04/27/04

LC040427

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Switching careers. Think you're ready? So did an actor who
wound up in a room full of fourth graders.

Link Richards>> I'd been an actor and a general contractor.
That's what was on my resume. I thought they're not going to
hire me. Yeah, this is silly. But they were looking more for,
you know, the whole person.

Val>> And then, tearing down a local landmark. We'll hear from
a group that says it's time to bring in the wrecking ball and
flatten Los Angeles's old Ambassador Hotel.

All that and more straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

Val>> California is facing a serious teacher shortage and, with
more students pouring into our crowded classrooms all the time,
it's not likely to ease up. At the same time, there are
thousands of people who have gone down one career path, but
think they might like to give teaching a try. Well, now there
is a way that they can earn their credential without even losing
a day of pay.

I went to Eagle Rock Elementary and met a teacher who has made
the switch. Link Richards arrives at Eagle Rock Elementary
School every morning armed with teaching manuals. This is his
fourth year teaching fourth grade.

Link Richards>> I had always thought in the back of my mind
that it might be something that I would want to do. I mean,
when I think back on my childhood in the time that I was most
happy, it was eight, nine, ten, third, fourth grade, like that
time period.

Val>> But the route he took to get here was anything but
direct. At college, Link majored in theater arts and headed to
New York and worked on Broadway. Later he and his wife returned
to Los Angeles where he continued to act. This is Link in a
bank commercial.

[Film Clip]

Val>> Between auditions, he remodeled kitchens and baths using
skills he learned from his father. But over time, he found that
trying to do both jobs was frustrating.

Link Richards>> I remember specifically that I was doing a job
in Pasadena remodeling a kitchen and I had, I think, my third
call-back for "Lois and Clark", so this is going back a few
years, for an episode. I had this kitchen pulled apart and I
met with the director and I thought, if I get this, what am I
going to tell these people? You know, oh, I've been auditioning
and I'm sorry, but your kitchen is going to be like this for
three weeks while I'm off doing this.

Val>> So he quit acting, became a contractor full-time and ran
a successful business for five years.

Link Richards>> Then probably the big push into the teaching
was that I wasn't happy doing that, and we had a son. He was
getting to an age where he was going to start school and I
wanted to know more about the whole process of education because
I couldn't remember. How do we learn, you know? What are the
steps to learn?

Val>> So he made a call to his alma mater, Occidental College.

Link Richards>> It was meant to be. I mean, I called over to
Occidental one morning, I think, in May and said what do you
need to be a teacher? The person in the alumni office said,
well, interesting that you're calling today. We have a
recruiter here from LAUSD from this District Intern Program.
Why don't you come over and talk to him? So I drove over, my
son and I. He was probably two at the time. I went over and
the recruiter said, here, this is what you need to do. Here's
the application. Let's pull your transcript. This is what the
program is about, and I did what needed to be done.

Mary Lewis>> It was originally designed to recruit career
changers. You know, people who always wanted to be a teacher,
but perhaps they couldn't take two years off, you know, just to
get credentialed through the regular means. So in this program,
you have to teach full-time, but you're going to classes once a
week and Saturdays. You have all the rights and privileges,
including the salary, of all other teachers who meet the
requirements of a highly qualified teacher.

Val>> Mary Lewis is with the Teacher Certification Unit of
LAUSD. So you're not giving up pay? You're not like putting
your life on hold for two years financially or otherwise?
You're getting right into a paid teacher's position?

Mary Lewis>> And with all the other benefits, hospitalization,
dental, glasses, all the same as other highly qualified and
probationary candidates.

Link Richards>> "You want to stop every once in a while and
think about what you've just read."

Val>> Getting enough qualified teachers to fill our classrooms
is a big challenge. Last school year, ten percent of
California's teachers, more than thirty thousand, didn't have a
basic credential and studies show the less experienced teachers
are concentrated in the poorer schools, the ones with a higher
portion of minority students. LAUSD realized it couldn't wait
for colleges to produce all the teachers they need, so the
District Intern Program was created.

Link Richards>> "How do you think the doctor, the physician, is
feeling? Elena?"

Val>> Link Richards was given a list of schools looking for
teachers. Eagle Rock Elementary was among them.

Link Richards>> It was my first interview and I came in
thinking, okay, I've been an actor and a general contractor.
That's what was on my resume. I thought they're not going to
hire me. Yeah, this is silly. But they were looking more for,
you know, the whole person and, knowing that I was in the
District Intern Program, they knew those other skills would
come.

Val>> Those other skills came fast. The program begins with an
intense six-week training.

Mary Lewis>> During that six weeks, you get the curriculum in
our district and the state requirements. You have an
opportunity to observe outstanding practitioners. You have
opportunities to teach and you're also required to do a two-week
lesson plan so that you're ready on day one.

Link Richards>> I think a big emphasis is on the discipline
because the big fear is that you're going to show up day one and
how are you going to handle these twenty or thirty or thirty-two
kids without those skills? So really the beginning first few
months of the whole program is focused on having a discipline
program.

Val>> As for concerns about drugs, gangs and violent students -
-

Mary Lewis>> Most of our schools are very safe. I mean, well,
Los Angeles is -- I'm afraid -- something's going to happen --
well, this happened. Perhaps then maybe you need to go to one
of the surrounding districts because we have a commitment to
keep our teachers safe.

Link Richards>> "Did you play with the little kids?"

Link Richards>> The one thing that helped me tremendously is
that you have one week where you're actually out observing a
teacher, so you're in the classroom. The woman that I observed
was a great teacher, so I had a great model and she gave me a
lot of good things.

Val>> Despite the model teacher, Link was still nervous on his
first day.

Link Richards>> I was a little nervous. You know, I was
setting up my classroom, I remember, the first day. I was in a
bungalow and the door was open between my room and the other
teacher's room and she was setting up her classroom. I didn't
know what to do (laughter). I kept looking and saying, okay,
what is she doing now? Oh, I see, she's putting something up on
the wall. Then I'm looking around like what do I put up on the
wall (laughter)?

Val>> He also had a mentor teacher and he found that his
general life experience was a real advantage.

Link Richards>> Right out of college if I'd started this, I
don't think I'd be teaching now. You know, I don't think I had
the life skills.

Mary Lewis>> Everyone can't do this. You know, it takes
special individuals who are willing to make that commitment and
there is a rigorous selection process.

Val>> Once a week, Link and his students go over to the
auditorium for a dance class. Link is now as sure-footed in
class as he is onstage.

Link Richards>> It's the best. It's the greatest thing that I
could come to class today, teach a little, hear about their
weekend, go to a dance class, come back, you know, we're working
on a musical, introduce electricity to them, and have them right
there, you know, just wanting more.

Val>> Six thousand teachers have been trained in the District
Intern Program since it started in 2002 and LAUSD's teacher
shortage has eased. Mary says it could be a model for other
districts.

Mary Lewis>> I'm not Pollyannish, but I feel that it's a
positive trend in L.A. Unified and I see us really making a
difference with our kids and bringing positive attention to L.A.
Unified across the nation. I really do. I only see us going
up.

Val>> And so are test scores at Eagle Rock Elementary. They're
up for the past five years and all of the teachers at this
mostly Latino and Filipino school are credentialed. It's also
been nominated for a prestigious national blue ribbon award. As
for Link Richards, if things keep going as they are, teaching
will be his third and last career.

Link Richards>> It's funny. When I first started teaching, I
would come home and tell stories about my kids at night. My son
would be like, wait a minute, I'm your kid. I'm the only kid,
right? We would laugh about it because you just form that bond.
They are my kids.

Link Richards>> "All right, guys. Enough whistling, please."

Val>> The need for high school math and science teachers is
especially acute as is the need for Special Ed teachers. The
good news is that the LAUSD District Intern Program offers
credentials in those specialties as well.

[Film Clip]

Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and
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and Times".

Val>> It's been closed to the public since 1989, but the old
Ambassador Hotel still occupies a prominent place in Los
Angeles's memory. So why does one group want the hotel knocked
down instead of renovated? As Philip Bruce learns, it's all
about money and the need for a new public school. Here's one
man's case for bringing in the wrecking ball in the name of Los
Angeles's school kids.

Philip Bruce>> You may recall the Ambassador's glory days, but
there's no sign of them now. For the past several years, the
old hotel has been owned by L.A. Unified and the school district
has been debating how to turn the property into a school complex
to serve Koreatown and the Wilshire Corridor. Most of the five
options on the table call for some kind of preservation of the
Ambassador, but Frank Acevedo represents a community group
that's embracing the most drastic option. It would bulldoze the
old hotel and start fresh from the ground up with a new school.
They call themselves the RFK-12 Task Force in memory of the late
senator who was assassinated at the Ambassador back in 1968.

Frank Acevedo>> Well, everyone knows that the schools are
severely overcrowded, but one of the biggest things in this
community is that every day we have a little bit over 3,800
forced bus children leaving this community. These are families
that are waking up 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning at times to
prepare their children to go to schools up to two and a half or
three hours away in many cases for something as simple as a
decent education that we feel they have a right to have in their
own community.

Philip Bruce>> Many people would admit that's the case and they
know that it's a big strain on the school system, but there are
also preservationists who are saying why can't we have both?
Why can't we keep some part of the Ambassador Hotel and maybe
all of it and still have a school?

Frank Acevedo>> Well, unfortunately, especially in the current
crisis that we have with the state, we only have a certain
amount of school construction bond monies available to us. So
what the school district does is they allocate a certain amount
of school bond monies for this area and they say you can build
this many schools in this community. So from that pot, they
determine how many schools we can build.

If we take money out of that pot for anything other than school
construction, say, in this case, for example, the gutting and
restoration of this hotel, then it takes away schools in this
community as well. So we're solving one problem and maybe even
having schools here in a preserved building or a building that's
being restored, but we're also then removing the opportunity of
other communities nearby here, in many cases the same community,
from having other schools built here.

Philip Bruce>> What do you say to people who point out that the
Ambassador is not just a landmark, but it's one where a good
deal of history has taken place?

Frank Acevedo>> And history is very important. That's why one
of the -- as part of our options, we've recommended to create a
commission where we can preserve the history and the memories
that occurred at the Ambassador Hotel. We feel that preserving
a structure may be one component of preservation, but if there
aren't any educational components tied to that which informs
this community of everything that occurred there throughout the
years, then it's senseless. So we've advocated for a commission
on history and preservation to restore and remember the memories
that occurred here and teach them to the children.

Philip Bruce>> And you recall the memory of Robert F. Kennedy
who was assassinated here in the kitchen of the Ambassador
Hotel, as most people in this city remember. What does the
Kennedy family have to say about the notion of this school being
named after him?

Frank Acevedo>> Well, the Kennedy family hasn't taken a
position formally. The Kennedy family, from what I understand,
is allowing this community that will be serviced by this school
to make the decision locally on what they would like to do. The
Kennedy family hasn't taken a position on the school site, but
we do feel as a taskforce that it is a better way to memorialize
Robert F. Kennedy by building a school and giving other children
in this community the opportunity of having an educational
opportunity rather than using some of this money for
preservation. In some estimates, up to $100 million dollars
would be taken away.

Philip Bruce>> And there is a debate about the architectural
significance of the hotel itself. I mean, Paul Williams, a
noted architect, was a contributor to the building, but did not
design the entire structure. What's your notion about how
significant it is as far as the architecture is concerned?

Frank Acevedo>> Well, what I do know is that throughout the
years, the architecture and the design of the hotel has been
altered. In many cases, the architects that are doing design
work for the school district aren't able to tell us specifically
to what period it would be restored because it currently has a
1970's design. As you know, the building was built in the
1920's.

But throughout the years, again, it's important for us to
understand that it's also been ingrained in our culture and the
city whether or not it's architecturally significant. It's for
the school district to decide. We do know that it's not
registered in any local, state or federal historic registers and
hasn't qualified as such. We've also had a notable architect
such as Robert Winters who prepares one of the foremost
architectural guides for the city say that the building doesn't
have architectural significance. Again, of course, it's subject
to interpretation and depends on who you ask.

Philip Bruce>> What are the politics of this situation right
now? Because you and I know as well that there is a great deal
of pressure on L.A. Unified to preserve some part of this
building just because of the facts that we've been discussing
here. What kind of political forces are coming together in this
whole debate?

Frank Acevedo>> Well, at this point, again, the preservation
lobby throughout the city is a very important one. We hate
seeing this as opposing sides, but there are business interests
that want to see commercial development and housing built there.
There are community elements like ourselves that want to see a
school built as fast as possible. There are preservation groups
that want to see it preserved. Throughout the years, it's
changed. Originally as a hotel, then as housing, and now as a
school.

But these are basically the political forces that are trying to
push our leadership into making a decision. We're trying to
push our leadership into making not just a quick decision, but a
decision that impacts positively on this community and also
respects the history of the hotel for all Angelenos to enjoy.

Philip Bruce>> Is this being presented as an either/or thing?

Frank Acevedo>> It has been, and we have been saying that it is
an either/or thing. Again, it's about the money in this case.
But even more important than the money, it's about the children.
It's been presented as is it a preservation or a business versus
a children's issue and, in this case, it is. When you're
weighing scarce resources with the need that this community has,
we feel that the greatest need that this community has is that
of educational opportunity. So in that case, it is.

Unless someone can actually show up to the table with the
necessary funds to be able to move forward, then we really can't
discuss anything further. We have already talked about time and
safety issues. We want to make sure we have a safe school. We
want to make sure it gets done as soon as possible and we
jealously guard these bond monies because there aren't much
around.

Philip Bruce>> But would a commercial model of using private
buildings for some sort of retail or something, wouldn't that
help generate money?

Frank Acevedo>> It would help generate money, but for the
business community. What good is it to have a business
community if you don't have skilled workers? If you don't have
people from this community who live, work and shop in this
community to have informed decisions on their buying power and
to contribute greatly? We feel that, if this community has that
opportunity of education and their income levels are increased,
then it helps everyone. That's our starting point. It's the
education of the children and, from that point forward, we look
at everything else being a positive thing. We don't think of
business as being the starting point for our model. We think of
the education of the children of this community.

Philip Bruce>> Frank Acevedo, thanks for sharing your views on
this. Good luck to you.

Frank Acevedo>> Thanks very much.

To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us
by mail at this address:

Life and Times
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Val>> Are you one of those people who have to get to the movie
theater on time to watch the previews? Well, if so, you're
probably hooked on the handiwork of a place in Hollywood called
The Ant Farm. As Vicki Curry tells us, it has nothing to do
with bugs, but everything to do with getting you back into your
neighborhood Cineplex.

Vicki Curry>> It's as much a part of the movie-going experience
as the movie itself. The theaters call them "coming
attractions", although most everyone knows them as "trailers".
One of the biggest makers of trailers is The Ant Farm. It's
headed by Barbara Glazer and Mike Greenfeld and they designed
the trailers for hits like "Lord of the Rings", "Chicago", and
"Signs". You might think they're pretty simple to put together,
but making a successful trailer is an art form of its own.

Barbara Glazer>> We go through many different versions of a
trailer. You know, depending on the point of view you take, it
can be very many different things and all of those things are in
the movie, but what is the thing that you want to focus on?

Vicki Curry>> The marketing of a movie usually begins long
before the film is finished and The Ant Farm might work for over
a year on a trailer. The process is different for each project.
Sometimes they work from a completed picture. Other times they
create a mock trailer before footage has even been shot.

Barbara Glazer>> We'll put together a submission of maybe
thirty scripts, different points of view of telling the story,
then take different approaches going from one character, going
from a different character, and the clients will then respond to
the copy. They'll say, oh, I like this script or I like this
piece of this script or this piece of that script. Can you go
back and give me something that combines it?

Mike Greenfeld>> A lot of times, what we'll find, though, when
we start cutting is that the script that we pick doesn't really
work for us and we'll re-write it while we're actually cutting
the trailer.

Vicki Curry>> It's the details that make the difference.
Music, graphics, narration and individual shots are all
carefully woven together to convey a picture story and mood.

Mike Greenfeld>> For me, the best kind of trailer is when you
can let the movie like go off and do its thing.

[Film Clip]

Mike Greenfeld>> A lot of times, however, you have to use
narration because, in a short amount of time in a trailer if you
have two and a half minutes, you can't waste time.

Barbara Glazer>> A lot of times, we actually re-write the
dialogue a little bit. We don't put words into someone's mouth
that are completely out of context with the movie if we can help
it. It does happen.

Vicki Curry>> Throughout the process, The Ant Farm can never
forget their one objective: to sell the movie.

Barbara Glazer>> We have to get those butts in those seats.
That's what's important to the marketing department of a studio.

Vicki Curry>> Part of selling a movie is attracting as wide an
audience as possible.

Barbara Glazer>> You absolutely try on a trailer to get
everybody, but if you have a core audience, you don't want to
lose them. So, you know, you don't want to pander to the masses
and lose your best audience. Perhaps you realize that you're a
shoo-in with older women on this movie. You don't have a
problem, but you're going to have to work a little harder to get
younger girls, so maybe you're going to amp that up by changing
the music, by your choice of shots.

[Film Clip]

Barbara Glazer>> What most people want to know is what is the
story of the movie and how is it going to make me feel?

Mike Greenfeld>> We did a trailer for "Catch Me If You Can",
which I thought was terrific and was really excited about that.
At the very beginning of the trailer, Leonardo DiCaprio says to
this girl who's a bank teller --

Leonardo DiCaprio>> "I'd like to take you out for a steak
dinner."

Mike Greenfeld>> And she starts to get excited and a nervous
twitter. It just, to me, when I saw that, I actually showed it
to my wife, she got the same nervous twitter, so I just knew
that that was a homerun scene.

Vicki Curry>> The scene is just to set the tone.

Mike Greenfeld>> Yeah, just to set the tone that it's going to
be fun and this is a movie star and he's really going to take
you places that you as a woman maybe want to go.

[Film Clip]

Mike Greenfeld>> As we get into the trailer, they take a
journey and they're going to discover this place where there's
going to be a great adventure.

[Film Clip]

Mike Greenfeld>> To me, there's a little humor in here because
it's not so serious. You know, it's "Peter Pan", for crying out
loud (laughter).

[Film Clip]

Mike Greenfeld>> The trailer will start to build and build, so
you have a moment of quiet before this guy realizes that they're
in big trouble. At the very end, we reveal this amazing shot at
the end, slow reveal just so that you can catch your breath and
say, wow, that looks pretty good. I think I'll go see that
film.

Vicki Curry>> (laughter) Yeah, that's a good moment to put in
the end of a trailer. You always hear the audience talking at
the end of the trailers.

Mike Greenfeld>> Yeah. You never want to hear them say
"video".

Vicki Curry>> What the audience often says is that the trailers
give away the whole movie.

Barbara Glazer>> I think we all want not to give it away, but
at the end of the day, we have to get people in to see the
movie. So sometimes, we end up giving away more than we might
like ourselves because, for the marketing people, it's that
opening weekend.

Vicki Curry>> People also complain that there is something in
the trailer that hasn't made it to the movie.

Barbara Glazer>> It's not because we're trying to deceive
people. It's because we start the process before the movie is
locked and, quite honestly, movies come out in the theater and
I'm shocked. Oh, my God, they cut that out. I can't believe
it. I didn't even know they cut it out. Because what we start
with is a very long version of the movie. It's everything
that's been shot.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Despite their complaints, moviegoers still seem
to love trailers, so The Ant Farm will continue making their
miniature movies using all the tricks of the trade.

[Film Clip]

Barbara Glazer>> I think that the trailer is about evoking a
mood and giving you the promise of an experience and, if a
trailer delivers the promise of an experience and hopefully the
movie delivers that promise, then I don't think it's a problem.

[Film Clip]

Val>> And here's something for you movie trivia buffs. The
very first trailer dates back to 1912. It promoted a silent
film called "The Adventures of Kathlyn". That concludes our
adventures for the evening. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at
Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

Val>> Next time on Life and Times, a local gay couple was ready
to say "I Do". Now the California Supreme Court says, no, you
don't.

>> We've never had this kind of discussion on this scale in
this nation before and people will be a lot more enlightened
because of it.

>> It doesn't matter if we're not the first to marry as long as
we get married to last and I think we will.

Val>> That's next time on Life and Times.