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SAN DIEGO—During a break in the filming of country legend Merle Haggard's life-story, rock and roll icon Jerry Lee Lewis snapped up director Michael Steven Gregory and director of photography Jim Orr to lens a behind-the-scenes profile during his recent House of Blues engagement in Anaheim.

Also enlisted on the three-camera shoot was Kevin Graham, a graduate student who has participated in two of the Indie Filmmaker's Bootcamp programs that Gregory directs for The American Academy of Arts, of which he is also president.

Graham is representative of several students that have come out of the total immersion program in which aspiring filmmakers work alongside Hollywood professionals to make a movie and immediately been hired for commercial productions. According to Gregory, "Kevin has demonstrated a passion and acumen for filmmaking that inspires us to hire our students and help forge as many professional opportunities for them as we can to ensure they get a foothold in the industry that sets them apart from those who lack qualified production experience."

Said Graham of his experience filming The Killer and watching him perform "Great Balls of Fire": "It was awesome."

The American Academy of Arts provides programs that offer hands-on, project-based learning with a focus on digital cinema. Bringing in professional television and film producers, directors, graphics specialists and production teams to mentor students, its unique approach to education provides real-world experience on both professional-level and student projects, utilizing the latest media technology. Programs sponsored by A3 have won numerous awards at the state, national and international levels. Most recently its programs received recognition for student Television Excellence from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

>> Visit The American Academy of Arts
>> Visit Indie Filmmaker's Bootcamp

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