The Handy Foundation is a nonprofit organization which provides training and career advancement opportunities to underrepresented individuals in the film industry. The organization was founded by chairman Ri-Karlo Handy in 2020.

Overview

The Handy Foundation holds workshops and apprenticeship programs to train young people for roles in the film industry, particularly technical aspects of production such as

film editing Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

. The foundation partners with studios and production companies for its career advancement programs. As of 2022, these partners included

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, ITV,

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, 44 Blue, Critical Content, Warner Horizon Scripted Television,

Bunim/Murray Productions Bunim/Murray Productions is an American entertainment production company based out of Glendale, California and owned by French television media conglomerate Banijay Entertainment since 25 March 2010. Considered as a pioneer in the reality televi ...

and

Tinopolis The Tinopolis Group is an international TV production and distribution group with businesses based in the UK and US. It produces over 4,500 hours of television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving ...

. The Handy Foundation also partners with local and national organizations to provide training and education, such as the Urban League of Los Angeles, the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, Television Academy Foundation,

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus of the U ...

, Mount Sac College, and

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

. In 2023, the foundation established a partnership with

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

History

On July 2, 2020 it was announced that the organization was partnering with the

Motion Picture Editors Guild The Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG; IATSE Local 700) is the guild that represents freelance and staff motion picture and television editors and other post-production professionals and story analysts throughout the United States. The Motion Pi ...

and the Los Angeles Urban League to promote diversity in the film industry. The foundation partnered with City of Los Angeles Economic and Workforce Development Department in 2021 for the Hollywood Bridge Youth Program, which works with young adults in television production. In 2022, the foundation launched the Pilot Career Pathways Training Program with support from the

California Film Commission The California Film Commission (CFC) was founded in 1985 by then California Governor George Deukmejian to act in an economic development capacity for the state. It is a part of the California Trade and Commerce Agency, formerly the Business, Tr ...

. That year, the foundation piloted a training program for editors and production assistants with Netflix, which was formally launched in 2023. On January 14, 2023, the organization helped launch the

's Glam Squad program.{{Cite web , last=Halsell , first=Betti , date=2022-12-22 , title=Handy Foundation Uplifts Black Community in Hollywood , url=https://www.lawattstimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8688:handy-foundation-uplifts-black-community-in-hollywood&catid=27:arts-culture&Itemid=117

References

African-American organizations Film organizations in the United States Nonpartisan organizations in the United States Organizations based in Pasadena, California Organizations established in 2020