The Capstone Project

The Capstone Project offers students the opportunity to apply and demonstrate their analytical and practical management skills on a specific concept or issue while addressing and deepening their understanding of the opportunities, challenges and issues the entertainment industry faces on a daily basis.

The Capstone Project represents the completion of the final requirement in the Master of Entertainment Industry Management (MEIM) Program. It is the intention of the MEIM faculty that students will use The Capstone Project more as applied research than as pure scholarship. This offers a greater opportunity for the students to apply their knowledge and skills to real world issues that can make a difference to the industry and for the students. The Capstone Project is not just an exercise in writing. It is intended as an opportunity in thought leadership, and a platform for the students to make strategic explorations of current issues at the industry’s leading edge.

Collaboration

The Capstone project gives students a great opportunity to work together in project teams, much as they will do in their future careers within the very project-centric, team-oriented industry. Work experiences gained from student projects provide strong comparative advantages to graduating students in job interviewing and getting job offers. Working together on the Capstone -

• Develops project management, teamwork, and communication skills.
• Integrates and synthesizes the lessons from prior coursework.
• Provides a "real world" organizational experience.
• Creates “bragging rights” around a professional project for an industry company performed as part of the degree.

Entertainment Industry Partners

The MEIM program enlists industry companies to function as client/partners in the Capstone projects. Each partnering company sponsors and supervises a Capstone project, assigning a topic that is strategic to their business, and working with their student team to refine the topic and the scope of the project to be resonant and relevant to the team. This past year, company partnerships included:

• Jerry Bruckheimer Games, Inc.: The Use of Trans-media Storytelling
• IPSOS OTX: A Study of the Legitimacy of the Viral Marketing Tactic
• The Producers Guild of America: An Analysis of Film Producers and the Impact of the PGA
• Variety: An Analysis of Film Commissions and Tax Incentives throughout the U.S.
• Warner Bros. New Media Group: Effective Digital Distribution Strategies