While the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community have helped build America and contributed to culture around the world, until very recently mainstream storytelling from Hollywood has not reflected these contributions or included narratives of the diaspora. We believe in empowering and guiding students to understand and find footing in careers in entertainment and seek to create a pipeline of creatives from Cal to Hollywood.
Through our AAPI Careers in Entertainment Creative Fellowship, BCNM, powered through the collaborative volunteer efforts of Cal alumni and entertainment industry veterans, aims to transform both how entertainment career opportunities are viewed by students, and how AAPI are viewed within the entertainment industry. Selected fellows will receive a summer stipend of $1,500 plus mentorship from industry professionals. The funding will help fellows pursue the start to their creative career journey in media and entertainment over the summer. From our experience the best way to enter the entertainment industry is through an internship at a Hollywood talent agency, management company, studio or a related hands-on internship at an entertainment company broadly defined.
Fellows will also receive valuable mentorship from industry leaders Jason Lin (Producer, Story Arch Pictures), Joanne Lee (EVP, Jackson Pictures, and Jonder Ho (SVP, Business Affairs, Universal Studios Group), which will include activities and events, such as lunches, 1-1 meetings, speaker events and more.
Apply today. Applications are due April 7, 2025.
This is the third year of our fellowship. Previous fellows secured full-time graduating jobs at companies like Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and have interned for companies ranging from Range Media Partners to Free The Work. We look forward to building a pipeline of young professionals to the entertainment industry.
Students should have already applied for internships they are seeking by the time of application and will need to secure their own internship offer, housing, transportation, etc. The criteria to unlock the fellowship is to have secured a full-time summer internship. We KNOW these internships are few and difficult to obtain. We are open to a variety of entertainment internships in functions such as mailroom, assistant, marketing, finance, PR, strategy, distribution, etc.; or types of companies such as talent agencies, management companies, large or small studios, production companies, toy makers, or video game companies). It is also highly suggested that the fellow and their internship be located in Los Angeles to fully take advantage of mentorship opportunities. Your internship in entertainment is the first step, you will have many ways to manage and guide your career, this fellowship and the mentors are here to share experience to help you make better decisions for your career goals. For students seeking internships, some resources include (with many more online or via your campus careers):
We want to build a network of Cal alumni in leadership positions in entertainment who, by developing narratives that feature AAPI and encouraging greater diversity at all levels within studios and agencies, will make strides to change the ecosystem of cultural production to be more reflective of the AAPI community at large.
This year, BCNM has one Fellowship to award. Students will be selected based on their commitment to developing narratives that feature Asian American and Pacific Islanders and encouraging greater diversity at all levels within entertainment.
Apply today. Applications are due April 7, 2025.
More information on our mentors below.Interested in donating to this important fellowship? Please donate here.
The AAPI Careers in Entertainment Creative Fellowship is made possible by the generous support of Sam Kwok and the College of Engineering.
Media Industry Mentors 2025
Jason Lin
Jason Lin is a film producer and creative entrepreneur with representative films and producer credits including: A Dog’s Journey, Green Book, A Dog's Purpose, Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year, The Forbidden Kingdom, Ocean Heaven, and Jet Li’s Fearless. He has worked at companies including Alibaba Pictures, Jet Li Production Studio, The Walt Disney Company, UTA, and Morgan Stanley. He created a premium apparel line called Adidas Wuji with Jet Li and Adidas that launched in China in 2009 infusing Adidas apparel with martial arts culture.
Jason started Story Arch Pictures in 2019 to develop and produce mainstream, cross-cultural, and socially-relevant film and TV series aimed at a global audience inclusive of perspectives from the Asian diaspora. Jason is a graduate of UC Berkeley and holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and a member of BAFTA.
Joanne Lee
Joanne Lee is the EVP of Jackson Pictures overseeing Film & TV development and production. Beyond helping build a robust slate of premium indies and studio fare, she sources quality material and packages at the highest level adapting to a rapidly changing ecosystem.
Currently, she is working with Academy Award-nominated Greta Lee and Golden Globe-nominated Lulu Wang on a book adaptation set up at Searchlight, developing with Jet Li on an untitled heist project, and coproducing a feature based on the true story of Bridget Cleary with Lena Dunham.
Previously, she associate produced Academy Award-winner Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game” at The Mark Gordon Company where she served as the Director of Development starting in the Spring of 2016.
Before joining The Mark Gordon Company, Joanne was the Director of Acquisitions at IM Global where she worked on Billy Ray’s “The Secret In Their Eyes” starring Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor in addition to Rich Tanne’s Sundance darling “Southside With You,” the first date story between Michelle and Barack Obama. Prior to IM Global, Joanne assisted Matt Jackson at Exclusive Media in the fall of 2013. She began her career as an assistant in The Media Finance Department at CAA.
Joanne Lee is a Variety Hollywood New Leader of 2024, Northwestern University graduate, fluent in Chinese Mandarin, and a member of the PGA.
Jonder Ho
Jonder Ho is a SVP, Business Affairs at Universal Studios Group (USG) - the umbrella brand that house’s NBCUniversal’s four television studios, including Universal Television, UCP, Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal International Studios. Jonder negotiates writer, actor, director and other above-the-line deals for USG with a focus on productions, including “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist,” “Hacks” and NBCU’s untitled Greg Daniels/Michael Koman project.
Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Jonder spent two years as the head of business affairs at VR content startup company founded by Robert Stromberg, the Academy Award-winning production designer of “Avatar and Alice in Wonderland.” Jonder began his career as an associate at the law firm Morrison Foerster. Jonder is a graduate of Pomona College and obtained his law degree from the University of Southern California.