The Harold Ramis Film School (HRFS) at the Second City announced today that it has partnered with NBC for the newly created Emerging Voices Scholarship which will be awarded to students from diverse backgrounds that want to study and flex their funny bone at the renowned comedy film school. The scholarship will be awarded to four aspiring filmmaking students from the forthcoming fall 2019 class.

“For three years, HRFS has been teaching and mentoring students as they begin or build upon their careers in film,” said says HRFS Chair Trevor Albert. “To be able to offer students the opportunity to study here and lessen the financial pressure is paramount to the success of this school. We’re so thankful to NBC for supporting our initiatives and the voices we believe are the future of comedic entertainment.”

“As the home of classic hit comedies such as The Office, The Golden Girls, Parks and Recreation and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and an industry leader in developing underrepresented talent through our pipeline programs, NBC has launched the careers of many of today’s beloved comedic talent in front and behind the camera,” adds Karen Horne, Senior Vice President, Programming Talent Development & Inclusion, NBC Entertainment and Universal Television. “So it was a natural expansion of our longstanding relationship with The Second City to create this new scholarship for aspiring diverse comedic filmmakers at the Harold Ramis Film School. Our shared goal is to continue to give opportunities to underrepresented talent so they can be among the next generation of comedy greats.”

Diverse candidates, which HRFS defines as any group of underrepresented cultural voices including ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion, are highly encouraged to apply. Applications for the fall 2019 start date at HRFS are due May 15. Students who are accepted into the program are eligible for the Emerging Voices Scholarship and can submit their applications by June 15.

Since first opening in 2016, the school is named after the late, great actor and comedian who is best known for his role in Ghostbusters and SCTV. The reputation of HRFS is quite impressive as graduates from the program have gone on to do work at Powderkeg (Paul Feig), The Cloudland Company (Peter Tolan), Pen15 (Deb Liebling), EPIX among others. HRFS graduates’ short films have been presented at festivals including Austin Comedy Short Film Fest, Black Laurel Festival, Portland Comedy Film Festival, Golden State Film Festival, Chicago Comedy Film Festival and others.