Hollywood experience at a co-op is quite unheard of. And that too, while struggling to be an excellent student – it is no small task. Certainly, this person is doing a pretty good job at it. Rocco DiCicco is a fifth-year history major in Northeastern University. He works as a co-op with Traction Media. Founded in 2002, its a Beverly Hills, California based independent film production company. It is known for its projects in Hollywood. That includes ‘Hard Candy’, a thriller featuring Ellen Page, and ‘Half Nelson’, a drama starring Ryan Gosling.
DiCicco’s job is simply the most exciting of them all. He has to read every screenplay that comes in on a daily basis and choose the best out of them all. The grading system considers the quality of the plot and dialogues. But, he says, and everyone knows it too, that a screenplay worthy of featuring is difficult to find.
“We started cracking deals for us to produce one or two of the scripts,” DiCicco explained. “The market pushes forward movies like ‘Twilight’ and ‘The Avengers’, meanwhile sidelining small, independent dramas.”
This is an excellent learning experience, according to him, and it’ll help him a lot when he admits himself in the law school. “Script coverage is almost exactly like writing a history paper,” DiCicco said. He believes that good reading skills pave the way to becoming a good lawyer. “You craft a summary and then analyze what could have been different or gone better.”
Marlon Brando, Gene Kelly, and James Dean are some of DiCicco’s favorite actors. Looking at the movie buff, it is surprising that he chose an unconventional co-op, being a history major. “I wanted to stray from working at a museum or a library archive,” DiCicco said. “I had always been a movie fan. Above all, it was a fun opportunity.”
The attraction was immediate. DiCicco, in his first week, had to drop off a DVD to a producer’s house . When he reached there, he realized it was the mansion of the president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios. Not only did he find it cool, but it hardened the resolve of him giving his best here.
Pranjali Wakde
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