PILOT INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Nerdmaker’s current experiential-learning work is testing how multidisciplinary creative education can operate around real entertainment projects.
Participants gain exposure to interconnected areas including film development, game design, 3D fabrication, creative strategy, entertainment marketing, story development and interactive storytelling.
The goal is to transform this pilot methodology into a repeatable workforce-development program capable of serving future cohorts of students and emerging professionals across multiple educational areas of study.
2026 FALL SEMESTER
The Lab’s educational model is being piloted through credit-bearing experiential work involving Rochester Institute of Technology students across film development, game design, 3D fabrication, transmedia production and entertainment marketing. This program has been conducted during the fall semesters for students attending the Los Angeles (study abroad program) ranging from August to December.
2026 PROGRAM METRICS
Participants
23 students
Disciplines represented
10 different creative and technical disciplines
Training hours
4,600 combined instructional and experiential hours
Projects / deliverables
Multiple prototypes, weekly assets and creative deliverables
Portfolio development
All participants completing professional portfolio work
Employment pathways
3 participants pursuing paid production or industry opportunities, upon graduating at semester's conclusion
THE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
THE GATEWAY PROJECT
A multidisciplinary transmedia project rooted in New York.
The Gateway Project is an independent horror and transmedia property inspired by the folklore, landscapes and cultural history of New York State’s Herkimer County.
The project provides an interdisciplinary environment through which emerging creators can explore the relationship between film, game development, creature and production design, 3D fabrication, digital media, marketing, worldbuilding and interactive storytelling.
Nerdmaker uses projects like this as educational environments where participants can understand how multiple creative disciplines contribute to a larger media property.
Future commercial productions associated with the property are intended to create opportunities for qualified emerging creators to transition from educational experiences into paid professional production roles.
DISCLOSURE:
Educational programming operated by Nerdmaker is separate from independently financed commercial production activities. Any professional employment arising from a commercial production is compensated separately from Nerdmaker educational programming.