Grady students create first ever EMST club

After just a few years of offering an Entertainment and Media Studies Department, Grady College finally has an EMST club outside the classroom.  

Four students — Julian Hagins, Anne Neenan, Trey Leonard and Kalley Huddleston— helped this highly sought-after club come to life. 

The Industry, the first EMST Grady-represented club, has already seen a large turnout of more than 150 students, beginning meetings just a few weeks ago. 

“There were so many people signed up that we realized there was a hole in [EMST] organizations,” Neenan said. 

The Industry is a hands-on experience outside the classroom, offering students, both within and outside Grady, skills involved in the production, development and writing aspects of entertainment.  

“I don’t believe in spoon-feeding people, but if I have the ability to make the access easier, I’m all about making the access easier,” Hagins said. 

Members can create content, which is helpful for building a portfolio when applying to graduate schools or jobs, Hagins said.  

“It’s an outlet for them to collaborate and work with other individuals, that way they can start to build their own content and prepare themselves for a future once they graduate,” Hagins said. 

The amount of interest in the club came as a shock to the founders, but it was a pleasant surprise. To offer the most out of the club, there will be meetings four days a week — Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays for those interested in the writing side of film and Thursdays for those interested in the production side of film. 

Taylor Potter, a junior EMST major who joined The Industry, is a part of both the Production Group and the Writer’s Workroom.  

“It’s extremely beneficial to have a club like The Industry at Grady because it helps aspiring writers and filmmakers find their footing before setting off into the ‘real world’ to get a job,” Potter said. “By being a member of The Industry, we have the ability to test out different crew positions and writing styles to discover in a nonclass environment what we would like to do within the entertainment and media industries once we graduate.” 

Hayden Schwartz, a sophomore EMST major, joined after a friend recommended it to him. 

“From the first meeting, I immediately understood that this was no average club,” Schwartz said. “The industry is one of the most educational and serious clubs I have ever been a part of.”