Themed Entertainment
by Katie Walsh
For a new cohort of freshman Trojans arriving at USC this fall, their collegiate studies will include trips to Disneyland to study rock work, building mini-golf courses on campus, and dreaming up theme parks under the guidance of a legendary Disney Imagineer. All of this is in store for the inaugural class of Themed Entertainment majors, a brand new Bachelor of Fine Arts program offered by the School of Cinematic Arts. The incoming freshman will be joining students who transferred into the major last year during the program’s soft launch, arriving from such other areas of study as neuroscience, engineering, narrative studies, theater, and game design. Themed Entertainment is housed in the Interactive Media & Games Division and students are joining a cohort that includes Game Development and Design and Game Art.
The Themed Entertainment BFA was put together by Joe Garlington, a former Disney Imagineer with 40 years of experience in the industry. At Walt Disney Imagineering, Garlington was the creative lead for interactive projects, developing attractions for all Disney theme parks, leading the visioning for Disney’s Epcot theme park, and partnering with the Disney Research and Development team on new concepts and technologies. Outside of Disney, he worked with a number of zoos, aquariums, museums, and other science and technology centers.
Caption: Alice In Wonderland inspired mini-golf course designed by SCA Themed Entertainment students for their final project.
Garlington first became involved with USC thanks to Interactive Media & Games Division professor and Director Emeritus of USC Games Tracy Fullerton. A huge Disney fan, she invited him to campus to give talks, mentor graduate students, and ultimately, teach Introduction to Themed Entertainment. His one class grew to two, and a student organization, TEA@USC (Themed Entertainment Association at USC) sprang up almost immediately. Inspired by student enthusiasm for the emerging field, Danny Bilson, Chair of the Interactive Media & Games Division (IMGD), asked Garlington to develop the BFA program.
So, what exactly is “Themed Entertainment?” So much more than just Disneyland. As Garlington defines it, Themed Entertainment encompasses all kinds of experiences, “where the physical place-making is part of the storytelling and an integral and important part of the story.” The goal is to “take you to a place you couldn't or wouldn't normally be able to go to—a physical immersion in different worlds.”
While the title initially conjures up images of theme parks like Disneyland and Universal Studios, it also encompasses museums and galleries, zoos and aquariums, dining, retail, landscape architecture, event planning, and the creation and management of other public and private spaces—as evidenced by Garlington’s varied career. As his student assistant Lilah Capp ’24 puts it, “the thing that separates Themed Entertainment from other traditional forms of entertainment is that the storytelling is solely through physical spaces. You're relying on the environment.”
Caption: Student majoring in Themed Entertainment assembling mini-golf for final project.
It’s also a $25 billion industry, according to research firm IBIS World. USC is a pioneer in the study of Themed Entertainment, but it’s not the first school to offer the major. There are similar programs popping up at the graduate and undergraduate level at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Penn State, Ohio State, Ringling College of Art and Design, University of Florida and more. With other universities getting into the field, it was necessary for USC to launch their own specific program. “we're in the heart of the entertainment business,” says Garland. “We’ve got to be doing it.”
While developing the Themed Entertainment BFA, Garlington considered what he calls the “three stakeholders” in the programs: students, parents, and potential employers. He reached out to his industry contacts and asked them, “if you think about the students we're putting out, what would you want them to have?” He discovered that the most important elements he needed to instill in his Themed Entertainment students would be a knowledge of the industry and its structure—it is an “industry of industries,” after all—as well as a deep understanding of collaboration, and the ability to work well in a team.
In speaking with parents and potential students, Garlington also realized that each student also needed to graduate with a “definable entry level skill,” such as drafting, writing, or project coordination. The program framework combines a broad liberal arts background with specialization tracks in design, production, interactive arts, and project management. IMGD Chair Danny Bilson adds that the program “is the most cross-discipline degree that we offer, as it uses skills in not only interactive design, but architecture, digital media, music, theater, engineering, and the computer sciences.”
While special skills are crucial for a graduate to get a foot in the door in any entry level position, Garlington emphasizes the importance of learning teamwork in order to succeed in the industry. As he observes, wryly, “nobody makes a roller coaster by themselves.” He brings a depth of specificity to how he teaches good collaboration, knowing when to assert your knowledge and when to let somebody else's knowledge come in. “Team play is hard, and it's especially hard in creative fields,” he says. “People's egos are often based upon their perception that their ideas are being accepted and used, that their thoughts are carrying sway.”
Ultimately, one of the most important lessons he impresses on his students is to listen to their own voices, to know when to speak up and find a way to engage, but also to take a step back and let others contribute. “The best brainstorms are when ideas bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, because really big powerful ideas have to resonate to a broad number of people.”
In her Themed Entertainment classes, Capp has learned that “one of the most important parts of working in a team is knowing at a basic level what everyone else is doing.” The varied interests and academic backgrounds of the students also “make for a more well-rounded product. If we're working on a project together, everyone's coming from different points of view, there’s a place for everyone and all sorts of different skill sets.”
Caption: Putting hole inspired by The White Queen's Castle from Alice In Wonderland.
She also says that her classes have offered the chance to experiment, a process she’s found empowering. Capp says she’s learned, “the value of taking initiative and trying new things, even if you don't know if you're going to be good at it or not. I've really stepped out of my comfort zone by doing this major, and I think I've learned that I have a lot more skills than I thought I did.”
Capp is an Environmental Studies major with a Themed Entertainment minor, who comes from a family of engineers. She always loved making things and working with her hands, but followed a familiar path into a STEM field. She didn’t see herself pursuing an arts degree at USC. Her passion for Disneyland led her to TEA@USC, which introduced her to the Themed Entertainment classes.
Garlington’s mini-golf design class became an opportunity for Capp to try her hand at art and design, and now she sees herself working in the production zone of the Themed Entertainment industry. “I like seeing things get done. It's really rewarding when you see something that was an idea become real. I like the idea of being able to make other people's ideas happen.” She’s thinking about pursuing work in a creature shop after graduation.
Garlington only sees the industry getting bigger in the future. As he says, “the worlds of entertainment are colliding. There are a ton of opportunities. Movies are colliding with themed entertainment, and with games. All these things just add to the options that the consumer has.” He adds, “if we're in this world of collisions, we have to know how to recognize where the collisions are, and how to listen to people in other disciplines.”
Though it seems like a brave new world, Garlington has a knack for bringing it all back to the basics. According to him, one can “divide the world of entertainment into two basic traditions: Game playing and Storytelling. Every game maker I know is trying to add story into their games, and there are lots of filmmakers who are trying to gamify their stories. If you're going to take your stories and physicalize them, you want an environment to physicalize them. Our stories are about putting you into a world you couldn't or wouldn't normally be able to visit, and the fascination that comes from being physically behaviorally immersed.”
Garlington says his brainstorms usually start with the question. “What did you enjoy doing as a child? I always say, if children do it and animals do it, it’s probably a good place to start. What we do is try to figure out how you can leverage that piece of fun with a novel storytelling technique or a novel piece of technology so that it seems new.”
While the world of Themed Entertainment is a new field of study for SCA, the values remain the same: shepherding young creative minds in learning how to craft stories that will resonate, in any form—from the page, to the screen, to games, and now, to the environments around us.
To learn more about the Themed Entertainment Program, visit: https://cinema.usc.edu/interactive/index.cfm