OC Film School provides plenty of pathways for aspiring students

Published 1:30 am Thursday, April 23, 2026

Lights, camera, action!

This familiar phrase echoes through the halls of the Film School at Olympic College, where students produce everything from commercials to short films. While making these projects, classmates work with high-resolution cameras, experiment with lighting effects, and acquire film editing skills.

Aspiring moviemakers from around the world come to the Kitsap Peninsula school to learn all aspects of film production, with the goal of breaking into the Hollywood industry, said Amy Hesketh, coordinator of the film school.

The curriculum focuses on hands-on training from facility members actively involved in the film production business, she added. A sampling of courses includes directing, filmmaking, cinematography, screenwriting and acting.

Tucked away in Building 7 on OC’s flagship campus in Bremerton, the school is equipped with all the facilities of a movie studio. There is a professional soundstage, media production studio, high-end editing suites, screening theater for showcasing student work, and prop, costume and scene shops, Hesketh said.

Variety of students

With 125 students, the school attracts a range of individuals seeking to become part of the next generation of cinematic storytellers.

“We’ve had students come from Japan. We have a student from Vietnam. Some have moved across the country. We also have local people. Our film school is one of the most diverse in the nation. The age range is from 16 to the oldest student, in their 80s,” she said.

Paul Nikolaev, a first-year student, left Moscow, Russia, three years ago in response to the Ukraine war. He did animation work and taught in his home country. Upon relocating to Bremerton to reestablish his life, he enrolled in the OC film program at age 34.

The school appealed to him because facility members are industry pros, and students work with state-of-the-art movie equipment.

“It’s not just like we just go to lectures. We practice every week, every class. There’s lots of hands-on experience,” he said.

Upon graduation, he plans to become a director and screenwriter. “I want to work on big animation or live action movies and tell stories that will touch people,” Nikolaev said.

Edgar Lopez, of Oak Harbor, was encouraged to enroll by a high school teacher. “In my senior year, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. My English teacher was like, ‘Hey, you are a pretty decent writer, have you ever thought about script writing?’” he said.

The 21-year-old wants to create television shows and maybe movies, first working on small independent productions, then possibly heading to Tinseltown.

Carly Sullivan, 31, moved from Cleveland, Ohio, to go to OC. Initially, she had no major in mind. However, in a plot twist worthy of the silver screen, she unexpectedly found herself in the role of a film student.

“I was going to take an American Sign Language class, but it was filled up. I had a quarter to kill time, so I looked at the listings and saw a screenwriting class and a psychology and film class,” she said.

That “happy accident” ended up shaping Sullivan’s future as she ended up enrolling in the film school. “I’m so in love with the art form,” she said, explaining her goal is to be a writer and producer.

Skilled facility

Instructors at the school are in the industry and bring real-world experience to the classroom.

“It’s really important that our faculty are working filmmakers. They are absolutely aligned with industry expectations and standards,” Hesketh said.

For example, Marq Evans, an independent filmmaker, teaches digital and documentary filmmaking. His Chasing Bigfoot documentary premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The film used unearthed footage to prove that the widely viewed 1967 film clip of Bigfoot traversing a wooded area was an “incredible hoax,” per People Magazine.

Acting instructor Anna Daines appeared on the hit television series Yellowstone and starred in several Hallmark Christmas movies. Film production instructor Craig Downing recently debuted his Dad Genes documentary at a New York film festival. The film tells the story of a man who, in his twenties, had been a sperm donor to make extra cash. Twenty years later, after registering with a DNA-based ancestry site, the man discovers he has several children and invites his offspring to a “Meet My Kids” party.

Why OC?

Film school head Hesketh, who worked on a National Geographic program and directed and produced several movies, said many students choose OC over film schools in Los Angeles and New York.

OC’s program offers small class sizes, which afford individualized attention, she said. There is also a financial incentive. Students can attend four years at OC for what it costs to attend one year at a top-tier film school, she noted.

Finally, another significant draw of the film school’s curriculum focuses on teaching students a variety of skills so that when they arrive at a shoot, they can handle most any job.

Students at elite cinema schools typically specialize in one area, Hesketh said. “If you want to be a director of photography, you study cinematography, but then you may not know how to edit or write a screenplay. Our graduates have a much more…diverse skill set. They learn every aspect of filmmaking. They could be a writer on something, or they can edit a film,” she said.