The entertainment industry-backed Veterans Fellowship Program is marking its first anniversary with a tally of success stories from the past year and the addition of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a grant partner.
The fellowship effort was created by Veterans in Media and Entertainment and the Got Your 6 initiative, an effort to open doors for veterans to employment opportunities in entertainment. Got Your 6, part of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, is supported by a slew of blue-chip entertainment firms, including Fox, CBS, A+E Networks, HBO, NBCUniversal, Live Nation Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Endemol Shine Group North America and UTA.
In its first year, the fellowship program yielded 35 paid internships for military veterans, five of which have turned into full-time jobs. The internships range from work in below-the-line jobs to production and development to operations management at Live Nation venues.
“Our entertainment partners from across Hollywood have all stepped up to create opportunities that have allowed veterans to gain invaluable experience in a wide array of production and studio disciplines,” said Karen Kraft, chair of Veterans in Media & Entertainment. “And the fact that our veterans have been able to turn many of these internships into full-time positions is a testament to the success of the program. We look forward to working with our colleagues at Got Your 6 and across the entertainment industry during our second year that we are embarking on now.”
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TNT, TBS and A Really Good Home Pictures have also signed on as partners for the fellowship program. Funding for the fellowships comes from retail giant Macy’s and Got Your 6.
“At Got Your 6 and the Bob Woodruff Foundation, we continue to focus on veteran employment and education as a strategic investment priority,” said Anne Marie Dougherty, exec director of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. “We are proud to stand with our entertainment industry partners in support of creating more opportunities for veterans, in Hollywood and around the country.”