George Clooney, Kerry Washington, Don Cheadle and more back Los Angeles high school aimed at making Hollywood more inclusive

By Marianne Garvey and Stella Chan, CNN

George Clooney, Kerry Washington, Don Cheadle and more stars hope to make Hollywood more inclusive by exposing students to entertainment industry jobs during high school.

The industry veterans are backing a magnet program in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) where curriculum will center around film and television production. The academy will provide provide education and practical training in the arts and sciences of filmmaking to marginalized communities, according to LAUSD.

“Our aim is to better reflect the diversity of our country. That means starting early. It means creating high school programs that teach young people about cameras, and editing and visual effects and sound and all the career opportunities that this industry has to offer,” Clooney said in a statement to Variety. “It means internships that lead to well-paying careers. It means understanding that we’re all in this together.”

“Physics is involved in how a cinematographer chooses a lens, math is a part of the foundation for a musical score in a film, critical-thinking skills are needed to design a set, screenwriters need a foundation in literacy, and a make-up artist needs to know the chemistry of the different materials they might use — and all of this will be tied into the curriculum at the school. We are excited to have the support of these extraordinary industry leaders to create opportunity for children throughout the Los Angeles area,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a press release.

The Roybal School of Film and Television Production, on the campus of the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center in the city’s Westlake district, will open in 2022 to 9th and 10th grade students, with plans to expand to grades 11 and 12 over the following two years.

The founding advisory board also includes Nicole Avant, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Grant Heslov, Eva Longoria, Bryan Lourd and other accomplished industry professionals.

LAUSD also announced a collaboration last week with Dr. Dre and music producer Jimmy Iovine to launch a high school in South LA focused on business, technology, and entrepreneurship.