Liz Carr ’16, Media Arts
From NVU to Netflix and Hulu, She’s Making Her Mark
The first movie set Liz Carr ’16 built was at NVU for a senior project in the media arts program. She created a detective’s office with photos of crime scenes, scattered coffee cups, and tools of the trade covering a messy metal desk.
Since she graduated, Liz has spent most of her time around TV and film sets. “The senior project really got me interested in set decorating,” she says. “It was a good starting point because I had to figure out the materials I needed and the mood I was trying to create, and now I’m doing that on a much larger scale.”
Creating sets is just one of her responsibilities as she assists with production, wardrobes, and other tasks for projects for Netflix, Hulu, and other companies.
NVU Classes, Real-World Opportunities, Friendly Community Prepared Her to Succeed
In the media arts program’s Bachelor of Fine Arts track, Liz’s classes in animation, videography, studio art, and other subjects “helped me get a better idea of what was out there in the job market,” she says. “NVU has had a pretty heavy impact on where I’m at now…As I progressed at NVU, I figured out what I wanted to do.”
In addition to relevant courses, at NVU Liz built the broad skills she needed for her career through hands-on opportunities, including making videos for local nonprofits and community groups. “I definitely wouldn’t have known how to film things properly or known about editing without the classes I took,” she says.
The small class sizes at NVU made Liz’s professors accessible. And the tight-knit campus community was supportive. “You immediately connect with everyone,” she says. “Everybody is there to help you. Any of the offices and teachers will take time to talk with you.”
Making an Impact With Big Names in Her Field
The detective scene set Liz created at NVU eventually led to similar sets she has been involved with for Hulu’s horror series “Castle Rock,” which includes police scenes. For the first season of the TV series, based on books by Stephen King, she was a production assistant who did various tasks. Now at work on the second season, she was promoted to the locations department to help choose filming spots in Massachusetts.
For the first season of the Netflix mystery series “The Society,” also filmed in Massachusetts, Liz was a production assistant. She plans to work on episodes for the second season.
She prefers working on TV shows to films. “A TV show is consistent work. I also like the feel of television. We start fresh each time,” Liz says. “It’s nice to work on different episodes. You get to know the crew a lot better.”
She Shares Her Passion for Telling Stories With the World
The career preparation Liz had at NVU helped her land work in her field almost as soon as she graduated, as a production assistant for a TV pilot. “It gave me a lot of great experience. It was nice to jump on something right out of school,” says Liz, who lives in Gardner, Massachusetts.
Although her job isn’t easy — she typically works 12-hour days during filming — Liz loves what she does.
“I’ve always been interested in bringing stories to life. When you spend so much time on a huge project and see the actors bring it all together, it feels great because your hard work hasn’t gone to waste,” she says. “Hulu and Netflix have become universal. To work on something so accessible to a lot of people is very exciting.”