T-Hub & MEE School come up with an initiative 'CINEPRENEUR'

T-Hub and MEE School (Media & Entertainment E-School), an initiative to bridge the skill deficiency in the Media and Entertainment Space; announced a joint program 'Cinepreneur,' to train professionals for entrepreneurship in media and entertainment domain with internship and incubation facility, at T-HUB. Cinepreneur is the first of its kind initiative in India in the start-up space devoted to media & entertainment industry.

M. Srinivas Rao, CEO, T-HUB; Pratibha Pulijala, Founder & Director, MEE School; Shantha Thoutam, Chief Innovation Officer, Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC); Shreeram Iyer, Vice President, Ecosystem Innovation, T-HUB and Shrikanth Sinha, CEO, TASK. An MoU was exchanged between Shreeram Iyer and Pratibha Pulijala, to formalise the initiative, on the occasion.

T-HUB CEO Srinivas Rao said, the two things which are constant in India are movies and cricket and here is an initiative which is bringing the power of movies combining with technology. Several of experiences or learnings are from movies. One of the industry's which was impacted big time during pandemic was movie industry, but that led to an interesting transition which led to OTT.

I was looking at some numbers, the OTT industry is now estimated to be $7 bn to $9 bn, obviously as time goes on, even mainstream commercial movies, even the latest Akshay Kumar movie was released on OTT first. We will start to see more of convenience of being able to watch a movie anywhere any time, of course nothing can beat the experience of watching a movie in a dark hall.

But OTT will create a whole new industry of entrepreneurs. This initiative to create new set of entrepreneurs and from the right place is good initiative. What Cinepreneur is trying to build is really commendable and T-Hub will extend complete support. The opportunities in the media and entertainment industry are proliferating like never before, but like most domains it is witnessing a major revamp, be it in terms of technology, creativity, skills needed etc.

The rapidly transforming industry needs skilling to keep pace, there is also a dire need to reskill the existing workforce. Only a new age curriculum that embraces the evolution the industry is experiencing can equip the students. Cinepreneur is apt to bridge the void felt in the Media and Entertainment domain and are therefore delighted to collaborate with MEE School, says Srinivas Rao.

Cinepreneur offers live interactive virtual two to three months courses exclusively for the media and entertainment sector, certified by the assessment body of skill India.The curriculum is designed by eminent thought leaders and mentors from the media and entertainment industry, to groom professionals who are better equipped to cope with the incessant challenges and take the industry to inimitable heights.

The courses involve real time experience and meticulous training, to make the students experts in their respective domains. The programs are inbuilt with regular mentoring and providing opportunities for internships and apprenticeships. Besides skilling of freshers, Cinepreneur will also extend programs to skill and re-skill professionals from the Industry with Government certification. To overcome the language barrier, the courses will be offered in regional languages for local unskilled individuals.

Founder & Director of MEE School Pratibha Pulijala said, cinema making should also be structured on the lines of entrepreneurship, therefore Cinepreneur module is being built with lot of research and understanding. The courses are offered online over a period of three months and aligned with industry experts, lot of experts and certified trainers from pan India are part of this program, where the experts share their hands on experience with the students.

This program is for film makers, who have a mindset to become movie entrepreneurs. Media and entertainment sector is emerging as a sunrise industry for the Indian economy. The industry is on the verge of a strong phase of growth, backed by growing consumer demand and improving advertising revenues. According to a report by FICCI-EY, the ratio of advertising to GDP will increase from 0.38% in 2019 to 0.4% by 2025. There is a dearth of structured courses to help grapple with the rapid changes the industry is confronting and Cinepreneur effectively bridges this gap, says Pratibha Pulijala.

The various courses of MEE School e-learning platform includes direction, script writing, cinematography, photography, acting, dancing, voice over, editing, production, animation, graphic designing, 2D & 3D composting, motion graphics, VFX, audio & video editing, besides for professionals like makeup artists and hair stylist. The courses are structured to suit working professionals and offers flexibility.

As part of the program there will be one class a week, coupled with assignments to keep the students engaged, while enabling them to sharpen their skills. The curriculum will have modern era settings coupled with pre-production and post-production modules. It will also lay special emphasis and share strategic insights on marketing, promotion and communication, essential while making a web series for OTT or a film.

Shrikanth Sinha, CEO, TASK, said, T-Hub has taken a lead along with MEE School in launching Cinepreuner. Technology is transforming the film industry, this course will enable us to leverage technology to innovate in film making.