By Craig Sherwood On May 8, 2013

Warner Bros. Studio Facilities (WBSF) concluded its school year-long volunteer coaching program Tuesday at Luther Burbank Middle School (LBMS) with a special treat for the participating students: a VIP studio tour followed by lunch on the lot with their Warner Bros. “coaches.”

Championed by WBSF’s President Jon Gilbert and Production Services Department’s head Norm Barnett, the program’s primary goal was to provide students individualized attention and guidance to help improve test scores, increase confidence in their abilities, and serve as a positive role model in their lives.

“To be a local business that can reach out and hopefully impact a young person’s life is truly significant,” said Barnett. “I think a lot of our employees got as much out of it as the students, if not more.”

The program, which began at the start of the school year in September 2012, was designed to focus on providing reading and math tutoring sessions to students in the TLC (Title 1 program) to address the school’s greatest community service need. The WBSF group had 76 employees volunteer for the program, and each of the 38 students worked with a team of two coaches who rotated sessions to ensure that the students met with one of them each week throughout both semesters.

While most benefits of the coaching program will manifest slowly over time, there were some notable broad improvements among the students in terms of attendance, test scores, and reading comprehension.

“We have some individual students who really jumped up three or four grade levels in reading during the year,” said Barnett. “We couldn’t be more proud of them.”

To read this article on My Burbank Online, please click here.

The studio plans to pump cash and expertise into setting up apprenticeships and college scholarships to boost the next generation of movie-makers.

LONDON – Warner Bros. said Thursday it is planning a “major” new program of investment in skills and training for the U.K.’s creative industries.

Launching in September 2013, Warner Bros. Creative Talent aims to offer scholarships attached to work placements and mentoring, apprenticeships and training courses.

The plan is being set up to give young people from all backgrounds industry experience and insight across Warner Bros.’ U.K. film, TV, games and theater operations.

Billed as a “multi-layered, nationwide investment,” the investment include plans for 12 scholarships at selected U.K. colleges, six apprenticeships with roles ranging from set-lighting to post-production and two trainee positions on every Warner Bros. film production in the U.K.

No financial details were available at time of going to press.

In addition, following the British Film Institute’s recent plans to upgrade film education programs in the U.K., Warner Bros. and Film Nation U.K. will collaborate to educate thousands of school-aged children around the country about the film industry.

Warner Bros. Creative Talent builds upon Warner Bros.’ recent investments in education and training, which has seen the company become the single largest contributor to Creative Skillset’s Skills Investment Fund (SIF), investing more than $1.56 million (£1 million) over the last nine years.
For the last five years, the company has also been the principal partner of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) enabling the Academy to develop a film, TV and radio division.

Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara said: “The U.K. is known for world class creativity and innovation, and some of Warner Bros.’ greatest successes have been produced with British talent. Warner Bros. Creative Talent reinforces our global commitment to supporting the industries and communities in which we operate and our continuing investment in talent.”

Josh Berger, president and managing director, Warner Bros. U.K., Ireland and Spain, said: “As we continue to make more films, TV shows, video games and stage plays here, as well as investing in state-of-the-art studios, we will be calling upon the very best talent the country has to offer. To that end, it is crucially important to us to invest in the next generation, so that we not only have a diverse pool of exceptional talent to work with, but that we also play our part in maintaining the U.K.’s position as a global creative industries leader.”

The Warner Bros. training boost comes on the eve of the Royal inauguration by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, of Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, the studio facility site on the outskirts of London.

To read this article on The Hollywood Reporter Online, please click here.

DiversityInc announced yesterday that Time Warner Inc. ranks number 33 on its Top 50 Companies for Diversity List of 2013. This is the fourth year in a row Time Warner has been named one of the Top 50. Ranked at number 40 in 2012, Time Warner moved up in the rankings on the 2013 list. Each year, DiversityInc compiles a list of to the top 50 most diverse companies from a range of different industries whose leadership, communications, training and other practices mark them as diversity standouts.

DiversityInc noted Time Warner’s diversity efforts are demonstrated concretely through human-capital data. For instance, Time Warner’s ratio of Black, Latino and Asian managers promoted, compared with management demographics, are higher than the DiversityInc Top 50 average (1.15-1, versus 0.99-1).

Time Warner’s dedication to diversity is also evident through its sponsorships, including the recent New Generation Latino Consortium and Tribeca’s All Access program, which supports diverse storytellers. Time Warner also fosters diverse story tellers internally, annually bringing together creative executives with diverse up-and-coming storytellers to share ideas at its Multicultural Creative Summit. To further formalize the company’s diversity efforts, the newly formed Diversity Council recently had its first meeting, led by Lisa Quiroz, Time Warner’s Chief Diversity Officer. DiversityInc’s recognition of Time Warner’s efforts validate the company’s goal to be an inclusive and progressive place to work.

DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti noted, “With the appointment of Lisa Quiroz as its first Chief Diversity Officer last year, Time Warner has made significant strides to create an inclusive workforce.”

In addition to moving up in the rankings on this year’s list, Time Warner was also recognized on DiversityInc’s specialty lists, including the ranking of #2 Company for Executive Women and #7 Company for LGBT Employees.

To read this article on the Time Warner Blog, please click here.