Second City Is Opening The First Film School Dedicated To Comedy
By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 9, 2016 3:42PM
This September, Second City will open the Harold Ramis School of Comedy, a small school that the theater calls “the world's first film school dedicated to comedy,” the Tribune reports.
The school will offer a year-long program that culminates in a certificate and a portfolio of short films, comedy pilots, and web series, according to the Tribune. Tuition will cost roughly $15,000 per year, but the school will offer scholarships, especially to what the Tribune calls “diverse candidates.”
A new class of students will start every three months, which means a student body of no more than 60 at a given time, the Tribune reports. (This is in sharp contrast to the Second City Training Center’s current count of students: roughly 3,500.)
Named after Harold Ramis, the beloved comedian and Second City graduate who died in 2014, the school will have a star-studded advisory board. Steve Carell, Eugene Levy and Keegan-Michael Key (of Key & Peele) will all serve on it, according to the Tribune, alongside leaders from the business side of Hollywood, including president of Sony Pictures Entertainment Doug Belgrad.
Harold Ramis’ long-time collaborator, Trevor Albert, will head up the school.
"We hope to work with people who don't have giant egos," Albert told the Tribune, "but want to make the whole group look good. As did Harold."
The school will be unaccredited, but Albert told the Tribune this would just translate into "a more innovative kind of curriculum."