The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the more-than-100-year-old professional organization responsible for developing many of the technical standards that guide media production and distribution, is reviving a student chapter at USC. The chapter aims to connect students with experts in the broadcasting and streaming industry and familiarize them with the technical aspects of production.

Andrew Leist, manager of theater services at the School of Cinematic Arts and a current member of SMPTE, said that while SMPTE has previously had a presence at USC, the chapter became inactive years ago.

Renewed interest from SMPTE’s national leadership in expanding its operation into the University led to the chapter’s revival effort, said Matthew Scott, an adjunct associate professor at SCA.

“They have a very strong push to expand into colleges so that they can see the knowledge that they’ve built up throughout the industry transfer to the next generation of broadcast and streaming professionals,” Scott said.

Jeremy Koehr, a graduate student studying cinematic arts, film and television production, wasn’t introduced to SMPTE in a classroom. Instead, it was at an open-invite industry event, co-hosted by SMPTE and the Hollywood Professional Association. He also attended an event SMPTE put together at USC that featured one of the executives of Sphere in Las Vegas, where he first became interested in the organization. 

“I got to explore more of the tech side through these people to learn what was going on in the industry [and] tech that was being used,” Koehr said. “They [also] put on an event at the school that got us access to [Katie Hinsen, senior vice president] of post production at the sphere, providing us access to these incredible industry leaders in the professional realm.” 

The chapter is currently in the process of formal recognition by SMPTE’s Los Angeles chapter, Leist said. He said he has signed on to be the chapter’s adviser once the chapter has been approved and becomes a Recognized Student Organization. 

SMPTE provides students with access to emerging technologies and real-world applications beyond the classroom, Scott said.

“One of the benefits that SMPTE has is that they are on the front edge of technology within the media broadcast world,” Scott said. “Students [from SMPTE student chapter] going and working in any medium have more options, and they have the resources and the technical know-how to be able to solve problems in real time.”

Becoming a part of the SMPTE student chapter granted members access to many industry events, Leist said, including the annual SMPTE Media Technology Summit and various technical talks, citing previous events focusing on data security in cinema and discussing “One Battle After Another” (2025). 

“The key thing I think [students] are going to gain is networking and being able to talk face to face with working professionals who are on the technical side of things,” Leist said. 

Hannah Stettler, a senior majoring in business and cinematic arts, first learned about SMPTE when representatives visited her media arts research lab class toward the end of last semester. She said the organization stood out because it addressed areas not often covered in her coursework.

“USC tends to focus on the creative side of film, which is awesome,” Stettler said. “But I feel like there’s not as many opportunities to get involved with the more technical and engineering side of film.”

Leist said he anticipates monthly meetings for chapter members, which SMPTE members and industry professionals will be invited to attend. Scott said SMPTE is planning to host a number of events this semester at USC. 

“Right now, there are discussions about getting us involved in sports broadcasting [and] getting access to live production trucks,” Scott said. “We also had discussions about potentially going and seeing some major studios [and] how their engineering is set up.”

About 18 students have already expressed interest, primarily from SCA, Leist said. He said he aims to make the chapter accessible to students across the University, and that technically-minded students from Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and Viterbi School of Engineering in particular would get a lot out of the organization.

“The group is not just in cinema, but spread out to other avenues of the University where students might be interested,” Leist said. “It’s all [about] people who enjoy understanding and working with technology.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Jeremy Koehr met Katie Hinsen at an open-invite industry event. The article was updated Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. to reflect that Koehr was introduced to Hinsen at a later event hosted at USC. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.