ability to transfer theory into concrete outcomes via employee portfolios.
Petkus (2007) found that a professional school modeling of curriculum, designed to market one’s
unique abilities, would produce more accomplished students. An example associated with
modeling curriculum is industry lookbooks which are created to present specific projects that are
used in conjunction with pitching an idea to a studio or production company. According to the
Synopsis of Modeling Instruction (2017), modeling knowledge increases students’ self-efficacy.
Since the film school faculty members are professionals working in the film and television
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29
industry, they have experience creating and using lookbooks to pitch film projects. If modeled to
students, this knowledge can increase students’ self-efficacy.
Equally important, Petkus (2007) also found that meaningful learning outcomes were
recognized when students combined theory with behavior or actions. To support this theory,
Petkus (2007) stated that oral class presentations provided a unique foundation, teaching the
students relevant skills of oral and written communications. As noted above, curriculum to
support creating an employee portfolio such as oral presentations and pitch curriculum, sizzle
reels to showcase students’ individual and collaborative work, and curriculum to create
lookbooks, will support securing mentorship opportunities within the industry. Correspondingly,
Petkus (2007) supported the need for students to learn the most advanced marketing techniques
to the decision-making processes associated with their work. This research supports applications
of critical thinking and conceptual knowledge associated with mentorship.
Faculty need to know of existing disparities and barriers for females. Smith (2017)
found that in over 800 films made between 2007 and 2015, only 4.1% had female directors.
Smith also found that when both male and female studio executives go to hire a director for a
film, they automatically think to hire a male director because they see the director position as
masculine in nature. Smith continued by explaining that the studio executives’ ideation, whether
they are male or female, perceive leadership traits as male when they think of hiring a leader.
Finally, Smith found that inequity in behind-the-camera positions of power, especially in the role
of director, has not changed in more than 50 years. Based on Smith’s research, mentoring
faculty need to know of, and share, the existing disparities and barriers that women continue to
face in the decision-making positions of power, since the future of the film industry is attending
the University of the West film program.
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Table 2 provides information specific to knowledge influences, knowledge types, and
knowledge influence assessments. As Table 2 indicates, three knowledge influences; one
procedural, and two conceptual will be used to gain insight about the knowledge the professors
teaching at the University of the West’s Film school possess.
Table 2
Knowledge Influences
Knowledge Influences
Declarative (Conceptual) Faculty need to know of the importance of
mentor/mentee partnerships.
Procedural Faculty need knowledge of how to support the
development of mentorship relationships.
Faculty need the ability to transfer theory into concrete
outcomes via employee portfolios (sizzle reels,
lookbooks, pitches) for the students to showcase their
individual and collaborative work.
Declarative (Conceptual) Faculty need to know of existing disparities and barriers
for females. (Smith, 2017)

Motivational Influences
According to Clark and Estes (2008), motivation is defined as the factor within an
individual that propels one to start on a task and continue working on a task to fruition.
Motivation also regulates the amount of time and effort one spends on completing a task (Clark
& Estes, 2008). Mayer (2011) further defined motivation as something internal that regulates
goal directed behavior. Moreover, Mayer (2011) broke motivation down into four components:
personal (internal state), activating (initiates behavior), energizing (persistence), and directed
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31
(goal-directed behavior). Motivation-related-influences that apply to this research are self-
efficacy and value orientation. Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in his or her ability to
accomplish a task and utility value refers to a person’s value of a task. For this research, self-
efficacy is an important aspect of the mentors’ belief and confidence they have in their ability to
be effective mentors and their perception of the value of modeling the creation of employee
portfolios to the students.
Faculty self-efficacy to be effective mentors. Through mentoring theory, Day and
Allen (2002) defined the process of mentoring as someone who provides guidance to a protégé
and models specific behaviors, which helps develop the protégé’s competency and self-
confidence. Additionally, they define mentoring as support for people to help them develop
confidence, competence, and self-esteem. They also found that employees who received
continued mentoring had more self-confidence and self-esteem regarding job performance.
Through their research, Day and Allen found that self-leadership and performance are directly
related to self-efficacy. While self-efficacy is important for students, faculty need self-efficacy to
be effective mentors to students. When faculty possess self-efficacy they choose, persist, and
invest mental effort throughout the mentor-mentee relationship.
Faculty value for mentoring. Eccles and Wigfield (2002) define expectancy value
theory as the beliefs and perceptions of competence in task related performance outcomes as they
relate to individual goals and self-efficacy. Coupled with performance self-efficacy, Eccles and
Wigfield (2002) summarized the four aspects of expectancy value theory as attainment value,
intrinsic value, utility value, and cost. Rueda (2011) defined the four values of expectancy value
theory: attainment value is the significance individuals attach to specific tasks, intrinsic value is
the pleasure one experiences completing a task, utility value is the perception one has that a task
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

32
will be of value for future goal achievement, and cost value is the effort and financial
implications the activity will cost an individual. Respectively, Eccles and Wigfield (2002)
explained the significance of expectancy value theory and their correlation to employment goals.
For example, the researchers found that utility value was connected to how the task relates to
future career goals and that cost value and task participation may have negative connotations
associated to performance anxiety and fear of failure. For this study, film school faculty need to
see the value of helping the female graduate students create a portfolio to showcase their
individual and collaborative work to help them secure mentorship opportunities upon graduation
in the film and television industry. Additionally, faculty mentors need self-efficacy to motivate
and support the students in the creation of the employee portfolios and they need to increase the
students’ motivation by helping the students see the value of showcasing their individual and
collaborative work within the employee portfolio.
Table 3 provides the organizational mission, organizational goal, and information specific
to motivational influences and motivational types. As Table 3 indicates, utility value and self-
efficacy, and will be used to gain insight about the motivational influences that affect the
teaching outcomes of the professors teaching at the University of the West’s Film school.
Table 3
Motivation Influences
Motivation Influences
Utility Value Mentoring faculty need to see the value of having the students
create portfolios to showcase their individual and collaborative
work as a critical step to secure mentorship opportunities in the
film and television industry in the behind-the-camera-positions
of power upon completion of the program. Mentoring faculty
need to see the value in connecting the female graduate students
to mentorship opportunities in the film and television industry
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33
upon completion of the program.
Self-Efficacy Mentoring faculty need self-efficacy to motivate themselves to
support the female graduate students in creating their individual
employee portfolios.

Organizational Influences
According to Clark and Estes (2008), organizational influences are factors that can
positively or negatively influence an organization’s performance outcomes. Some examples of
organizational influences include the organization’s leadership, culture or climate of the
organization, and processes in place to achieve performance goals. The organizational
influences associated with organizational achievement explored in this study affect the film
school faculty members’ capacity to support and mentor the female graduate film students
through creation of an employee portfolio to showcase their individual and collaborative work
they completed throughout the graduate program. Additionally, to support the organizational
influences, mentors need curriculum-based knowledge to help them build confidence in the
mentees. Mentors need resources, such as equipment used to create employee portfolios, to help
stimulate creativity, set goals with the mentees, and help the mentees meet expectations. If the
organizational influences are ineffective or insufficient, achievement of the organization’s
performance goals can be negatively impacted (Clark & Estes, 2008). Other organizational
factors that can possibly impact faculty capacity to mentor and ultimately, the organization’s
performance goals are related to gaps in the knowledge and motivational influences (Rueda,
2011). Moreover, based on an organization’s vision and mission, unique cultures and attitudes
develop through growth and leadership strategies (Clark & Estes, 2008). Organizational
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34
influences can be analyzed for various strategic implementations, change strategies, or gaps in
performance.
The film school’s commitment to support female graduate students’ career development
through mentorship opportunities and support the faculty members with mentorship curriculum
are the organizational influences that will be explored. To begin with, the dean and program
department heads at the film school need to provide the mentoring faculty with a framework or
curriculum designed to guide mentorship. Next, the film school faculty need resources regarding
mentorship curriculum influences to achieve organizational goals designed to support the female
graduate students in creating an employee portfolio to showcase their individual and
collaborative work to help them obtain mentorship opportunities upon completion of the film
school graduate program. To achieve this goal, by July 2019 the organization will provide 100%
of faculty members involved in the mentorship program resources such as film equipment and
mentorship curriculum designed to help faculty mentor and support the female graduate film
students in creating individual employee portfolios to showcase the students’ individual and
collaborative work. Additionally, examining the current mentoring structure and ensuring the
professors have knowledge of and confidence teaching mentorship curriculum and defined goals
to strive for should lead to organizational goal achievement.
According to Clark and Estes (2008), the culture of an organization is based on a model
of “core values, goals, beliefs, emotions, and processes learned as people develop over time in
the work environment” (p. 108). As Clark and Estes have found, an organizational culture is
identified in work processes because it shapes the manner in which people in organizations work
together and the steps taken to accomplish the organization’s goals. According to Watson
(2013), organizational culture is a shared understanding of the organization’s vision, mission,
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35
and the processes associated with accomplishing the organization’s goals. Watson also found
that the culture of an organization is the behavior norms associated with strategic implementation
and outcomes for an organization. Organizational culture is influenced by an existing
environment that can be changed to influence performance outcomes (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) defined organizational culture by dividing it into two
segments: models and settings. The organizational model is the shared understanding of the
vision, mission, and beliefs of the stakeholders and the organizational setting is structure that the
organization functions on daily.
The cultural setting differs from the cultural model because it refers to how an
organization is structured. Typically, a setting or structure is displayed in an organization’s
design of authority and how the organization’s responsibilities are controlled and disseminated
(Al-Qatawneh, 2014). Additionally, Al-Qatawneh found that an organization’s internal and
external communication with its stakeholders is evident in the organization’s structural model.
Clark and Estes (2008) break down an organization’s structure by the aspects of an organization
that makes it unique, who drives performance management and change, and how performance
feedback is given and by whom.
The university’s mission is designed to develop students who are creative and
knowledgeable about the aspects of moving image art, and graduate with an understanding of the
entrepreneurial principles and practices of film, television, and interactive media. To accomplish
this mission, the organization must provide mentoring faculty with resources such as equipment
and mentorship curriculum designed to support the female graduate students in securing
mentorship opportunities in the film and television industry upon completion of the graduate
program. Another factor to reach this goal would be for the mentorship faculty members to
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36
follow a structured curriculum that will support the female graduate film students. For example,
all student work completed in the graduate film program must be done with other film students
working in various capacities within the film-making process (writer, director, producer, editor,
cinematographer, sound design, set design, costume design, make-up). This will ensure that
every student is supported throughout the graduate program by his or her peers in all aspects of
the film-making process, that all students return that support to their cohort members, and that
the student contributions impact the collaborative portion of each employee portfolio. Each
portfolio will include the student’s individual work and work they have contributed to projects
for their peers in the graduate program. For example, a student may contribute to the sound or
sound editing for one of their peer’s projects and a clip of that sound bite will be included in the
employee portfolio.
In order for the mentorship program to be successful, the organization needs to provide
faculty with mentorship related curriculum and resources, such as film equipment to support the
faculty in modeling the contents of an employee portfolio. This will guide the faculty mentors in
demonstrating how to create an employee portfolio, so the students can learn how to best
showcase their individual and collaborative work they have completed throughout their graduate
program. Some of the work that will be included in the portfolios include sizzle reels,
lookbooks, and work made for pitching ideas to production houses. Ideally, the organization will
provide the curriculum and train faculty mentors one month prior (July 2019) to the start of the
fall 2019 semester. Table 4 provides the organization’s cultural setting and cultural model
influences that will be used to gain insight into the university’s commitment to support the
faculty with a framework, curriculum, and resources designed to guide mentorship and support
the success of the female graduate students.
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Table 4

Organizational Influences

Organizational Influences
Cultural Setting Influence 1/Resources The film school needs to provide the
mentoring faculty with resources such as
equipment and portfolio examples designed
to guide the creation of the students’
employee portfolio (pitching techniques,
sizzle reels, lookbooks).
Cultural Setting Influence 2/Curriculum The film school needs to provide faculty
with a structured mentorship curriculum.
Cultural Setting Influence 3/ Training The film school needs to train faculty on the
curriculum, so they can support the female
graduate students.

Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Faculty Members’ Knowledge, Motivation
and the Organizational Context

For purposes of this study, the conceptual framework considers the relationship of faculty
members’ knowledge, motivation, and the organizational influences regarding teaching
mentorship curriculum, which includes helping the students create an employee portfolio to
showcase their individual and collaborative work they completed throughout their graduate
program. The curriculum and the employee portfolios will support the female graduate students
in gaining access into the film and television industry. The conceptual framework also identifies
the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences the faculty members must have to
support the female graduate film students. Additionally, the conceptual framework for this study
considers previous research on the history of female mentorship programs and the knowledge,
motivation, and the organizational influences faculty members need going forward to support the
female graduate students throughout their graduate program and the industry mentorship and
employment opportunities upon completion of the graduate program.
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The knowledge, motivation, and organizational (KMO) influences are based on the Clark
and Estes’ (2008) framework on improving performance by identifying performance gaps and
setting goals to support an organization’s vision and mission. For this study, the KMO
influences are derived from various learning, motivational, and organization theories such as
socio-cultural theory and cognitive theory as well as from literature about the importance of
female mentorship. Additionally, the conceptual framework identifies the cultural setting and
model influences previously defined by Clark and Estes (2008), Watkins (2014), and Gallimore
and Goldenberg (2001). Based on these influences, example, the conceptual framework supports
the research question regarding the film school faculty knowledge and motivation related to
being able to provide effective mentoring to female graduate students, the impact of film school
organizational culture and context on faculty knowledge and motivation, and the recommended
knowledge, motivation, and organizational solutions associated with female mentorship
opportunities in the film and television industry. Moreover, the conceptual framework will help
determine the best research methods to investigate these questions. Equally important as the
conceptual framework is the merging of specific worldviews that will advise the researcher
during the investigative stage of the research.
For this study, two worldviews merge to enlighten this study: constructivist and
transformative worldviews. Constructivism is the worldview that investigates the phenomena
surrounding individual understanding, multiple participant meaning, social and historical
constructivism, and is theory generated (Creswell, 2014). Furthermore, constructivism helps the
researcher gather varied and multiple participant feedback, which helps the researcher rely on
that feedback, and through analysis, leads the researcher to identify interaction from multifaceted
views (Creswell, 2014). A transformative worldview is political, power and justice oriented,
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

39
collaborative, and change-oriented, and transformative research focuses on gender inequities
from those in power as well as the experiences of diverse groups of people who have been
historically marginalized (Creswell, 2014). For this research project, the transformative
worldview will pair well with the constructivism worldview because they both support the need
to understand the current phenomena and the social inequities, oppression, and male
empowerment of the film and television industry.

GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

40
Figure 1 illustrates this framework.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework: Interaction of stakeholder knowledge and motivation within
organizational cultural models.

University of the West Film School
Cultural model provide mentoring faculty members with mentorship
curriculum, and faculty need to follow structured mentorship curriculum to
help the female graduate students create employee portfolios to support
them in securing mentorship internships in the film and television industry.

Film School Professors
Conceptual knowledge and Procedural knowledge (mentorship curriculum,
strategies of pitching oneself) and Motivation related to Value Orientation
related to self-efficacy and utility value.
By May of 2021 100% of the female graduate students earning a degree in film or television
production at University of the West Film School will secure employment in the film and
television industry within a year of graduation.

By May of 2021, film school faculty will effectively mentor
female graduate students in creating an employee portfolio
showcasing their individual and collaborative work for
mentorship placement in the film and television industry upon
graduation.

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41
Participating Stakeholders: Sampling and Recruitment

Qualitative data collection was chosen to understand the current knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influences of the film school mentorship graduate program and the method
chosen was one-on-one interviews as the primary source of data collection. The purpose of this
study was to focus on a single phenomenon and helped this researcher understand the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences of the current mentoring structure and
opportunities available to the female graduate students in the film program at University of the
West Film School. Although the interview protocols focused on understanding a single
phenomenon, this research evolved and included similarities or considerations of ideas or
relationships to gender inequality and mentorship opportunities currently available to women
entering the film and television industry upon graduation. Furthermore, this study helped this
researcher understand the barriers that hold women back from being offered the behind-the-
camera positions of power in the industry and gave insight into the gaps with the current
mentorship program structure. The interview method was the best approach because it gave this
researcher the framework to develop pre-determined questions before the interviews were
conducted to pre-determine the order in which the questions were asked (Patton, 2002).
Moreover, the semi-structured interview protocol used open-ended questions, allowing the
interviewer flexibility to ask questions based on the responses given by the interviewees. The
semi-structured interview protocol allows the interviewer to determine if specific responses
given during the interview may elicit additional information (Patton, 2002).
The stakeholder group of focus directly contributing to this research was faculty currently
teaching in the film and television program at the University of the West Film School.
According to the university’s website, there are approximately 96 full-time and 219 part-time
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42
professors teaching at the film school. The rationale for choosing faculty was due to their critical
role in preparing students for leadership roles in the film and television industry and to examine
their capacity of and participation in the mentorship program as a mentor. Additionally, some of
the participating faculty members at the University of the West Film School are members of the
Cinematic Arts Council on Diversity and Inclusion. Their participation was important because
they represented the interests of the students attending the film school and create opportunities
for underrepresented media makers like women. Initially, a survey with follow-up interview
questions was developed for all faculty to participate in the research for this project, but the
survey was disallowed by the dean of the film school due to time constraints from the dean’s
office in circulating the survey to faculty members. Lastly, participating faculty members did
represent film school department liaisons (writing, producing, directing, cinematography, and
sound design) for purposes of this research.
Interview Sampling and Recruitment
The population for the interview sampling were eight film school professors currently
teaching at the University of the West School Film School. The professors were asked to
participate in the interview data collection process based on the recommendation from a previous
film school student, on their industry experience, and from professors who have participated in
the mentorship program with graduate students from the film school. In order to understand the
mentoring opportunities and exposure to successful women working in the film and television
industry, eight film school professors currently teaching in the University of the West School
Film School were asked to elaborate on mentorship opportunities they have participated in with
graduate students at the film school and if they have created or helped to create an employee
portfolio showcasing individual or collaborative work. The film school professors were
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43
interviewed in order to understand their experience working with graduate students in the film
graduate mentorship program, current mentorship curriculum and resources available to
mentorship participants, and about mentorship opportunities in the film and television industry.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rational
Criterion 1: Must be regular, full-or-part-time faculty members who have or currently
participate in the mentorship program with the female graduate students at the film school. The
rationale for this criterion is that only faculty mentors can be held accountable for the
performance goals of the mentorship program.
Criterion 2. An additional criterion for the stakeholder group was that they must
specialize in subject matter such as producing, directing, writing, cinematography, and sound
design.
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale
To recruit participants for this study, I requested the help of a previous film and television
production student who provided a list of faculty mentors who would likely respond to my
request to participate in the study. The list comprised of faculty mentors who are representative
of the faculty and have a combined total of 263 years working in the film and television industry
and a combined total of 106 years in academia. Additionally, the faculty mentors work and teach
in the specialties of writing, producing, directing, cinematography, and sound design. I sent
emails directly to 10 of the faculty mentors on that list, requesting their participation in the study.
Eight faculty members with current or previous experience as graduate school mentors agreed to
partake in 45-to-60-minute one-on-one interviews. The interview process commenced within 10
days from the initial email request.

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Data Collection and Instrumentation
Interviews
The purpose of conducting interviews with the faculty members was to probe the
participants’ knowledge, motivation, and the organizational influences related to the current
mentoring curriculum and structure of the mentorship program. Furthermore, gaining insight
into the participants’ experience in the film and television industry helped this researcher
understand the opportunities available to the female graduate students in the film program at
University of the West. Creswell (2014) found that using an interview protocol that focuses on
understanding a single phenomenon evolves to include similarities or considerations of ideas or
relationships. For this study, the interview protocol focused on understanding the faculty
mentors’ capacity to mentor and how the mentorship program was structured, if at all. A
complete list of interview questions can be found in Appendix A.
Interview protocol. According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), interview questions that
use a semi-structured protocol include using questions that are both structured and unstructured
in format. For purposes of this study, an open-ended semi-structured flexible interview protocol
was used with all interview participants to allow the natural social phenomena to emerge.
Furthermore, this interview protocol was chosen because specific data was required from all
interview participants to gain an understanding of the faculty mentors’ knowledge and
motivation related to their ability to support the graduate students in creating an employee
portfolio to showcase their work and the process of the mentorship program offered to the
students in the film school graduate program. Patton (2002) found that using an open-ended
interview format allows the respondents to provide answers that help define the social
phenomena with more or less detail depending on the interviewee’s experience and behaviors.
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45
Also, a semi-structured interview protocol is flexible and allows the design of the study to evolve
naturally in order to expose the knowledge and motivation surrounding the conceptual
framework (Patton, 2002).
This researcher chose to use interview methods to address the effectiveness of the current
mentoring structure and to understand if the school supports effective mentoring through
instruction and assessment to female graduate film students throughout the students’ individual
programs. In addition, the questions did support gathering data about the stakeholder goal that
all faculty involved in the mentorship program implement effective mentoring strategies and
demonstrate the capacity to effectively support the female graduate students in creating an
employee portfolio to showcase their individual and collaborative work completed throughout
their graduate school film program. Additionally, questions regarding existing disparities and
barriers for females working in the film and television industry, and effective mentoring
strategies did provide information on stakeholder knowledge of the conceptual framework.
Furthermore, questions regarding the value of females in positions of power and the efficacy to
support women working in the film and television industry did support the motivational factors
of self-efficacy and utility value, which is identified in the conceptual framework. A complete
list of questions that will be asked during the interview process can be found in Appendix A.
Interview procedures. Interviews are frequently used in qualitative studies as a method
of collecting data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). My manner throughout the interviews was friendly
and informal to keep each interview conversational and allow for participants to divulge as much
information as possible. Each participant was interviewed one time and lasted approximately 45
to 60 minutes long. The interviews were conducted through telephone appointments because it
was the most convenient way to schedule time with the professors. The interviews began in
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

46
January of 2019 and concluded in mid-February 2019. The timing for the interview schedule
was chosen because it allowed time to have transcripts prepared, enough time to analyze the data
collected, and the ability to make recommendations by March 2019. In addition, Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) referred to Taylor and Bogdan’s (1984) list of parameters that were addressed at
the onset of every interview: researcher’s intentions and purpose of the study, anonymity of
participants for their protection, expressing who has final say over the study’s content, and the
time for the individual interviews. Please see Appendix A for Interview Protocols.
Data Analysis

Qualitative interviews were chosen to gather information needed to explore this research
subject matter. The interviews were the primary source of information and were used to
understand the participants’ experiences, individual attitudes, and situational outcomes
(Maxwell, 2013) that pertain to the professor’s mentorship program involvement. I used a semi-
structured interview format by using pre-designed open-ended questions to elicit in-depth rich
descriptive information that would lead me to probe for clarification or further explanation.
Additionally, I asked the same question in the same order with each participant to allow for
follow up questions if needed. Patton (2012) found that if the interview process is purposely
conducted in a relaxed format, it will allow the participant’s perspective to naturally emerge.
For the purpose of this study, each interview was intentionally asked in a relaxed format to keep
the interview process conversational in order to allow each participant’s perspective to naturally
emerge, as Patton suggested.
Using the qualitative interview responses, an analysis was conducted to understand the
assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences as they pertain to the key
stakeholders (film school professors) and the organizational goal. All interview recordings were
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47
sent to Rev.com, (a transcription service) for transcription. Once I received the initial transcript
back from rev.com, I read the transcript from beginning to end and made notations in the
margins next to relevant comments and observations from the dialogue. According to Merriam
and Tisdell (2016), color-coding and creating themes helps in the data analysis process. After I
finished making notes throughout the transcript, I began color-coding the transcript to identify
specific responses and themes. I used the initial transcript as a map for the other transcripts by
color-coding and making notations for the remaining transcripts. I followed this same process
for all eight transcripts. After this process, I began coding the findings according to themes
found throughout the transcripts in order to identify if the information collected was knowledge,
motivation, or organizational based. This helped me put the information into categories to better
identify any parallels or disparities from the information gathered.
Participating Stakeholders

Eight professors from the film and television production program participated in the
interviews. Half of the professors have been teaching at the university’s film school for 10-plus
years and the remaining three professors have between five and nine years of teaching
experience and have worked in various capacities within the film and television department.
Additionally, all of the participants had more than 25-years of experience working in the film
and television industry within their various specialties, which included writer, producer, director,
cinematographer, and sound design, and continue to work in the film and television industry
during semester breaks. All participants have worked on large scale blockbuster or award-
winning films or television productions. All of the participants belong to their respective
professional organizations that include the following; Directors Guild of America, Producers
Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, American Society of Cinematographers, Motion
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48
Picture Sound Editors, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences, and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. All
of the participants have been nominated for industry awards or have been the recipient of awards
for their contributions to film or television through their perspective specialty. Since this study
was being conducted under a pseudonym, specific demographic information will not be shared
which could identify the university, and to maintain confidentiality for the study participants the
professors are identified under pseudonym’s beginning with Liam, Bethany, Amelia, Derrick,
James, Patrick, Mark, and Genevieve. Participating stakeholders and sampling criteria for
interviews is in Appendix A.
Table 5 provides the pseudonyms of the interview participants, their years of experience
working in the film and television industry, and the number of years they have been teaching at
the University of the West Film School.
Table 5
Interview Participants
Years in Industry Years in Academia
Liam 35 15
Bethany 34 12
Amelia 25 9
Derrick 40 5
James 27 17
Patrick 34 22
Genevieve 33 9
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49
Mark 35 17

Interviews are useful method for gaining information based on the participant’s
viewpoint (Maxwell, 2013). The participants interviewed were eight faculty members from the
film and television program at the film school. Based on the suggestion of a former student, the
sampling was made up of volunteer participants who were capable to speak about the research
topic and address the research questions. The participants had formal and informal industry and
educational mentorship experiences that contribute to supporting the graduate students through
mentorship opportunities and the development of student portfolios. Purposeful sampling allows
for choosing participants with distinctive qualities for a research study (Johnson & Christensen,
2014; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Through semi-structured interviews as the only source of data
collection, the film school professors shared their professional industry experience, knowledge,
opinions, and perspectives related to the barriers women face in the film and television industry
and the existing mentorship program at the film school.
The Clark and Estes (2008) framework on the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences needed to improve performance and identify performance gaps also helps with goal
setting to support the organization’s vision and mission. The film school administrators, staff,
and the professors need the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences to develop a
structured mentorship curriculum to support the female graduate students in attaining mentorship
opportunities in the film and television industry. The following sections explore the knowledge,
motivation, and organization (KMO) influences within the Clark and Estes’ conceptual
framework that surfaced from the data analysis for each research question.

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Findings
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences relating to the performance goal of the professors from The University
of the West Film School. The following questions guided this study:
1. What is the film school faculty knowledge and motivation related to them being able to
support the female graduate students in creating an employee portfolio to showcase their
individual and collaborative work?
2. What is the impact of film school organizational culture and context on faculty
knowledge and motivation?
3. What are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and organizational solutions?
Using the Clark and Estes (2008) knowledge, motivation, and organization (KMO)
framework, the following subsections discuss the research findings as revealed by the data
collection. To begin with, the conceptual and procedural knowledge findings are discussed
regarding the mentors’ knowledge of existing barriers for women working in the industry, their
experience mentoring female graduate students, and their individual experience of having a
mentor when they first began working in the industry. Next, the faculty mentors’ motivational
influences regarding self-efficacy and utility value are discussed regarding the mentors’ self-
efficacy in creating and using an employee portfolio and the value they place on using this tool
to gain employment. Last, the organization’s cultural setting and cultural model are discussed as
the influences related to gaps in the resources, curriculum, and training given to the mentor’s
participating in the mentorship program.

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Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge Findings
Conceptual knowledge is knowledge that identifies classifications, categories, principles,
theories, or structures related to a specific arena (Rueda, 2011). Procedural knowledge refers to
the process involved in completing a task or a precise methodology or principles used to
accomplish a task (Krathwohl, 2002; Rueda, 2011). The data identified as knowledge type
revealed three areas of focus: the professors’ knowledge of the history and existing barriers
women face in the film and television industry, their experience mentoring female graduate
students, and the mentoring strategies they feel create an effective mentoring relationship. The
first area of focus was the professors’ perception of existing barriers or disparities women
continue to experience in the industry. This was followed by the professors’ individual
experience being mentored in the film and television industry when they first began working and
their experience mentoring the female students throughout the graduate film program. Finally,
the professors were asked about the mentoring strategies they felt were most effective in creating
the mentor-mentee relationship. The knowledge findings are further explained below.
Faculty robust understanding of existing barriers. Conceptual knowledge is needed to
understand the disparities and barriers female graduate students experience when entering the
film and television industry upon graduation. Seven out of the eight participants agreed that
barriers continue to exist for women working in the film industry. Liam said, “The existing
barriers to women in the film industry are rooted in the age-old prejudice against women. The
movie business is a boys' club. It's very hard for women to break into it.” Bethany added, “There
are so many barriers. There's so much disparity. That it's too much to mention. We are still way
behind the men in the industry with the number of women who work in every area of film.”
Amelia stated, “When I first came into this industry, the barriers were fairly straightforward, it
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52
was a boys club.” Amelia went on to explain that just a handful of women in the entire industry
were given decision-making positions behind the camera, “It was just basically a more male
dominated industry and other women paved the way for me to become an executive and get off
the secretary desk. The very top rungs there's still a pretty good-sized boys club.”
The only exception was with James whose specialty is screenwriting. While James
agreed that women still face barriers in the industry, he did not see as much disparity in the film
industry in the specialty of screen writing. James added, “People don’t care who wrote the
script. If a script is good, it will sell.” James did see disparity among writers hired to work on
television series. James stated, “Women face barriers getting hired to write for television series.
This was confirmed by The Writer’s Guild, which found that television writers are
predominately male, not giving women a chance to prove their writing abilities.” In these
examples, the eight participants provided their personal experiences and current knowledge of
the social advancement barriers and gender disparity women face in the film and television
industry.
To further confirm the research findings, three of the eight participants personally
experienced gender biases in the industry and three other participants experienced inequities due
to race. Six out of the eight participants personally experienced advancement barriers due to
gender or race, further confirming that the film and television industry is controlled by white
men. To overcome these barriers and further understand the importance of the professors
connecting with female graduate students through mentorship, was then explored.
Faculty mentors’ conceptual knowledge about mentoring female graduate students
and the existing barriers women face in the industry. The professors were asked about their
experience mentoring the female graduate students. Liam first stated that the film school is at a
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53
point where no one sees gender between the students or makes any distinctions between the male
and female students. Liam went on to explain that he has mentored both male and female
students for years since he began teaching at the film school and treats everyone the same.
Additionally, he stated that the students are randomly assigned to the professors and every
student is assigned a mentor. Amelia said that she feels it is important to mentor female
students, so they do not experience the barriers she did when she began working in the industry.
Amelia shared an experience she had with another woman working at the same studio where she
was employed. Amelia said, “There was a senior executive colleague who was very threatened
by me, threatened by my relationship with the head of the studio and set about trying to bring me
down.” Since Amelia had this negative experience with another women, she felt that mentoring
female students was very important.
Another participant said she looked at each student equally but identified with the
students who remind her of how she was when she attended film school. Genevieve said, “I try
to look at every student equally, look at their potential and talent…aside from gender. I do think
that you relate to students more so than others if they remind you of yourself when you were
their age.” A gender specific response came from one of the male participants who said he took
on a female mentee because he couldn’t bring himself to say no even though he wanted to turn
her down. Mark said, “She asked me to mentor, and she's from China, she's shy and I wanted to
say no, but I thought she was going to cry, so I said yes.” Compared to six other participants,
Mark’s comment is unique in that he accepted a mentorship based on his perception of the
student’s emotional response.
Patrick’s response was also unique because he responded to the question with awareness
of the industry’s sexual misconduct allegations and the #METOO movement. While he began
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54
by saying that he does not treat the female students any different than the male students, he did
say he is more aware of meeting locations and more conscious of keeping doors open during
meetings. When asked about the importance of the mentor/mentee relationship, Patrick replied,
“I don't treat them [female students] any differently but I'm a little more aware. If I have a
meeting with a female student in my office, I always leave the door open.” Patrick also has the
need to ensure he is supportive of his female mentees. He explained that a female student was
crying in class and he felt the need to comfort her but was aware of the implications if he
touched the student. He said, “I had a woman in class last semester who was crying. I gave her
a hug. I didn't know what else to do. As I hugged her, I was very aware of the security camera
on my sound stage.” He went on to state that it was probably inappropriate, but he believes that
people need human contact when they are down, and it is a part of the relationship structure
between a mentor and mentee. These findings support the participants’ conceptual knowledge
regarding their experience mentoring the female graduate students and some of the distinctions
that exist when mentoring the female-versus-male students.
Faculty lack conceptual knowledge of strategies for mentor-mentee relationship.
Subsequently to the findings of faculty mentors’ conceptual knowledge regarding their
experience mentoring the female graduate students, the participants were asked what mentoring
strategies they felt were most effective in the mentor-mentee relationship. Patrick said that he is
on the graduate admission committee and the students he recommends for admission become his
mentees during their first semester. Patrick then went on to explain his relationship philosophy
with the mentees. Patrick stated, “I meet with them at least once their first semester. Then
subsequent meetings are up to them. If they want to reach out, I'm available. I don't hound them.
They know I'm there.” He then went on to explain that some of his mentees do not meet with
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55
him until they are close to completing their program and that many do not reach out until they
are about to graduate.
Bethany responded by talking about her initial meeting with the mentees. She said, "I'm
going to be your mentor. But sometimes I will say to them, if you need any help, call me.”
Mark has a similar approach. He said, “I prefer the flexible approach. I'm around, if you need
me, call me.” Mark explained that if he leaves the contact up to his mentees, he never hears from
them, so he checks in with them every two or three weeks. Genevieve responded by saying,
“there are some students who kind of want to be independent, do their own thing, but then there
are ones who want more of the hands-on relationship, and I like that.” Genevieve also stated that
she does not feel comfortable with little-to-no contact with her students. She said, “When I don't
hear from a mentee for weeks, I get nervous. I message them just to make sure that everything is
still working and on schedule, and they don't need any help.”
The remaining four participants had similar responses. James is open to leaving his
mentees on their own but starts to wonder how they are doing when he has not hasn’t heard from
them for several weeks. He said, “I prefer to have weekly contact with them, but want them to
initiate it. I don’t want to have to chase after them to see how their projects are coming along.
My role is to help, not babysit.” Patrick and Amelia like to maintain close relationships with
their mentees and said they remain close to them even after graduation. Amelia said building a
relationship is important because she knows it could lead to an opportunity to work together
outside of the academic arena. Patrick correlated Amelia’s statement by stating, “there's the
students who like working with me, so we continue on for years after graduation.”
Finally, Liam said that he makes sure the students have a backup plan. He stated, “part of
mentoring relationship for me is to make sure they have something to do while they're waiting
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56
for their ship to come in.” The findings support the need to have a structured mentorship
program that supports a meeting schedule and guidelines to help the faculty mentors understand
their role as mentors. These findings also demonstrate the participants’ lack of conceptual
knowledge in developing strategies or curriculum to support consistent and ongoing
communication needed to strengthen the mentor-mentee relationship.
The data from the faculty mentor participant responses revealed that there is no structure
to the mentorship program, no guidelines or curriculum to follow, and no metrics as
measurement of progress. The participants confirmed that the mentorship program is completely
unstructured, and that the mentors are assigned a list of mentees based on the student admissions
they participated in prior to start of the program. Further, the participants confirmed that they do
not have any mentorship guidelines or curriculum to help them navigate the mentor-mentee
relationship including the number of face-to-face meetings they should strive to accomplish in a
given semester. It was further revealed that the mentors are not required to meet with the
mentees at all throughout their graduate program and that many do not here from the mentees
until just before they graduate. Additionally, the data revealed that all eight participants
confirmed that barriers still exist for women currently working in or trying to gain employment
in the film and television industry.
The data also revealed several positive outcomes. All eight participants reported that
they view male and female students equally, and seven of the eight participants specifically
stated that they mentor both male and female students by choice. Only one participant brought
gender bias into the conversation when he stated that he accepted the request to mentor a female
graduate student because he thought she would “cry if he declined her request". All of the
participants stated that they continue to mentor the students even after they have graduated, and
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57
six out of the eight participants stated they have worked with former students on multiple
projects. Additionally, the university is striving to admit an equal number of male and female
students for each of the graduate film school cohorts.
Faculty prior experience and knowledge related to creating employee portfolios.
Procedural knowledge is needed to transfer theory into concrete outcomes. The faculty mentors
need to know how to create portfolios such as sizzle reels, lookbooks, and producing packets,
and know how to pitch a project themselves in order to transfer that theory to their students. To
understand the participants’ knowledge in creating portfolios to showcase their work, they were
asked about their experience in creating and using portfolios to gain employment. One
participant differed from the rest of the participants about having the knowledge to teach the
students how to create a portfolio. Mark added, “I was never very good at creating reels, but
portfolios are extremely important because they are a visual sample of one’s talent and
completed work.” Mark suggested the students learn how to create portfolios from professors
who feel confident in their ability to share their experience. He added, “The students need to
learn the process of creating sizzle reels and lookbooks from experienced professors, whether
through a workshop or entire class dedicated to transferring this knowledge.” The other
participants had confidence in their abilities to teach these skills.
The other seven participants indicated that their experience in creating employee
portfolios to gain employment in the film and television industry was transferrable knowledge
they shared with their students. Liam was asked about his experience in creating employee
portfolios and how he shares that knowledge with his students. He said, “All of our faculty have
had a certain level of success in their particular field in film or television, so there's no one who's
teaching on this faculty who's teaching from a purely theoretical point of view.” Liam added,
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58
“Everyone who's teaching, whether they're teaching producing, directing, cinematography,
editing, sound design or production design, they come from a place where they have had hands-
on, practical experience doing that job.” Genevieve said that her experience creating countless
lookbooks to pitch specific projects is invaluable as she transfers that knowledge to her students.
She added, “being able to show my work to my students, in a step by step process of how I put
this together, and then watch and help them do it has been very beneficial.” James said his
experience creating various portfolios over his 30-year career is transferrable knowledge that he
shares with all of his students, especially the students he mentors. James added that he relies on
his knowledge and experience of creating his own portfolios to gain employment when he shows
the students examples of his work.
All eight participants indicated they had the necessary knowledge to succeed in
mentoring the students to create employee portfolios. All eight participants said they have
created employee portfolios in the form of sizzle reels, lookbooks, and pitching packages to gain
employment opportunities in the film and television industry. They confirmed the importance of
having the knowledge in order to share their experience of creating portfolios to give every
student the same opportunity gaining access to industry employment. Only one participant
claimed he lacked the knowledge to share how to create a sizzle reel because he felt he was never
good at creating reels or lookbooks but did feel he could transfer the knowledge of using these
tools to gain access to studio head decision makers. These findings support the procedural
knowledge the professors need to transfer their experience of creating sizzle reels, lookbooks,
and pitch packages to their students.

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Motivation Results and Findings
For the purpose of this study, the motivational influences explored that apply to this
research were self-efficacy and value orientation. These motivational influences are needed to
understand the driving force and overall relationship outcomes between the mentors and
mentees. In particular, the faculty members’ self-efficacy in creating and using employee
portfolios and their shared value in having the students learn how to create their own individual
employee portfolios was explored. Clark and Estes (2008) defined motivation as the source of
power within an individual that impels one to begin a task and continuously work toward
completion of the task. Motivation is also the energy given to the amount of time and the effort
one spends on seeing a task to fruition (Clark & Estes, 2008). Rueda (2011) defined motivation
as cultural phenomena because people develop their motivational principles from individuals
with whom they interact with in specific societal settings.
Faculty self-efficacy in creating and using employee portfolios. Mentoring faculty
need self-efficacy to motivate and support the female graduate students in creating their
individual employee portfolios (sizzle reels, look books, pitching techniques). When asked if the
participants’ experience in creating their own employee portfolios adds value to their students
learning, seven of the eight participants responded positively. Liam responded by stating,
“everyone who's teaching on this faculty uses his or her portfolio in a way that helps them
teach.” James responded by saying, “I take my experience of creating a portfolio and show them
how to create their own.” Genevieve explained the value of her industry experience using
lookbooks to gain employment in a male dominated industry. She stated, “I’ve created countless
lookbooks over my career and my experience in creating and using lookbooks to pitch specific
projects is definitely valuable experience that must be shared, especially with my female
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60
students.” She further explained how beneficial it is for the students to develop these skills.
Amelia added, “I have years of experience creating pitch packets to gain employment or
financial backing for a project. That experience is very valuable and easily shared.” Amelia
went on to explain that she talks about lookbooks, sizzle reels, and pitch packages in every class
and encourages the students to come out of the program ready to share as much material as
possible. Based on these findings, the faculty mentors have self-efficacy and use their
experience to add value and motivate their students, especially their mentees.
Faculty shared value in students learning to create employee portfolios. The
participants were also asked to share the value they see in the female graduate students learning
how to create employee portfolios to showcase their individual and collaborative work
completed throughout their graduate program and use their portfolios to gain mentorship
opportunities upon graduation. The participants responded favorably with all eight participants
in agreement that employee portfolios are a critical tool used to gain mentorship opportunities
and employment in the industry. James said that one of the most important aspects of his job is
to teach the students how to showcase their work to gain employment. Bethany responded by
saying, “showcasing one’s vision for a project or their individual or collaborative work they have
completed, is the only way to gain employment.” Bethany also explained that the students don't
really learn the process of gaining employment in the industry. She further explained that some
classes teach the students how to do a resume, but that is not how to gain employment in the film
and television industry. Bethany also explained the value of learning to create an employee
portfolio to pitch a project. She said, “When you pitch a project today you need everything in
place. You need a script, a sizzle reel, a lookbook, a producer, and a budget. And, you need a
star.” Genevieve added that she sees a lot of value in the students learning how to create an
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61
employee portfolio. She continued by saying, “A portfolio implies there’s multiple projects, a
body of work. I think that would benefit the female students.” These responses encompassed a
shared value in creating and using employee portfolios to gain mentorship or employment
opportunities in the film and television industry.
Faculty shared value of industry mentorship opportunities. Mentoring faculty need
to see the value in connecting the female students to mentorship opportunities in the film and
television industry upon completion of the graduate program. All of the participants were asked
if they had a mentor when they began working in the film and television industry and how that
experience impacted his or her career. Seven of the eight participants were mentored when they
began working in the industry and shared how it impacted each of their careers. Patrick stated,
“there were people at work I connected with who became invaluable resources and close friends,
ultimately. I would call on them often. One relationship in particular was of a mentor/protegee
relationship.” Derrick responded by saying that his mentorship really changed the course of his
life. He began his career as an apprentice editor and had the good fortune of working with
mentors who passed on a lot of information to him.
When Genevieve was asked if she had a mentor, she said she had a couple of bosses who
liked her work ethic and took her under their wing and became her mentors. Genevieve added,
“Having a mentor gives you an in, so to speak. Somebody who knows what it's like, who has this
experience, and has done this before, is immensely important.” Amelia shared that having a
mentor helped her make better decisions because she could ask him questions and strategize with
him. She added that they were still close and that her mentor is an ongoing support system. She
also said, “He taught me to think critically.” Liam stated. “My mentor was a terrific role model.
I worked with him closely, watched him closely, and talked to him at length about various
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62
things. His mentorship had a positive lasting effect on me and how I treat my mentees.” The
data suggested that nearly all of the participants were positively affected by their experience of
being mentored when they initially began working.
The participants were then asked if there was any value in industry mentorship
opportunities for female graduate students upon graduation from the film and television graduate
program. All eight participants agreed that industry mentorship added value to graduating
students entering the industry. Both Genevieve and Bethany said they felt the female graduate
students would benefit from building closer relationships with other women working in the
industry. Bethany went on to explain how impactful an industry mentorship is to someone
starting out in the industry because they learn how to go about meeting people and begin to make
industry connections. She added, “This is essential for women entering the industry, especially
if they are being mentored by other women who have made a name for themselves.” Bethany
further described the value of industry mentorship because mentorship encompasses reading or
viewing their work and giving them feedback to help them see their look from a different
perspective. Derrick responded by stating that he sees the value in industry mentorship for the
female graduate students and feels the graduates would feel lost without an industry connection.
He went on to say, “Having a mentor who understands how the business works, makes all the
difference in the world. And, they are getting a lot of factual information from people who either
have done it or are still doing it.”
Mark responded by saying, “I think the importance of the value of a mentor is huge. It's
a different world you know, the education of making films and then learning how to negotiate
one's way.” Mark added that he didn’t have any mentors and had to navigate through obstacles
on his own. Genevieve concluded by saying, “There's only so much that film school can teach
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

63
someone. On the flip side there's getting in and actually doing the work and you learn so much
by doing that as well.” The data suggested that the participants all agreed on the value of
industry mentorship upon graduation for students entering the film and television industry.
Organizational Influences Findings
According to Clark and Estes (2008), as people work together in an organizational
setting, the organization’s culture is identified through work processes and actions taken to
accomplish the organization’s mission and goals. Watson (2013) defined the organizational
culture as a shared understanding of the vision, mission, and the processes associated with
accomplishing the organization’s goals. Additionally, Watson established that the strategic
implementation and outcomes are most associated with the behaviors of an organization’s
culture. Clark and Estes (2008) expounded on the definition of an organization’s culture by
stating, “It is core values, goals, beliefs, emotions, and processes learned as people develop over
time in the work environment” (p. 108). Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) defined
organizational culture by dividing it into two segments: models and settings. The organizational
model is the stakeholder’s shared understanding of the vision, mission, and beliefs and the
organizational setting is structure that the organization functions to achieve its mission and goals.
The findings addressing the university’s commitment to support the faculty with a framework,
curriculum, and resources designed to guide mentorship and support the success of the female
graduate students revealed three organizational influences. The influences emphasized from the
findings are examples of completed student portfolios, the resources used to help the students
complete the portfolios, and structured mentorship curriculum and training.
Gap in exemplar student portfolios. The film school needs to provide the faculty
mentors with completed exemplar portfolios developed to help the mentors guide the mentees
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

64
through the creation of their own individual employee portfolio. Some of the needed resources
include technical equipment used to complete work throughout the student’s program and
examples of sizzle reels, lookbooks, and pitching packages that make up some of the work
included in the portfolios. Additionally, the mentors need structured mentorship curriculum.
According to Schein (2004), leaders whose espoused values are not in sync with the
organization’s culture will have difficulty leading. Faculty need to reflect on their own
experiences and connect them to the organizational goal. The participants were asked if their
experience as a mentor had influenced their teaching. All eight participants confirmed that
mentoring students had changed their teaching methods. Derrick responded by saying,
“Absolutely because I teach based on my knowledge, so I teach based on a process that I’m
approaching somebody who doesn't understand that there is a process.” Derrick added that he
teaches knowing the students need to be involved in the process and he makes sure they get their
hands dirty. James responded by saying that his mentor taught him how to treat others who look
to him for support and guidance and relies on this example when he interacts with his students.
Genevieve added, “I emulate the mentors who’ve mentored me. And, I think that has made me a
better mentor and helped me become a better teacher.” These responses indicated that the
faculty mentors rely on their individual mentorship experiences to support their teaching
philosophy.
Gap in structured mentorship curriculum and training. Overall, the participants
indicated that the film school encourages and expects full-time professors to partake in the
mentorship program but does not provide them with any mentorship curriculum or training. The
participants were asked how the film school supports the mentorship program. Bethany said,
“They support and encourage it, and ask the professors to become mentors. If you're a
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

65
cinematography teacher you’re likely to mentor a cinematography student who's been in your
class. But they don’t give us any guidelines.” Patrick added, “In their second year, they're asked
what their principle focus of interest is in the industry, whether it's cinematography, editing,
directing, producing, writing, or sound. Then they're assigned a faculty mentor within their
preference.” When asked if they are given any training or mentorship curriculum Patrick
explained that they are expected to know how to mentor in their specific focus of interest and
that he is assigned mentees who were his admission-pool recommendations. Amelia said there’s
a mentorship program in place, but the mentors are not trained, there are no set guidelines, and
no structure to follow. She also said that no one keeps track if you meet with your mentee or not.
Amelia then added, “I've just started doing it on my own. I have to embrace my students. They
come in and out of my house all the time. We have movie nights here. It's just something I do to
support them.” The findings confirmed the university’s unstructured support of the mentorship
program.
Gap in mentorship-related curriculum and training. The participants were then asked
if the film school provides faculty with a structured mentorship curriculum and training. All
eight participants said there was no mentorship curriculum or training. Patrick said, “No, I was
not trained through the university, but I did have guidance or something through the union when
I got involved with the mentor program there.” Patrick added that he minored in education in his
undergrad and knew there were gaps in the curriculum. Patrick added that he went to his
department chair 10 years ago and expressed concern about the faculty members’ ability to teach
even though they are experts in the industry. He added, “Not everybody knows how to write a
course objective. Not everybody knows how to evaluate.” Patrick explained that he made
suggestions to help the faculty become skilled educators. He said, “I thought teaching
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

66
workshops would help faculty become expert teachers as opposed to just experts in their
specialty. I thought it would be advantageous.” According to Patrick, the department head chair
listened to his concern, but his recommendations were not implemented. James confirmed
Patrick’s position for the film school’s need to develop curriculum and train faculty. He said,
“When I started, they didn't even have a syllabus for me. I was in a class, 77 students, with no
syllabus. It was a disaster.”
All eight participants stated that there is no mentorship curriculum and no training or
metrics for the faculty who participate in mentoring the graduate students. Additionally, more
than half of the participants said there was no teaching structure or training when they started
teaching at the university. These findings indicate a gap in all subject curriculum, mentorship
curriculum, and training within the film school program which inhibits performance.
Summary of Findings
In summary, the data indicated that three of the eight participants personally experienced
gender biases in the film and television industry and three other participants experienced
inequities due to race. Six out of the eight participants personally experienced career
advancement barriers due to gender or race, further confirming that the industry is controlled by
white men. Additionally, the findings revealed the participants’ lack of conceptual knowledge in
developing strategies or curriculum to support consistent and ongoing communication needed to
strengthen the mentor-mentee relationship. Further, the data indicated the faculty mentors had
self-efficacy and use their experience to add value and to motivate their students. The
participants’ responses encompassed a shared value in creating and using employee portfolios to
gain mentorship or employment opportunities in the film and television industry. Data further
showed that nearly all of the participants were positively affected by their experience of being
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

67
mentored when they initially began working in the industry and all of the participants agreed in
the value of industry mentorship upon graduation for students entering the film and television
industry. Resource influences revealed a gap in mentorship curriculum and examples of
completed student portfolios as a resource to help the mentors instruct their mentees. Data
further revealed a gap in structured mentorship curriculum and training.
The study’s findings indicate gaps in mentorship curriculum and training with the faculty
mentors within the film school program. These gaps inhibit performance and suggest that the
barriers identified can be overcome if the organization focuses on the knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influences identified to support the film school program’s organizational
performance goal. Focusing on overcoming these barriers may better prepare the female
graduate students to gain mentorship or employment opportunities upon graduation from the film
school.
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences
Recommendations were developed based on the data collection and analysis and will
address the influences associated with the knowledge, motivation, and organizational gaps that
emerged from the data collection and analysis. The influences that emerged are important to
developing a strategy to address the gaps associated with the current mentorship program.
Additionally, the recommendations should help to bridge a gap between the existing barriers in
the behind-the-camera positions of power that exist in the film and television industry and the
female graduate students entering the industry.
Knowledge Recommendations
The knowledge influences identified in Table 6 include influences that were identified as
assets and gaps from the data collection that was compiled. The cognitive approach to
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68
knowledge is broken down into four types: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive
knowledge (Rueda, 2011). For the purpose of this research, procedural knowledge and
declarative conceptual knowledge were applied to the stakeholder group comprised of the film
school faculty who work with female graduate students in the mentorship program. The
knowledge influences used to validate the university’s goal are the most frequently mentioned
declarative and procedural knowledge influences to achieving the goal through interviews and a
literature review. The conceptual framework for this study was based on the Clark and Estes
(2008) gap analysis.
The knowledge influences data indicated an asset in declarative knowledge in the
mentors’ understanding the importance of the mentor-mentee relationship, but the data also
revealed a gap in the mentors’ ability to work within a structured mentorship relationship with
performance and metric goals. Additionally, the data indicated an asset in the faculty mentors’
declarative knowledge of the existing barriers in the film and television industry, but a gap
emerged in the mentors’ ability to transfer this knowledge to their mentees. For example, the
mentors acknowledged the existing barriers women face in the behind-the-camera positions of
power, but do not have any curriculum to share this information with the students. The data also
indicated an asset in the mentors’ ability to create and use employee portfolios, but a gap
emerged in the mentors’ procedural knowledge regarding their ability to transfer theory.
Likewise, the professors have created and used employee portfolios throughout their individual
careers and acknowledge the importance of having the students creating their own portfolios to
gain mentorship and employment, but do not have the structured curriculum to share these
processes with the students.
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69
Table 6 shows the recommendations for the identifiable influences based on the
theoretical influences and provides a summary of the identified knowledge influences and the
context-specific recommendations based on the principles. Additionally, Table 6 indicates, three
influences were used to identify the faculty member’s knowledge and their ability to support the
female graduate students in creating an employee portfolio to showcase their individual and
collaborative work. Furthermore, Table 6 includes the results from the qualitative data
collection.
Table 6
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Knowledge Influence

Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Faculty need to know of the
importance of mentor/mentee
partnerships. (D)

To develop
mastery, individuals must
acquire component skills,
practice integrating them,
and know when to apply
what they have learned
(Schraw & McCrudden,
2006).

Professors will receive
training and job aids to
master the topic of barriers
and importance & of mentor-
mentee relationship with the
female graduate students.

Information learned
meaningfully and
connected with prior
knowledge is stored more
quickly and remembered
more accurately because it
is elaborated with prior
learning (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).

Professors train professors
by meaningfully connecting
new knowledge about
mentoring with their
previous experiences with
mentoring.
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

70
Faculty need the ability to
transfer theory into concrete
outcomes via employee
portfolios (sizzle reels,
lookbooks, pitches) for the
students to showcase their
individual and collaborative
work. (P)

Modeled feedback that is
private, specific, and
timely enhances
performance (Shute, 2008).

Mentoring faculty need to
provide effective mentoring
to female graduate and help
them create employee
portfolios through
demonstration and feedback.
This will support the
students in adopting new
behaviors to help them gain
mentorship opportunities and
employment in the film and
television industry.
Modeling to-be-learned
strategies or behaviors
improves (self-efficacy),
learning, and performance
(Denler, Wolters, &
Benzon, 2009).

Mentoring faculty will model
ways to create an employee
portfolio that will support the
students in creating an
employee portfolio to
showcase their individual
and collaborative work.

Help learners acquire new
behaviors through
demonstration and
modeling (Denler et al.,
2009).
(Denler et al., 2009).
Mentors will show the
female graduate students
how to create an employee
portfolio to help them
acquire this new behavior.

Faculty need to know of existing
disparities and barriers for
females. (D)

Information learned
meaningfully and
connected with prior
knowledge is stored more
quickly and remembered
more accurately because it
is elaborated with prior
learning (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).

Faculty members need to
meaningfully connect prior
knowledge by researching
existing documentaries to
highlight gender disparities
in the film industry
and create an assignment for
their students to research
similar documentaries to
enhance class discussion.

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71
Increase faculty declarative knowledge about new mentoring strategies with
previous mentoring experiences. Interview data demonstrated that faculty mentors need to
cultivate strategies to build successful mentor-mentee partnerships. For example, even though
the professors self-reported an understanding of the importance of the mentor-mentee
relationship, they lack the procedural knowledge because they lack structure, guidelines, or
metrics regarding their mentorship responsibilities, and, therefore, miss opportunities to connect
with their mentees. According to Schraw and McCrudden (2006), in order to develop mastery,
individuals must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply
what they have learned. Thus, the recommendation is, professors will receive training and job
aids to help them develop a meeting schedule and follow-up practices to master building the
mentor-mentee relationship with the female graduate students. Further, the data demonstrated
faculty members’ need of declarative knowledge of existing disparities and barriers women
continue to face in the film and television industry. It is important to share the barriers women
have faced throughout the industry in the classroom setting in an effort to bring about awareness
and to work toward solutions to overcome these existing barriers. Schraw and McCrudden
(2006) found that information learned meaningfully and connected with prior knowledge is
stored more quickly and remembered more accurately because it is connected to previous
learning. The recommendation to address these gaps is for the professors to train their peers by
meaningfully connecting new knowledge about mentoring with their previous experiences with
mentoring and to share the history of barriers and the disparities women continue to face
working in the industry.
In the literature review, Lutter (2015) found that women’s career paths suffer from a lack
of mentorship opportunities or poorly developed mentorship programs adding to the difficulty
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

72
for women to secure mentorships. Harris (2016) found that this contributed to a lack of career
advancement opportunities for women. The analysis of the qualitative data revealed several
assumed knowledge influences and potential barriers which could impede the attainment of the
film school’s performance goals. From a theoretical perspective it would appear that by having
the professors learn together and work to develop mentorship curriculum as teaching tools will
help them develop the knowledge necessary to achieve the organization’s performance goal. The
purpose of learning is to gain knowledge and knowledge is a critical component of performance
achievement (Rueda, 2011).
Increasing faculty mentors’ ability to transfer their knowledge and experience to
practice. Professors need to transfer their experience of creating sizzle reels, lookbooks, and
pitch packages to their students. The data demonstrated the faculty mentors’ ability to create and
use employee portfolios to pursue employment in the film and television industry, but also that
they lack the ability to transfer their knowledge into concrete outcomes via employee portfolios
(e.g., sizzle reels, lookbooks, pitches) for the students to showcase their individual and
collaborative work. Shute (2008) found that modeled feedback that is private, specific, and
timely improves performance. Mentoring faculty need to provide effective mentoring to female
graduates and help them create employee portfolios through demonstration and feedback. This
will support the students in adopting new behaviors to help them gain mentorship opportunities
and employment in the film and television industry. Denler, Wolters, and Benzon (2009) found
that modeling to-be-learned strategies or behaviors improves self-efficacy, learning, and
performance. The recommendation is for mentoring faculty to model ways to create an
employee portfolio that will support the students in creating an employee portfolio to showcase
their individual and collaborative work. Mentors can help learners acquire new behaviors
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

73
through demonstration and modeling (Denler et al., 2009). Mentors will show the female
graduate students how to create an employee portfolio to help them acquire this new behavior.
This study supports the findings of procedural knowledge that professors need to transfer their
experience of creating sizzle reels, lookbooks, and pitch packages to their students.
Transferring theory into behaviors and actions helps students retain information more
quickly and understand the reason behind the task. Petkus (2007) found that significant learning
outcomes were accepted when students combined theory with behavior or actions. To support
the modeling of to-be-learned theory described above by Denler, Wolters, and Benzon (2009),
Petkus (2007) found that oral class presentations is an example that provides a distinctive
foundation and teaches the students relevant skills of oral and written communications. These
theories support procedural knowledge solutions and modeling this knowledge increases
students’ self-efficacy (Synopsis of Modeling Instruction 2017). This research supports
applications of critical thinking and conceptual knowledge associated with mentorship.
Motivation Recommendations
The motivation influences identified in Table 7 include influences that were identified as
assets and gaps from the data collection that was compiled. For the purpose of this research,
utility value, expectancy value, and self-efficacy were applied to the stakeholder group
comprised of the film school faculty who work with female graduate students in the mentorship
program. The motivation influences of expectancy value, utility value, and self-efficacy used to
achieve the mentors’ goal were revealed based on the most frequently mentioned motivational
influences to achieving the film school’s performance goal during the data collection process.
Clark and Estes (2008) suggested that motivation is the influence that propels individuals to start
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

74
a task, apply mental effort toward achieving the goal, and persist until the task is brought to
fruition.
The data revealed an asset in utility value in the film school faculty mentors’ motivation
to value the task of creating an employee portfolio and the importance of having the students
complete the task to secure mentorship and employment opportunities in the film and television
industry. Additionally, the data revealed a gap in mentors’ self-efficacy to support and motivate
the students in creating their individual employee portfolios. While the data revealed an asset in
the mentors’ belief in the importance of having the students create individual employee
portfolios, the data revealed a gap in mentors’ self-efficacy to motivate the students to create
their individual employee portfolios.
Table 7 shows the recommendations for the identifiable influences based on the
theoretical influences and provides a summary of the identified motivation influences and the
context-specific recommendations based on the principles. Additionally, Table 7 indicates three
influences were used to identify the faculty member’s motivation and their ability to support and
motivate the female graduate students in creating an employee portfolio to showcase their
individual and collaborative work.
Table 7
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivation Influence Principle and Citation Context-Specific Recommendation
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

75
Mentoring faculty need to see
the value of having the
students create portfolios to
showcase their individual and
collaborative work as a critical
step to secure mentorship
opportunities in the film and
television industry in the
behind-the-camera-positions of
power upon completion of the
program. (Utility Value).

Expectancy/value: the more a
person values a
task and the more they think they
are likely to
succeed at it, the greater their
motivation to do it (Eccles &
Wigfield, 2002)

Faculty mentors will explain and
discuss the value of creating
employee portfolios

Mentoring faculty need self-
efficacy to motivate and
support the female graduate
students in the creation of their
individual employee portfolios.
(Self-efficacy)

Value refers to the importance
one attaches to a task and how
useful the task will be toward
achieving future goals. (Rueda,
2011).

Faculty mentors see value in their
experience because their experience
gives them self-efficacy in
performing mentoring tasks and will
find value in the task and understand
the importance of having the
students complete the task, which
will support the students in
achieving their future goals.

High self-efficacy can positively
influence motivation (Pajares,
2006).

Feedback and
modeling increases self-efficacy
(Pajares, 2006).

Provide timely feedback that links
use of learning strategies to
improve performance (Shute,
2008).

Faculty mentors need self-efficacy to
motivate the female graduate
students they work with in the
mentorship program. To increase
self-efficacy and motivation, faculty
mentors need resources, training,
curriculum, and should practice with
peers modeling the creation of the
portfolio and practice pitching
techniques and receive feedback
from department chair. Faculty
mentors will model positive
expectancies and give timely
feedback to the students to enhance
their relationship and improve
performance.
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

76

Increase faculty mentors’ value for learning to help students gain mentorship
opportunities. Mentoring faculty see the value of having the students create portfolios to
showcase their individual and collaborative work. Rueda (2011) defines utility value as the
importance individuals place on the completion of a task and the belief one has of how it will
benefit a future goal. The data demonstrated that faculty mentors believe in the importance of
having the students create individual employee portfolios that will provide the students with a
tool to showcase the work they completed throughout their graduate program. For example,
Bethany stated, “When you pitch a project currently, you have to have everything in place. You
need a script, a sizzle reel, a lookbook, a producer, a budget, and you must have a star.” This
task will help the students gain mentorship opportunities in the film and television industry upon
graduation and is a critical step to help faculty mentors build confidence in their student mentees.
The recommendation is to provide ongoing opportunities for the students to experience the

Mentoring faculty need to
increase the students’
motivation by helping them
see the value in creating an
employee portfolio to
showcase their individual and
collaborative work.
(Expectancy Value Theory).

Motivation increases when people
see the value of the task and, due
to prior successes, they have
confidence in their ability
(Eccles, 2006).

Professors need to explain that
creating an employee portfolio is the
best tool to showcase their
individual work and collaborative
work they completed throughout
their film and television graduate
program.

“We choose, persist, and expend
mental effort only on those
activities that appear to have the
most impact” (Clark & Estes,
2008, p.83)

Most importantly, professors need to
stress that the portfolios will be used
to gain mentorship opportunities
upon graduation.

GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

77
benefits of completing employee portfolios to showcase their individual and collaborative work,
and ongoing practice of pitching techniques. Bethany added that learning how to create an
employee portfolio is part of learning how to secure employment in the film and television
industry.
To support Rueda’s definition of utility value as the importance individuals place on the
completion of a task and their belief on how it will benefit future goals, Eccles and Wigfield
(2002) found that utility value was connected to how the task relates to future career goals and
that task participation may help students overcome performance anxiety and any fear-of-failure
thoughts. To support the significance of faculty mentors understanding the importance of
building confidence in the students, Freeman and Le Rossignol (2010) found that the work-
related mentorship programs motivated the students to see themselves in their chosen field of
study and helped them gain confidence to make bolder career choices.
Self-efficacy will increase as faculty mentors model employee portfolios to the
mentees. Mentoring faculty need self-efficacy to motivate and support the female graduate
students in the creation of their individual employee portfolios. The data demonstrated that the
faculty mentors know how to create employee portfolios and believe in the process of having the
students create portfolios, but do not have the self-efficacy to demonstrate the process of creating
a portfolio in the classroom setting. Pajares (2006) found that high self-efficacy can positively
influence motivation. This would suggest that faculty mentors need a high level of self-efficacy
in order to motivate the graduate students to complete the task of creating their individual
employee portfolios. Pajares also found the timely feedback and modeling increases self-
efficacy. This would suggest that self-efficacy is increased as expectancies are modeled, and
feedback is given. The recommendation to increase self-efficacy is for faculty mentors to
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

78
receive resources, training, curriculum, and feedback from department chair to increase mentors’
self-efficacy and motivation.
Freeman and Le Rossignol (2010) found that engaging students in work-experience
situations improved their motivation and self-efficacy for success and increased their confidence
levels. The students were able to apply critical thinking skills by completing the faculty-
modeled tasks and receiving their mentor’s feedback. The recommendation to increase faculty
self-efficacy is for faculty mentors to practice modeling the creation of sizzle reels, lookbooks,
and practice pitching techniques with their peers before engaging students in creating the
employee portfolios.
Increasing the value for an employee portfolio via motivation. Mentoring faculty
need to increase the students’ motivation by helping them see the value in creating an employee
portfolio to showcase their individual and collaborative work. The data demonstrated the faculty
mentors see value in creating and using employee portfolios to gain work-related opportunities in
the film industry and they understand the importance of motivating the students to create their
own employee portfolios. For example, Genevieve stated, “A portfolio implies there’s multiple
projects, a body of work. I think that would benefit the students. They have multiple classes
where they create multiple projects.” Eccles (2006) found that motivation increases when people
see the value of the task and, due to prior successes, they have confidence in their ability to
complete the task. This would suggest that mentoring faculty need to motivate the students to
see the value in creating employee portfolios as the best tool to showcase students’ individual
and collaborative work they completed throughout their film and television graduate program.
Further, mentors need to motivate the students to see the portfolios as a tool that will be used to
gain mentorship opportunities and future employment in the film and television industry upon
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

79
graduation. The recommendation is for mentoring faculty to explain the value of creating
employee portfolios to their students.
Harris (2016) found the importance of mentorship is to help mentees understand how to
promote their individual talents, break through cultural and societal advancement barriers, and
give direction and provide tools on ways to navigate through the organization or industry. This
supports Eccles’ (2006) statement that motivation will increase when individuals understand the
value of the task. For the purpose of this research, the students will see the value of creating a
tool to showcase a culmination of completed graduate school work, increasing their confidence
to use the tool they created to seek mentorship opportunities upon graduation. The research
findings confirm the significance and importance that faculty mentors see the value of having the
students create portfolios to showcase their individual and collaborative work to gain mentorship
and employment opportunities in the film and television industry.
Organization Recommendations
The organizational influences associated with organizational achievement explored
throughout this study began with the mentors’ need for curriculum-based knowledge to help
build their self-efficacy, so they can help their mentees increase their self-confidence. The
mentors need resources to support their efforts in modeling the processes of creating employee
portfolios to their mentees. The data demonstrated that the film school professors have been
teaching with very little direction or structure from the film school department heads. For
example, James stated that when he first began teaching at the film school, he was not given a
syllabus to follow and had a class of 77 students. James stated, “My very first semester teaching,
I had 77 students and was given no syllabus to follow. That first semester was a complete
disaster.” Additionally, Patrick stated that the film school hires experts in their specific specialty
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

80
and expects the professors to teach based on their individual experience but said that being an
expert does not guarantee one will be a good teacher. Patrick added, “Not everybody knows how
to write a course objective. Not everybody knows how to evaluate.” The conceptual framework
for this study was based on the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis. According to Clark and
Estes (2008), if the organizational influences are ineffective or insufficient, achievement of the
organization’s performance goals can be negatively impacted. The film school faculty members’
capacity to support and mentor the female graduate film students through creation of an
employee portfolio will support the achievement of the organizational goals and will help the
mentees meet the organization’s expectations.
The organizational influences identified in Table 8 identified gaps in the organizational
model and setting. The data revealed a cultural setting gap because the faculty mentors lacked
resources such as equipment and portfolio examples designed to guide the creation of the
students’ employee portfolio. For example, all eight participants stated that they have never been
given any resources or mentorship curriculum as a guideline and they mentor based on their
individual experiences. Additionally, the data revealed a gap in the cultural setting because the
faculty mentors lacked structured mentorship curriculum and training needed to support the
female graduate students. For example, Patrick expressed the need for structured curriculum and
guidelines for the professors to follow, most especially mentorship curriculum for professors
working with students in the mentorship program.
Table 8 shows the recommendations for the identifiable influences based on the
theoretical influences and provides a summary of the identified organizational influences and the
context-specific recommendations based on the principles. Additionally, Table 8 indicates three
influences used to identify the organizational gaps and the recommended solutions to support the
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

81
female graduate students in creating an employee portfolio to showcase their individual and
collaborative work.
Table 8
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Organization
Influence

Principle and Citation

Context-Specific
Recommendation
The film school needs to provide
the mentoring faculty with
resources such as equipment and
portfolio examples designed to
guide the creation of the
students’ employee portfolio
(pitching techniques, sizzle reels,
lookbooks). Organizational
Influence 1 (Cultural Setting)
Measurement of learning and
performance is essential
components of an effective
accountability system capable of
improving organizational
performance.

Measuring learning is crucial
in the decision-making
process (Marsh & Farrell,
2015).

Organizational performance
increases when a change produces
improvement in how the job is
done and the results have a lasting
impact (Langley, Moen, Nolan,
Nolan, Norman & Provost, 2009).

Organizational culture is
created through shared experience,
shared learning and stability of
membership. It is something that
has been learned. It cannot be
imposed (Schein, 2004).

Faculty will be provided
with resources, and
equipment, to support
them in teaching the
students how to create
employee portfolios.

Using portfolio examples
will help the faculty
mentors measure learning
outcomes.

Female graduate students
will gain mentorship
opportunities after
completion of their
graduate program with the
help of the employee
portfolio.

The film school culture
will be strengthened by
giving faculty mentors
resources and portfolio
examples and will create a
shared learning and shared
experience learning
environment.

GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

82
Organizational effectiveness
increases when leaders
continuously build relationships.

The film school culture
will be strengthened when
film school leaders
continue to build
relationships with film
industry leaders which will
extend the organization’s
reach and enhance its
offerings to help graduate
students secure mentorship
opportunities and gain
employment upon
graduation.
The film school needs to provide
faculty with a structured
mentorship curriculum and
training. Organizational
Influence 2 (Cultural Setting)
Organizational performance
increases when a change produces
improvement in how the job is
done and the results have a lasting
impact (Langley, Moen, Nolan,
Nolan, Norman & Provost, 2009).

Different types of benchmarking
contribute data to improve
organizational performance
(Bogue & Hall, 2003; Marsch,
2012).
The film school’s
organizational
performance goal will
increase once the faculty
mentors have curriculum
to support their efforts in
modeling curriculum to
create employee portfolios.

Organizational
performance will be easily
tracked with assigned
mentorship opportunities
upon graduation.
The film school needs to train
faculty on the curriculum so they
can support the female graduate
students. Organizational
Influence 3 (Cultural Setting)
If there already is a vision,
periodically check that the vision
and goals of the organization are
aligned.

The organization needs to
periodically check that the
vision and goals of the
organization are aligned,
which will support the
learning outcomes for the
female graduate students.

Review the current mentorship program and develop curriculum based on
organization’s goal. The data revealed a lack in structure, curriculum, guidelines and metrics
regarding the mentorship program, inhibiting the faculty mentors to build a successful
mentorship relationship with their mentees. The dean of the film school and the program
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

83
department chairs need to provide the mentoring faculty with resources such as equipment and
employee portfolio examples designed to guide the creation of the students’ portfolio. Clark and
Estes (2008) found that in order for employees to achieve performance goals, leaders must
provide them with resources. By providing faculty mentors with the needed resources to achieve
the organization’s performance goals suggests that administrators and department heads support
the faculty mentors’ achievement of the desired performance outcomes. Furthermore,
measurement of learning and performance are essential components of an effective
accountability system capable of improving organizational performance. Clark and Estes (2008)
break down an organization’s structure by the aspects of an organization that make it unique,
who drives performance management and change, and how performance feedback is given and
by whom. The research findings confirmed that there is no mentorship curriculum or metrics in
place to guide the faculty mentors. The recommendation is to review the current mentorship
requirements and resources to develop mentorship curriculum based on the organization’s
performance goals and existing barriers for women in the film and television industry.
Dean and program department chairs need to provide mentors with structured
mentorship curriculum, discuss in depth at staff meetings, communicate plans, progress,
and support for faculty members. With mentorship curriculum and metrics used to guide the
mentor-mentee relationship development and curriculum outcomes, the faculty mentors may
increase their comfort connecting with the mentees on a structured basis, thus increasing
performance goals. Marsh and Farrell (2015) suggest that measuring learning is a critical
component in the decision-making process. Using portfolio examples will help the faculty
mentors measure learning outcomes and will support them in teaching the students how to create
employee portfolios. The development of mentorship curriculum and metrics will help the
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

84
faculty mentors reach the organization’s performance goals through the development of student
employee portfolios.
Organizational performance increases when a change produces improvement in how the
job is done and the results have a lasting impact (Langley, et al., 2009). Clark and Estes (2008)
recommend that to increase performance and promote trust throughout an organizational setting,
individuals must openly communicate about plans and progress. Therefore, it is recommended
that the film school need to provide faculty with a structured mentorship curriculum, time be set-
aside during monthly scheduled staff meetings to allow administrators the opportunity to openly
communicate their plans and progress, and support for faculty members to foster an environment
of trust and progressive change.
Overview of Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
Based on the above recommendations, a multilevel implementation and evaluation
program has been developed to address the identified knowledge, motivation, and organizational
gaps, based on Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation framework from the New
World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Below is an overview of the
evaluation plan and a detailed version of the implementation and evaluation plan can be found in
Appendix E.
In order to achieve the highest level result as indicated by the stakeholder goal that by
May of 2020, all members of the film school faculty will effectively mentor female graduate
students in creating an employee portfolio showcasing their individual and collaborative work
for mentorship placement in the film and television industry upon graduation, and the
organizational goal that by May of 2021, 100% of the female graduate students earning a degree
in film or television production at University of the West Film School will secure employment in
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

85
the film and television industry within a year of graduation. The following internal indicators
will need to be achieved: 1) by July 2020, 100% of all faculty teaching at the Film School will
have knowledge of the gender inequities in the film and television industry, 2) be able to
implement curriculum with 100% accuracy that will help the female graduate students
understand the inequities in gender in the behind-the-camera positions of power, and 3) for the
organization to provide the mentorship curriculum one month prior (July 2020) to the start of the
fall 2020 semester.
In order to achieve the internal leading indicators, the following critical behaviors would
need to exist: 1) Mentors will meet with senior mentors (peers) to document their experiences
assessing student skills, 2) The senior mentors will conduct observations of mentoring sessions
that include feedback on the mentor’s ability to connect with and support students, and 3)
Mentors will self-reflect by journaling about their knowledge and accuracy in mentoring
sessions, how well they assess the student skills, both academically and professionally, and how
well they empower the student through a shared responsibility.
These critical behaviors must be supported by the following required drivers at the film
school: 1) The film school must reinforce these behaviors by creating a job aid document to
connect previous resources used to assess students’ skills with a more relevant resource; and 2)
provide demonstration and feedback to mentors on how to empower students by creating a
collaborative mentoring session. Further, reinforce these behaviors by increasing encouragement
through: 3) Peer modeling during mentoring role-playing sessions as guided practice to allow
mentors to practice ways to empower students and provide feedback to one another; 4) Give
feedback from journals, so it can be discussed in one-on-one meetings with senior mentors and
Department Head Chairs; and 5) After mentoring session observation, the senior mentor and
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

86
Department Head will focus on offering corrective feedback and providing positive
encouragement on the mentor’s ability to provide developmental mentoring. Additionally, it is
important to reward the mentors by having the students nominate mentors whose support has led
to a positive mentorship outcome and asking the students to share a story of how their mentor
was supportive. Another critical driver is to monitor the mentors through self-reflection of their
knowledge and mentoring strategies as they assess the mentees’ skills and empower the student
through shared responsibility. They will complete this task using weekly journal entries and peer
feedback. Finally, senior mentors will sit in with the mentors during a mentoring session and
observe. Appendix E provides the detailed learning goals, training program, and evaluation
approach.
Future Questions and Research
This study focused on the film school’s existing mentorship program and the faculty
mentor’s initial response to the existing gender barriers women continue to face in the film and
television industry and how mentorship impacted their careers when they first entered the
industry. Future research could expand this narrow focus to include previous female graduate
students and their experiences entering the industry upon graduation and any barriers they may
have encountered, as well as their responsiveness to using employee portfolios to gain
mentorship or employment opportunities. This study was limited to specific knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences, so future research could study additional influences
for a more complete picture of the mentorship program and the relationship strategies between
the mentors and mentees. Additionally, the study was limited to interview data, therefore, future
research could include surveys, document artifact review, and observations within the
GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

87
film school mentorship program. Additional limitations of the study are discussed in Appendix
D.
Further future research could evaluate the effectiveness of the recommendations in this
study and the impact of the film school mentorship transformation on achieving the
organization’s performance goal. Other stakeholders, particularly department head Chair and the
contributions of dean of the Film School, could be the focus for a study on their specific role in
developing new curriculum for the mentorship program, including curriculum that focuses on the
students’ employee portfolio packages. Concurrent initiatives focused on improving the
organizational culture may also influence faculty mentors’ performance over time. Future
research could evaluate the impact of these cultural initiatives on film school faculty mentors and
organizational performance.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to apply the Clark and Estes (2008) conceptual framework
of knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences and stakeholder capacity to expose any
gaps that may inhibit the University of the West Film School from achieving its goal for 100%
of film school female graduate students to secure positions in the film and television industry
within a year of graduation. The study also examined the film school faculty mentors’
knowledge and motivation related to their ability to support the female graduate students through
a mentorship relationship and their ability to help the mentees create employee portfolios to
showcase their individual and collaborative work. Additionally, the study’s purpose was to
examine the impact of the organization’s culture and context on faculty knowledge and
motivation, and to expose the knowledge, motivation, and organizational gaps related to the
faculty mentors’ ability to achieve the organizational goals for the mentorship program. The
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88
faculty is directly responsible for supporting, educating, and preparing the graduate students to
complete their education in the film program and succeed in the industry. The film school is
recommended to address the knowledge, motivational, and organizational gaps by
acknowledging the existing barriers women face in the film and television industry, provide
faculty with a structured mentorship curriculum, and effectively mentor and model how to create
an employee portfolio, so students can showcase their individual and collaborative work to help
them gain mentorship and employee opportunities in the film and television industry.

GENDER INEQUITIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

89
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Appendix A: Interview Protocols

Interview Opening Remarks
Thank you very much for agreeing to participate in my study. I am conducting research
as part of my doctoral program in Organizational Change and Leadership with USC’s Rossier
School of Education. The interview will take around 45-to-60 minutes and consists of 12
questions. There are no right or wrong answers. You can skip any question you don’t want to
answer, and you can stop the interview at any time.
Your responses will only be shared in summary form, with no identifying information.
Additionally, the summary will be shared with USC Film School leadership in order to make
specific recommendations related to improving mentorship partnerships with female faculty and
female graduate students as a result of this study. Again, your answers will be kept confidential,
and will be summarized with other interview responses so no individual participant can be
identified. Before we start, I need to remind you that, as a doctoral student at USC, I feel
obligated to report any harassment or abuse I learn about by any method, including this
interview.
I would like to record the interview in order to accurately analyze the data at a later time.
Immediately following this session, I will upload the recording to a secure server and delete it
from my device. Within a week, I will upload the recorded interviews to rev.com for
transcription and then permanently delete the recording. The transcription will be stored under a
pseudonym so your responses cannot be connected back to you.
Do I have your permission to record the interview?
Do you mind if I take some notes as well?
Do you have any questions for me before we get started?
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Please review the Interview Information sheet. Remember, you can skip any question or stop the
interview at any time. Okay? Let’s get started.
Interview Questions
1. What are the existing disparities and barriers for women in the film and television industry?
2. What do you think is the value of industry mentorship opportunities for female graduate
students upon graduation from the film and television graduate program? A. Are the professors
trained who participate trained to be a mentor?
3. Some would say that developing a portfolio in graduate school is less important than
completing a thesis. What is your feeling about that?
4. If you were mentored by anyone in the film and television industry, please share how that
experience impacted your career.
5. How did/does having experience as a mentor impact your teaching?
6. Describe your experience mentoring female graduate students.
7. In what ways does your department support mentorship opportunities, if at all?
8. Tell me the value you see in female graduate students learning how to create an employee
portfolio to showcase their individual and collaborative work they completed in the graduate
program to gain mentorship opportunities upon graduation.
9. Tell me what effect mentorship opportunities have had on female students and their careers.
10. How does your experience of creating a portfolio to showcase your own work (sizzle reels,
look books, pitching techniques) add value to your students?
11. As a mentor, what resources or kinds of curriculum would support you when working with
the female graduate students?
12. What mentoring strategies do you feel are effective in the mentor/mentee relationship?
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Appendix B: Credibility and Trustworthiness

Maxwell (2013) defined validity in qualitative research “as the credibility of a
description, conclusion, explanation, interpretation, or other sort of account” (p. 122). To
improve credibility and trustworthiness, researchers rely on various data collection sources, a
process known as triangulation. Triangulation uses in-depth descriptions to explain research
findings and clarifies any biases the researcher may have encountered to validate the credibility
and trustworthiness of the results (McEwan & McEwan, 2003). To validate the analysis for this
study, I used a single method approach for data collection sources and used qualitative
interviews to collect data. To maintain trustworthiness, I did not deviate from any underlying
theories that emerged in the data collection and analysis processes and I was cautious to avoid
any biases associated with my interpretation of the analysis. To avoid being biased with my
interpretation during the analysis process, I checked for alternative explanations from all of the
participants’ responses by re-examining if the questions was asked exactly the same for each
respondent and if I coded the response correctly. Additionally, I reviewed the findings with
peers. Specifically, I asked my peers what their interpretation was from the responses in
question to see if we came to the same conclusion. Furthermore, beside a familial connection, I
did not have a previous connection with any of the participants.
For the purpose of this study, I used a step-by-step documentation process throughout the
data collection activity and maintain strict protocols associated with the interview process and
analysis of all documentation. In addition, I debriefed with my peers and course instructors so
they could raise any questions or concerns that may not be seen through this researcher’s vocal
point. The only concern raised was the exact familial connection to the film school and if I had
any previous connections to the participants, which I did not. Throughout the research design,
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data collection, and analysis processes, I continually debriefed with my chair and committee
members.

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Appendix C: Ethics

Having a previous familial association with the university may have biased my data
gathering and analysis. According to Glesne (2011), research subjects must be given all
necessary information to make informed participatory-related decisions prior to the start of data
collection. This includes any and all associations related to the organization in question. Based
on current and prior associations with the university, bias is a concern for this researcher and
arrangements to avoid bias while trying to elicit valuable data for the research project are
described below.
This study’s data collection process was in qualitative interview format. Informal
permission was previously obtained when this researcher explored the research topic within the
graduate program of the film school. Since the research is indirectly connected to the film
school, this researcher did divulge her familial connection to the graduate program at the film
school at the time permission was asked as well as the start of the research collection process.
During the collection process, participants were assured of anonymity in an effort to reassure
them that their responses would not be identified and to encourage their forthcoming
participation. Additionally, anonymity during the qualitative research collection did help
minimize bias by the researcher during the collection, analysis, and reporting phase of the
research project.
Glesne (2011) stated that participants must be allowed to withdraw from a study without
any risk of penalty and all unnecessary risks to participants must be avoided at all times.
Disclosures identifying the purpose of the study, participant ability to withdraw from the study at
any time without penalty, confidentiality, and researcher contact information was provided to
each participant before the data collection began through study information sheets. Interview
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participants were given a list of questions two weeks in advance and were asked if the interview
could be recorded. Additionally, they were asked if they have any questions about the
information sheet prior to the start of the interview and were provided with a copy of the
interview notes once the information has been compiled. Lastly, to avoid influencing responses
from participants, incentives were not provided. Participants were motivated to participate in the
interviews as part of an industry movement toward gender diversity and inclusion.
According to Rubin and Rubin (2012), the purpose of the IRB is to protect study
participants and minimize any risks associated with their participation. With this in mind,
researchers conducting qualitative interviews will need to comprehend how individual
organizations interpret the rules and regulations regarding qualitative research (Rubin & Rubin,
2012). For purposes of this study, the research project was submitted to the University of
Southern California (USC) Institute of Review Board (IRB) for study approval before any data
collection began. Furthermore, the collected data is being stored in a locked office, on the
researcher’s password protected personal computer, and only myself and my committee
members will have access to the data.

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Appendix D: Limitations and Delimitations

This portion of the study focuses on the limitations and delimitations of the data
collection. The first portion identifies the limitations of the study that were out of the control of
the researcher. The second portion identifies the delimitations of the study that, which were the
choices made to support the data collected to address the research questions.
Limitations
The most notable limitation is that the interview data was self-reported. With self-
reported answers, respondents or participants may exaggerate or withhold information because of
biases or may be embarrassed to reveal truthful answers. Recruiting interview participants took
longer than expected because the survey portion of the data collection was not approved by the
film school’s dean and identifying interview participants through the anticipated survey was not
possible as a result. This created further time constraints for the interview process to begin
because I needed help from a previous student (my familial connection) to identify possible
interview participants. Other limitations included the time constraints to analyze the data,
interpreting the validity of data collected, biases in interpreting data, and placing research
findings into context.
Delimitations
The study was designed to identify the knowledge, motivation, and organizational gaps
associated for 100% of all faculty members involved in the mentorship program to provide
professional-school mentoring curriculum through instruction and assessment to the female
graduate students. An example of professional-school mentoring curriculum is learning from
faculty who have experience creating employee portfolios that include developing pitches or
sizzle reels of their individual and collaborative work and using that knowledge to teach their
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students to develop similar employment portfolios. Additionally, the study was designed to
identify the university’s ability to provide faculty members with curriculum that will support
their efforts in mentoring the students. The study will only be used for the film and television
graduate program with the female graduate film students who participate in the mentorship
opportunities at the University of the West Film School. Finally, this study cannot be generalized
beyond the faculty members who work at the film school and participate in the mentorship
program with the graduate students studying film and television production at the University of
the West Film School.

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Appendix E: Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan

Implementation and Evaluation Framework
The New World Kirkpatrick Model informs the implementation and evaluation plan of
this study (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). This model is based on Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick’s four levels of training and evaluation. This New World Kirkpatrick Model
recommends that that the four levels of training and evaluation be implemented in reverse order
as follows; Level 4 (Results), Level 3 (Behavior), Level 2 (Learning), and Level 1 (Reaction).
Level 4 measures the degree of targeted outcomes based on training, organizational support, and
accountability by using leading indicators to ensure critical behaviors are reached to achieve the
desired results. Level 3 examines the behaviors of individuals once they have completed training
and begin to apply what they have learned. Level 3 is a continuous performance measuring and
improvement monitoring model that allows organizations to evaluate how much of the training
individuals actually transfer once they are back in the department. Level 3 consists of the critical
behaviors needed to create change and the required drivers needed to monitor, encourage,
reinforce, and reward those behaviors in an effort to achieve the performance goals associated
with that change (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Level 2 evaluates each participant’s degree
of the knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment learned during training. Lastly,
Level 1 gives the organization insight into each participants’ reaction to the training such as
satisfaction, engagement, and relevance (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Creating the
implementation and evaluation framework using The New World Model requires the
organization’s performance goal to be integrated with the four levels of training and evaluation
as well as recommendations for solutions, support, and accountability needed to successfully
implement change (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
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Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations
The goal of the University of the West Film School is to support the success of its female
students by effectively mentoring them throughout their graduate school program and helping
them find mentorship placement in the film and television industry upon graduation for 100% of
the female graduate students. Furthermore, the organizational goal is that by May of 2021 100%
of the female graduate students earning a degree in film or television production at University of
the West Film School will create an employee portfolio showcasing their individual and
collaborative work they completed throughout their graduate program. This portfolio will be
used for mentorship placement in the film and television industry upon graduation and will help
the students secure employment in the industry within a year of graduation. This study examined
the knowledge and skills, motivational, and organizational barriers that affect the film school
faculty mentors’ abilities to understand the existing barriers for women in the industry and
provide data on the perceived barriers in having the students create employee portfolios to
showcase individual and collaborative work. The proposed solution is to provide training, job
aids, and one-on-one support. The proposed solutions for internal outcomes will allow advisors
to: 1) increase faculty mentor’s knowledge about how to access students’ academic needs,
professional interests in behind-the-camera positions of power, and academic abilities; 2)
increase understanding on how to create a collaborative mentorship relationship; 3) increase
awareness of faculty mentors’ mentorship effectiveness; 4) increase use of developmental
mentoring; 5) increase trust between the mentors and mentees; 6) increase time for developing
and recommending mentorship strategies; and 7) improve relationships with female students.
The proposed solution for external outcomes is to increase mentorship opportunities within the
film and television industry upon graduation.
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Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
The leading indicators are used to measure accomplishments and/or undesirable
outcomes by tracking the critical behaviors impact on the desired outcomes (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). The proposed leading indicators, external and internal outcomes, metrics, and
methods are shown in Table 9 that indicates how mentors are achieving their desired results. It is
expected that with training, job aids, and organizational support the internal outcomes will be
met. The external outcomes should also be met as the internal outcomes are accomplished.
Table 9

Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes

Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
Internal Outcomes
1) Increased faculty
mentor’s knowledge about
how to access students’
academic needs,
professional interests in
behind-the-camera
positions of power, and
academic abilities.

One to two Positive/Negative
examples, per mentor, of
experiences of current
mentorship situations and
student satisfaction survey.
Compare annual student
satisfaction survey and mentors’
examples of mentorship
relationships.

2) Increased
understanding on how to
create a collaborative
mentorship relationship.
One to two Positive/Negative
feedback comments from film
school department chair and
senior mentors.
Set aside regular time to
practice mock mentoring using
empowerment skills and
feedback between the mentor
and the senior mentor.

3) Increased awareness of
faculty mentors’
mentorship effectiveness.

The frequency of self-reflection
by mentors on effectiveness.

Solicit weekly data on mentor’s
effectiveness.

4) Increased use of
developmental mentoring.

One to two Positive/Negative
feedback comments from peers
Set aside regular time for 1:1
conversation between peers and
senior mentors.
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and senior mentors during
observations.

5) Increased trust between
the mentors and mentees.

Each mentor will describe one
mentoring situation and request
support. Each mentor will
provide at least one form of
feedback to peers in monthly
meetings to support one another.

On a monthly basis during staff
meeting all mentors will share
requests for support.

6) Increased time for
developing and
recommending
mentorship strategies.

One day a week during the fall
semester determine the
workload and one day a week
during the spring semester
develop a collaborative plan to
redesign the work processes.

Set aside regular time to
develop a plan to redesign work.
Set aside time to implement the
plan.

7) Improved relationships
with female students.

The number of nominations
each semester by students who
felt supported by mentors.

Compare nominations with
quarterly student-satisfaction
survey.

External Outcomes
8) Increased mentorship
placement for female
graduate students upon
completion of their
graduate program.

Collect data annually from
analytical studies on the
percentage of female students’
mentorship placement.

Compare annual university
reports.

Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. The stakeholders of focus are the film school faculty members
responsible for mentoring the female graduate students. The first critical behavior is that
mentors will meet with senior mentors to document their experiences assessing students’ skills.
The second critical behavior is that observations must be conducted during mentoring sessions
that include peer and senior mentor feedback on the mentor’s ability to connect and support
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108
students. The third critical behavior is that mentors will self-reflect by journaling about their
knowledge and accuracy in mentoring sessions, how well they assess the student skills
academically and professionally, and how well they empower the student through a shared
responsibility. The specific metrics, methods, and timing for the outcome behaviors appear in
Table 10.
Table 10

Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation
Critical Behavior Metric(s) Method(s) Timing
Mentors will meet with
senior mentors (peers) to
document their experiences
assessing student skills.

The number of
positive experiences
where a student’s
needs were met by
each mentor.

The senior mentors will
compare student
satisfaction surveys with
mentor’s self-reported
positive experiences and
provide a report and
feedback to the
Department Head Chair.

Monthly for the first
six months,
thereafter, at the end
of the fall and spring
semester; so long as
each mentor is able
to provide positive
examples.

The senior mentors will
conduct observations of
mentoring sessions that
include feedback on the
mentor’s ability to connect
with and support students.

The number of issues
observed while
assessing mentoring
sessions.

The senior mentor will
provide feedback
following mentoring
sessions.

Bi-monthly for three
months, thereafter,
bi-annually so long
as successful.

Mentors will self-reflect by
journaling about their
knowledge and accuracy in
mentoring sessions, how well
they assess the student skills,
both academically and
professionally, and how well
they empower the student
through a shared
responsibility.

The number of
reflections about
effectiveness in
journal entry.

Each month, the senior
mentors and Department
Head Chair will read
journals and provide
feedback in 1:1 meeting.

Journal entries are
done weekly.
Feedback from
senior mentors and
Department Head
Chair will be
provided monthly.

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Required drivers. Faculty mentors require the support of their Department Head Chair,
senior mentors, peers, and the organization to reinforce, encourage, reward, and monitor their
activities learned from trainings. Reinforcement is used to remind participants of what they
learned and provide refresher training. Encouragement is a formal way to provide coaching and
mentoring. Rewarding is providing incentives for critical behaviors. Finally, monitoring ensures
accountability by monitoring performance of the participants. Table 11 shows the recommended
drivers to support critical behaviors of the faculty mentors.
Table 11
Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical Behaviors Supported
1, 2, 3
Reinforcing
Create a job aid document to
connect previous resources
used to assess students’ skills
with a more relevant resource.

Ongoing

1, 2, 3
Provide demonstration and
feedback to mentors on how to
empower students by creating a
collaborative mentoring
session.

Ongoing

1, 2, 3

Encouraging

Peer modeling during
mentoring role-playing
sessions as guided practice to
allow mentors to practice ways
to empower students and
provide feedback.

Annually 1, 2, 3
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Feedback from journals to be
discussed in one-on-one
meetings with senior mentors
and Department Head Chairs.

Monthly 1, 2, 3
After observing a mentoring
session, the senior mentor and
Department Head will focus on
offering corrective feedback
and providing positive
encouragement on the mentor’s
ability to provide
developmental mentoring.

Bi-Monthly for three months
then Bi-Annually

1, 2, 3
Rewarding
Department Head will
nominate mentors whose
mentor-mentee relationship has
led to a positive mentorship
outcome for the mentee upon
graduation. Department Head
will share the outcome with the
mentorship faculty.

Semester

3
Monitoring
Mentors will journal weekly to
self-reflect on their knowledge
and accuracy in mentoring
sessions, how well they assess
the student skills and how well
they empower the student
through a shared responsibility.

Ongoing

1, 2, 3
Senior mentors will sit in with
the mentors during a mentoring
session and observe.

Annually 1, 2

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Organizational support. To ensure that the required drivers are implemented the
organization will provide the following support. First, review the current workload and
resources and collaboratively redesign the mentorship curriculum and processes, which will take
into account the organization's performance goals and additional time senior mentors and the
department head chair will need to develop strategies while continuing to support the mentors
and their students. Furthermore, time will be set aside in regularly scheduled weekly staff
meetings to allow mentors and the department head chair the opportunity to openly communicate
their ideas, progress, and needed resources and support to promote an environment of continued
learning and trust. Additionally, the organization will provide monthly updates and assessment
for ongoing initiatives and outcomes to track and identify key performance indicators of the
mentors’ accomplishments that support the vision and goals of the film school mentorship
program. Finally, the organization will annually review the percentage of students who are
securing mentorship placement in the film and television industry to determine if the mentorship
program is positively impacting the female graduate students’ employment goals.
Level 2: Learning
Learning goals. Upon completion of the recommended solutions the faculty mentors will
be able to:
1. Evaluate students’ skills, professional interests, and academic abilities to accurately refer
them to the appropriate resources. (P)
2. Apply the mentorship training to empower students through a shared responsibility. (C)
3. Implement mentorship skills that encourage a shared responsibility between the mentor and
mentee during mentorship sessions. (P)
4. Monitor their own effectiveness through journaling and peer feedback. (M, P)
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5. Value building more meaningful relationships with students through student feedback.
(Value)
6. Demonstrate self-confidence that they can provide developmental mentoring. (Confidence)
7. Show self-efficacy that they can provide data on perceived barriers for women in the film and
television industry and to developing and recommending strategies to support female students
securing mentorship opportunities in behind-the camera positions of power upon graduation.
(Confidence)
8. Value open communication with their peers, senior mentors, and the Department Head Chair.
(Value).
Program. The learning goals provided in the previous section will be achieved through
training and exercises that will increase the knowledge and motivation of the participants, faculty
mentors, to provide data on perceived barriers for women in the film and television industry and
to develop and recommend strategies to support female students securing mentorship
opportunities in behind-the camera positions of power upon graduation. To develop mentors’
knowledge and skills, they will be provided with resources and training, develop job aids,
partake in journal reflection, and participate in mentorship observations. Since mentors stay in
their positions indefinitely, the program will be ongoing. To begin with, each semester mentors
will work with senior mentors discussing experiences where students’ skills were assessed,
which allows the mentors to provide support and individualized mentoring. Next, mentors will
go through an in-depth training on gender equity in the behind-the-camera positions of power in
the film and television industry. After the initial training workshop, retraining for current
mentors will take place every six months. After the initial equity training, mentors will
participate in role playing sessions with senior mentors and peers and receive feedback. These
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role-playing sessions will take place every six months. Furthermore, the mentors will be asked to
reflect on the efficacy of their mentorship skills and be required to journal their reflections
weekly. Finally, these reflections will be used each month by the senior mentors to assess the
frequency of mentorship meetings and the achievement of mentorship goals.
Ongoing, the mentors will learn skills that will increase their motivation to provide data
on perceived and ongoing barriers women face in the film industry and will learn to develop and
recommend strategies to support mentorship placement for female graduate students upon
graduation. To increase mentors’ motivation, they will participate in mentorship observations
and provide data on their value as a mentor. To begin with, mentors will participate in
observations bi-monthly for two hours over a three-month period. After that, observations will
take place bi-annually for one week during five mentoring sessions, as long as the mentors are
demonstrating the necessary motivation and skills. During each mentoring session the senior
mentor will complete a checklist to evaluate the mentor’s efficacy. Following each mentoring
session, the senior mentor will provide constructive feedback and encouragement from the
checklist regarding the mentor’s ability to provide the mentees with developmental mentoring.
At the end of each semester, students will be asked to nominate mentors who have made a
positive impact on their academic success.
Evaluation of the components of learning. To apply what is learned to resolve barriers
and achieve performance goals, the mentors must have the knowledge, skills, and motivation to
achieve their goals. Therefore, it is important to assess learning for both the conceptual and
procedural knowledge being taught. It is also important that the mentors value training, are
committed and feel confident, so they can apply what they have learned every day. As such,
Table 12 lists the evaluation methods and timing for these learning components.
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Table 12
Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program.
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”

Knowledge checks through discussion during
group training.
Periodically throughout the Fall and Spring
semesters during staff mentorship meetings,
1.1 meetings, and documented via job aid
chart.
Teach back and report out on training table
discussions.
Throughout the training workshop to ensure
that all attendees are actively participating
and reporting out.
Procedural Skills “I can do it right now.”

Feedback from peers during mentorship role-
playing activities/meetings.
After the learning event
Use real scenarios in group discussions and role
play activities during training sessions.
During the learning event.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”

Pre- and Post-test assessment surveys to
determine if the mentor’s value has increased to
develop relationships with students.

Pre- and Post-test assessment surveys to
determine if the mentor’s value has increased to
develop relationships with students.
At the end of workshop.
Brainstorm the positive and negative outcomes
of open communication.
During the learning event.
Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”

Feedback from senior mentors and peers during
observations.
After the learning event.

Structured time during training event to discuss
the mentors concerns about providing
developmental mentoring.

During the learning event.
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”

1:1 discussion following observations.
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After the learning event.
Ask the participants to write down and share
how they will implement what they have
learned during the training workshop.

After the learning event.

Level 1: Reaction
It is important to determine how the participants react to training workshop. Therefore, it
is essential to verify that the quality of the workshop and the information provided was
acceptable to the participants. As such, Table 13 lists the reactions of the participants to the
learning event being favorable, engaging, and relevant.
Table 13
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program.
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Checklist rating observation completed by peers
and senior mentors.

Ongoing after training event.

Workshop Evaluation

Two weeks after the workshop.

Relevance
Pulse Check with mentors via 1:1 discussion

After every observation.
Workshop Evaluation

At the conclusion of the training workshop.
Customer Satisfaction
Pulse check with mentors via satisfaction
survey

After each training event.

Workshop Evaluation Two weeks after the training workshop.
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Evaluation Tools
Immediately following the program implementation. Following the training
workshop, the participants will complete a survey (see Appendix F for the survey questions).
During the observations, the senior mentors will fill out a checklist to rate the mentor’s skills and
ability to connect with the mentees (see Appendix G for the checklist). The survey will indicate
relevance of the material to the job responsibilities, participant satisfaction, commitment,
attitude, and confidence in applying what has been learned.
For Level 1 and Level 2, during the observations, the senior mentors will fill out a
checklist that rates the efficacy of the mentors in specific areas and then will provide feedback.
During training workshops, the instructor will conduct pulse checks by asking the participants if
the content is relevant to their job responsibilities and addressing genuine issues. Additionally,
the instructor will ask if the environment is creating any barriers to the participants’ learning.
Level 2 will include check-ins regarding participant understanding of material presented. Lastly,
Level 2 will use group discussions, teach back, and report out on the topics being discussed to
gauge participant understanding.
Delayed for a period after the program implementation. Approximately 90 days after
the learning event the organization will administer a survey (see Appendix F for survey
questions) containing open and scaled items using the blended evaluation approach to measure
the mentor’s perspective, satisfaction, and relevance of the training and the mentor’s ability to
provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending strategies to support female
graduate students securing mentorship opportunities in the film industry upon graduation (Level
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1). Additionally, the survey will include questions relating to the mentor’s knowledge, skills,
confidence, attitude, commitment and value of applying their training (Level 2), application of
the learning event to the mentor’s ability to assess student skills and their ability to build
relationships with students (Level 3), and the extent to which they are able to provide
developmental mentoring on a regular basis (Level 4).
Data Analysis and Reporting
The Level 4 goal for mentors is measured by how connected the students are with their
mentors during their program and the number of students who secure mentorships in the film
industry upon graduation. The mentors must have the knowledge, skills, and motivation to
provide data on perceived barriers for women in behind-the-camera positions of power to
developing and recommending mentoring strategies to support female graduate students securing
mentorship opportunities upon graduation. Each semester, the film school department assessor
will compile the data from student nominations and identify the number of nominations mentors
receive for supporting and making an impact on the students’ success within the mentorship
program. Annually, the assessor will track the industry mentorships to see if there has been an
increase in secure mentorship opportunities. To monitor the progress and hold the mentors
accountable, the dashboard below will report the data on these key performance indicators.
Similar dashboards will be created to monitor Levels 1, 2, and 3. As such, Table 12 represents a
dashboard of key performance indicators and pre-determined dates for mentors to achieve the
goals.

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Table 14
Mentor Progress and Accountability of Performance Goals.
Dashboard Goal Spring
2020
Totals
Spring 2021
Totals
2020-
2021
Annual
Totals
Mentors are knowledgeable about how to
secure mentorship opportunities in the film
industry
100% XX XX XX
Secure Mentorship Opportunities Upon
Graduation
100% XX XX XX
Secure Employment Opportunities 1 year
after graduation
100% XX XX XX

Summary
The New World Kirkpatrick Model supports the implementation and evaluation plan of
this study (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The four levels of training and evaluation are used
to ensure that mentors have the knowledge, motivation, and organizational support to provide
data on perceived barriers for women in behind-the-camera positions of power to developing and
recommending mentoring strategies to support female graduate students in securing mentorship
opportunities in the film and television industry upon graduation. With Kirkpatrick’s model, the
training program begins with identifying of the outcomes, metrics, and methods to measure the
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results of the key performance indicators that will support the outcomes associated with the
organization’s goals. Next, the training program identifies the critical behaviors to assess if the
participants are applying the learned material once they resume their work responsibilities.
Likewise, learning outcomes are identified and training participants evaluated on their learning
and knowledge, attitude, commitment, and confidence throughout the training workshop. Lastly,
methods to assess how participants react throughout the training workshop were developed to
determine the participants’ satisfaction, engagement, and their perception to the relevance of the
training. To implement change and maximize results, it is important to evaluate and analyze data
collection during the implementation stage. To assess the levels of training, questions were
developed for participants to evaluate if the training meets the participant’s expectations and asks
them to elaborate on their responses Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Throughout the training workshop, if the participant’s level of reaction and learning does
not meet their expectations, then the trainer needs to identify the concern and make changes to
the program. If the participants are not reacting as expected, then the trainer should implement a
pulse check to assess their level of learning and ask the participants to question the material or
speak to the issues raised (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). When the participants react as
expected and the level of learning meets expectations, the trainer may want to do a pulse check
to discuss the participant’s engagement (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
After training, if the level of behavior and results does not meet expectations, then it
becomes essential to question the participants to find out why the required drivers and critical
behaviors (Level 3) are not being applied (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). It is equally
important to ask why the leading indicators and desired results (Level 4) are not gaining
momentum (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). There are several options to elicit feedback from
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120
the training program participants, like using surveys or interviews to examine the behaviors
would assist them in working toward achieving performance goals. When the levels of behavior
and results meet expectations, it is recommended that participants who classify as high achieving
employees be recruited to share examples of what they are doing to increase performance and
share with the organization (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Finally, it is important to provide a final report on the training outcomes to the
participants and managers. According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016), organizational
support is a key component that helps to determine training program success. Additionally,
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016), found that it is important to drive performance and results
and they recommend providing reports and creating touch points throughout the implementation
process. To engage managers in topics that assist them in evaluation processes, the reports
should address the relevance, credibility, compelling, and efficiency of the program (Kirkpatrick
& Kirkpatrick, 2016).

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Appendix F: Survey to Measure Mentor’s Training
For each of the questions below, circle the response that best characterized how you feel about
the statement.
1. The training held my interest.
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree
2. During training we discussed how to apply what was learned.
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree
3. I will recommend this program to other mentors.
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree
4. I believe it will be worthwhile for me to build stronger relationships with my mentees.
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree
5. The feedback has given me the confidence to apply what I learned when I return to my job.
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree
6. I am committed to applying what I learned during my discussions.
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree
7. I found the feedback during the role-playing session valuable for empowering and utilizing
developmental mentoring.
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree
8. I was satisfied with the training on empowering mentees.
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree

Please provide feedback for the following questions:
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1. What part of the training did you find irrelevant for your mentoring needs?
2. What were the major concepts you learned today?

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Appendix G: Rate Mentor’s Skills and Ability to Connect with Mentees

For each of the questions below, circle the response that best characterized how you feel about
the statement.

Strongly
Disagree

Strongly
Agree
1. I have had the opportunity to use what I
learned on the job.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2. Reflecting back on the training I believe that
the training was a good use of my time.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. After the training I have successfully applied
what I learned on the job.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4. I received support from my senior mentor to
apply what I have learned on the job.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5. I am seeing positive results from the training. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. This program has positively impacted
mentors’ interactions with mentees.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Please provide feedback for the following questions:
1. Describe any challenges you are facing implementing what you learned and possible
solutions to overcome the challenges.
2. Reflecting on this program how could it have been improved?

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Asset Metadata

Creator Nelson, Jacqueline Cavalier (author)

Core Title Gender inequities in behind-the-camera positions of power in the film industry: an evaluation study

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 11/12/2019

Defense Date 06/17/2019

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag behind-the-camera positions of power,cinematographer,content creator,editor,employee portfolios,faculty mentors,female film graduate students,female film students,film industry,film industry controlled by men,film industry mentorship opportunities,film industry positions of power,film school faculty mentors,film school mentors,gender inclusivity crisis,gender inequity,OAI-PMH Harvest,occupational advantage,producer,roles of director,women underrepresented,writer

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Seli, Helena (committee chair), Bewley, William (committee member), Ott, Maria G. (committee member)

Creator Email jacqueline.cavalier4@gmail.com,nelsonjc@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-232352

Unique identifier UC11673989

Identifier etd-NelsonJacq-7910.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-232352 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-NelsonJacq-7910.pdf

Dmrecord 232352

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Nelson, Jacqueline Cavalier

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA