Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Before Jeremy Garelick and his team arrived in Syracuse, there wasn’t a production company in the area, forming a large barrier to anyone seeking a career in film that needed professional experience. To remedy the problem, Garelick started his company, American High, and later created a robust internship program.

“We started an academy,” Garelick said. “We’re training people and we’ve really made a difference in the local economy, in the local ecosystem.”

American High is based in Liverpool, New York, and is focused on creating teen comedies about relatable high school experiences. Since its start, the studio has created films like “Holly Slept Over” and “The Binge.” Because of the internship program, some SU students have worked on the studio’s movies.

Jeremy Garelick founded the studio in 2017. He grew up loving films like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “The Breakfast Club” but, over time, noticed studios veering away from high school storylines. He became eager to lead a resurgence of this genre.

“I knew that if we could make people laugh and tell stories that would resonate and people can relate to about high school and the high school experience that it would work no matter what,” Garelick said.

American High tries to hire people locally, like SU students who want jobs in the industry, Garelick said. He and his team want to maintain their relationship with the university.

Beyond script coverage and development, American High also focuses on artificial intelligence, which is a quickly developing aspect of the film industry. Sophomore and television, radio and film major Chloe Fatuova has explored this topic since beginning with the company as a spring intern.

“AI is advancing so fast and I think the best thing we can do is just learn along with it before we lose track and fall behind,” she said.

This internship is unique, Fatuova said, because it focuses on AI in storytelling. She learns how to use the software as a tool and as assistance, rather than letting it corrupt and take over the industry. Her goal for college is to try everything, and AI is a facet of the industry she hadn’t explored in depth before.

Hieu Nguyen Daily Orange File Photo

Jeremy Garelick started American High, the only film production company in the Syracuse area focused on high school storylines. The company has developed an internship program with several SU students.

This summer, American High will be filming two movies. Garelick said there are many opportunities to learn across various departments, including AI and visual effects. The internship changes as the business changes, he said, which includes understanding AI and how it will affect students’ careers.

The most important thing to remember about media, Fatuova said, is that it’s growing in all aspects every day.

“Even if you don’t think you’re interested in it, learn it,” she said.

Fatuova arrived at SU as a TRF major and interned in the summer of 2023 with Major League Baseball Network. She said sports was not the route she saw herself pursuing, but she took the opportunity and loved it. Similarly, working with AI was not something she expected to do, but she took the opportunity.

“Say yes to as much as you can, even if you don’t think you’ll like it because, you know what, you try it and then you find out you don’t like it, that’s fine, you don’t have to do it again,” Fatuova said. “But it’s so good to have skills in every aspect of the industry that you work with. I fully believe that you are better at your own position if you know the positions around you.”

Last summer, Syracuse University sophomore Ella Thomas interned with American High, allowing her to delve deeper into her interests. She worked on the company’s script development team. In her role, Thomas read two to three scripts every week, then submitted coverages and write-ups regarding the script’s subject along with her thoughts. She said the scripts were easy to work with because they were about fun, high school stories, rather than intense plots.

Before the internship, Thomas’ only experience with script coverage was through a screenwriting course she took as a junior in high school. American High allowed her to expand upon her prior experiences.

“It was just really cool to learn how to do script development because that is what I want to do,” Thomas said. “So that was really nice to get experience to have someone trust me doing that, and the fact that I got to give my own feedback on these things.”

An experience like Thomas’ is just one example of what Garelick envisions to create what he hopes is “the greatest internship program ever.” He said it’s constantly evolving with the feedback of students who articulate exactly what they want.

“It’s great that they are asking for help from college-aged students because that’s who they’re aiming for, with the movies and things like that. It was really fun to read stuff that would be targeted at my generation,” Thomas said.

Published on April 25, 2024 at 12:40 am