Frequently Asked Questions

Reimbursements and Payments:

The UC Berkeley Reimbursement System should be used for costs associated with travel, entertainment, supplies, conference registration, computers, memberships, and more. 

• Please select Katie Robertson as your preferred approver when submitting your reimbursement request.
• You can find your chartstrings and fund balances on PI Portfolio. Please email Katie with any questions. Please make sure your VPN is connected to access this website.
• If you have any general questions about reimbursements, please email Katie.
• Please keep in mind that all service related expenses (services include paid labor, such as laptop repairs, film processing, translation, editorial work, etc.) will need to go through BearBuy and the vendoring process tends to take at least a few weeks. A Purchase Order in BearBuy must be created prior to ANY work being completed.

Additional Resources:

Entertainment Reimbursements

• Employees seeking reimbursement of meal and entertainment expenses must submit their report(s) within 45 days of the end date of the meeting or event.
  • Expense reports submitted late may still be paid with appropriate approvals; the amount of the payment may be reported as taxable income.
• You must provide a PDF of your original, itemized receipt.
• Entertainment expenses that are lavish or extravagant are not reimbursable.
• Reimbursements will only be paid up to the allowable campus per person meal expense limit: 
  • Breakfast $31
  • Lunch $54
  • Dinner $94
  • Light Refreshments $22

Note: These amounts include cost of food and beverages, labor, sales tax, delivery charges, gratuity and other service fees. The costs of room rental, room set-up fees, media rental, and decorations, etc., are not included in the per-person costs unless these costs cannot be separated by the vendor.

For additional information, please see UCB’s Entertainment Policy and the Controller’s Office list of allowable expenses. Please view this PDF for step by step instructions on how to submit an entertainment reimbursement request or view this video for additional information.

Travel Reimbursements

• Within 45 days after returning home, you must file an expense report to document the business purpose of the trip and the full amount of the cost.
  • If you failed to submit your reimbursement within 45 days, any exceptions will be treated as taxable income, which would result in the employee’s being subject to withholding on those reimbursements. 
• Employees and students may book flights for business travel through the UC travel system ConnexUC to avoid having to pay out of pocket for business trips(otherwise flights and other travel expenses are able to be submitted for reimbursed at the end of the trip).
• This means employee and student travelers will also need to use the Direct Bill system to generate the identification number that will be used to pay for flights within ConnexUC. Please contact Katie if you need help creating a Direct Bill ID.
• For additional details on travel reimbursements, please see Key Points of the Travel Policy. 
• Please view the Reimbursement for Travel page on the Travel website for instructions on how to submit a travel reimbursement request or view these videos for additional information.

Other Reimbursements

• The Reimbursement System has an option to submit a request for all expenses, not just travel and entertainment expenses.
• The new types of expenses you can submit are those covered in UCOP Policy BUS-43and include lab supplies, conference registration, office supplies, computers, memberships, office relocation, and more. 
• There is a list of the most common expense types in this category on the Controller’s Office website. 
• Please view this PDF for step by step instructions on how to submit an other reimbursement request or view this video for additional information.

Honorarium Requests

• An honorarium is a one-time payment granted in recognition of a special service or distinguished achievement for which propriety forbids any fixed business price to be set and is manifested by an activity such as a special lecture, participation in a workshop or panel discussion, or similar activities.
• Please submit your honorarium payment request for a guest speaker here. Please note your visitor may need to be first set up as a vendor in order to be paid. You can find additional information here.
• For more information on honoraria guidelines see the Controller’s Office, including information about honoraria paid to foreign individuals.

Links to UCB’s Websites & Resources

UCB Travel Website

Currency Converter

Foreign Per Diem Rates (US Department of State) 

Free Travel Insurance for UC Business Travelers

The Benefits of Connexxus for UC faculty and staff

UC Berkeley Travel – Creating a Direct Bill ID

Reimbursement Website

Room Details

142 Dwinelle – Lecture/Screening Room – Capacity of 88
Check the schedule: 142 Dwinelle Calendar

188 Dwinelle – Lecture/Screening Room – Capacity of 49 
Check the schedule: 188 Dwinelle Calendar 

226 Dwinelle – Seminar Room – Capacity of 28
Check the schedule: 226 Dwinelle Calendar 

7415 Dwinelle – Seminar Room – Capacity of 20 
Check the schedule: 7415 Dwinelle Calendar 

Room Rental Policy

Departmental Reservations

Instructors and grad students from the Rhetoric and Film & Media departments may use the above rooms free of charge. To request a room, please first carefully read the room details (above), check the calendars (above) to find an appropriate room for your event, and familiarize yourself with the rules and procedures for all events section of this page (below). Then email your request to Heather Reilly (heatherreilly@berkeley.edu)

Non-Affiliate and Student Group Reservations

Room usage by non-affiliated instructors and groups (including student organizations) requires the payment of a rental fee. The rate is $300 per event. Please contact heatherreilly@berkeley.edu to make a reservation and familiarize yourself with the rules and procedures for all events.

Rooms are available Monday-Friday, 8am-10pm excluding University holidays.

Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance of your event.

Rules and procedures for all events

The following applies to all events that take place in Rhetoric and Film & Media departmental spaces:

• You will receive a room orientation (either in person or remote) before using the room.
• You will enforce all F&M room policies while occupying the rented room, especially our strict NO FOOD OR DRINK policy.
• As per the room orientation, you will confirm before leaving the building that all doors and windows have been securely locked and that all the necessary audiovisual equipment has been shut down.
• Clean up and remove any trash after your event. A cleaning fee may be assessed if excessive mess is left behind.
• Return keys within 48hrs after the event.
• When you receive your keys you will be asked to pay fees (if applicable) and fill out a Film & Media Room Rental Agreement and Facility Use Permit (FUP).

Other Event Spaces on Campus

General Assignment Classrooms

General Assignment (GA) classrooms are managed by the Office of the Registrar and can be reserved by faculty/staff or registered/sponsored student groups. See the Classroom Reservations page on the Office of the Registrar website for more information.

UC Berkeley Library Collaboration Spaces on Campus with AV

Group study rooms are available to current UCB students, faculty and staff. A Cal 1 Card (UCB ID) must be presented to check out a room key. All study rooms can be checked out for 2 hours per UCB ID. Room reservations can be made up to 7 days in advance. 

Hiring

Please go to the Regional Services HR Forms page to find the applicable form(s) to request to hire a student, postdoc, staff or to appoint an affiliate, or volunteer.

Timesheets

You can find a copy of the CSS manual timesheet on the Payroll & Timekeeping page. Please complete and email directly to share_payroll@berkeley.edu

Timesheet Deadlines

The Payroll Calendar is located on the Regional Services website(link is external)

Questions about your pay, benefits or updating your personal data in the HR System?

Submit a request to your HR Partner at Campus Shared Services.

The Event Guidelines and Protocols document contains helpful information about event planning.

Catalog – Film & Media Collection

Please browse the Film & Media Catalog for existing titles in our collection (note call numbers from column 2 on the request form).

Film & Media Loan Request

Film & Media and Rhetoric faculty and graduate students can use this form to request a title or multiple titles from the Film & Media Collection: DVD Loan Request Form

After a request is made, discs will be delivered to the appropriate departmental mailbox. When titles are no longer needed it is expected that they will be returned to Heather Reilly’s mailbox one by one or in bulk. While we do not stipulate a loan duration, please make special arrangements if you foresee needing a title longer than a single semester.

Acquisitions and Rentals:

Film & Media and Rhetoric faculty, and graduate students can request one or more titles that they would like to be added to the collection. Please also use the Film Rental/Order Request form to request a rental from a third party distributor. 

Accessible text-only version: Support Quick Guide for Employees 

This rich and diverse program offers rigorous engagement with the entire culture of moving-images in the larger context of humanistic studies, teaching students to think historically, theoretically, and analytically about a wide range of cinematic and para-cinematic forms.

The core courses for Film & Media majors include a lower division introduction to film, television, or digital media as well as core classes on film and media theory and film form. Students are also required to take upper division courses on experimental media arts, documentary form, global media, and media technology. Students may supplement these core requirements with classes on specific film genres, filmmakers, national cinemas, and more.

You can find the outline of the current major requirements.

The Berkeley Film & Media department is primarily theory focused. Production courses are offered on an application and interview basis for juniors and seniors. The production classes’ application process happens separately from general enrollment and has limited available seating. There are no guarantees that you will get into a film production course during your time at UC Berkeley.

The Film & Media major may be declared after completion of either Film 10 or Film 20 with a letter grade of C or better, and once you’ve completed at least 30 units. 

To declare, submit the Film & Media Major Declaration Form

Please note that the processing of your request will be completed within three weeks.

Film 10 and 20 rarely get waived. However, if you have taken a course on Film Aesthetics, Digital Media or Television Studies at your community college, you can try petitioning to waive the course by filling out a waiver petition form.  Please note that you will need to attach your course syllabus - make sure your syllabus includes course readings and assignments otherwise your petition will be denied.

Film 30 (Film Aesthetics), 4 units, generally offered each Fall and Summer. This course familiarizes students with some of the major technological and aesthetic innovations of the past 80 years which have given rise to the cinema as we know it today.

• Film 35 (Digital Media), 4 units, offered in Spring. This course examines the ways in which digital media first developed and have come to shape our engagement with contemporary culture, with a particular focus on aesthetics, form, and politics.
• Film 45 (Television Studies), 4 units, offered in Fall. This course provides an overview of the history of television as a dynamic set of technologies, industrial practices, and cultural forms.

We do not give out permission codes for our major. If there is an open seat available in a class, please enroll. You will notice on the class schedule that we do our best to reserve seats for declared film majors and incoming transfer students. We cannot guarantee that you will get into all your classes; however, it's recommended that you register for your top two or three classes during your phase 1 registration.

Of the 16 upper division elective units required for the major, only one 4-unit course may be taken P/NP; all other courses must be taken for a letter grade.

No. The undergraduate advisor cannot enroll students in a closed film class unless the instructor has given permission for the student to enroll. In this case, the undergraduate advisor will need an email confirmation from the instructor.

It depends. Often it's recommended for a student to take summer courses to catch up with major requirements. If financially you are unsure about summer classes, please check with the financial aid office or estimate your cost and financial aid for Summer Sessions, Summer Abroad, or Global Internships. Log into Cal Central, go to My Finances, navigate to the Financial Resources area on the right side of the page.

Professional study abroad advisers are available to assist you during Advising Hours The Study Abroad office provides general advising for students who have not yet selected a program. Advisers specializing in countries and programs are also available to answer your program specific questions via email or during specified hours. 

Students must fill out a petition to get courses abroad approved for the Film major. The classes must be upper division, 4 units and related to the major. Please note that up to a maximum of two (8 units) pre-approved extra-departmental elective courses can be counted for credit towards the major. This includes waived (approved classes taken at other institutions) and approved courses while taken abroad; all other courses must be taken within the Department of Film & Media.

To get your study abroad courses approved, you must first make sure the classes you are planning on petitioning for are upper division, 4 units and Film and Media focused. The next step is to fill out the Extra-Departmental Course Petition form and attach the course syllabus. Please email the petition form and syllabus  to the undergraduate film advisor. Our faculty advisors will review your petition and decide if the course can be applied to the major. You will receive an email confirmation once approved. 

If your petition was denied, I will inform you over email and you will need to either look for a different course or plan on taking your major requirements on campus.

You can petition for these courses either before or after you study abroad. Please note that your grades will need to be posted before your APR can be updated. 

You can request to change your EGT. If you are changing to a current term, you must make the request prior to the deadline

You may submit an Expected Graduation Term Change Request form if you would like to move your EGT to:

• an earlier term

• a summer term

• the next Fall/Spring term and are sure you are under the unit ceiling

• a ninth semester (fifth semester for transfers) for declared double majors

If you wish to move your EGT to a future Fall/Spring term, but are not sure you will be at or under the unit ceiling (or if you know you will be above the unit ceiling), you will need an appointment with an L&S College Adviser to see if taking extra semesters will be possible.

Learn more on our Unit Ceiling and Semester Limit page.

The UG Advisor cannot drop or add a class after the deadline has passed. Students are allowed 2 late changes to their class schedule (i.e. adding/dropping courses after the deadline) during their entire time at UCB. If the student has not yet used their 2 late changes, they can petition to late add/drop their class through a Cal Central eform. 

For more information and instructions on late dropping, please visit the Late Change of Class Schedule page on the L&S Advising site.

Students are in charge of finding their own internships. If there is an internship related to the major, you are eligible to receive credit. To be eligible to do an external internship that relates to your film and media studies for course credit, you must be a declared film major in good standing with a 3.0 GPA and have completed 60 units of credit. Only 4-units of internship units may be counted towards the 16 unit upper division elective requirement for the Film & Media major. . Please note that the same internship may only be taken once for credit. For more information please visit the Internships page on the department website. It's important to highlight that an approved internship course (Film 197B) is considered a class within the Film department as long as its 4 units.

This is a course taught in the major department such as Film 10 or 20. Room-shared classes are also considered courses offered within the department. For ex: If Film 145 is room-shared/cross-listed with Italian 170 and students enroll in the Italian section, we will count this course as a departmental film class and not an extra department course. 

Courses that are offered through a different department or taught at a different institution are considered extra departmental courses. These courses are not offered through our department and will need to be petitioned to get approved.  

Our policy with extra- departmental courses are  up to two (8 units) pre-approved extra-departmental elective courses can be counted for credit towards the major, this also includes waived (approved classes taken at other institutions) and approved courses while taken abroad; all other courses must be taken within the Department of Film & Media.

1. Download the Double Major Petition

2. Meet with an Undergraduate Major Adviser* in each department to review/create a program plan and to complete the Double Major Petition.

3. If you have questions or concerns about your proposed program plan and/or completing all degree requirements within the unit ceiling, meet with an L&S College Adviser to review your petition.

4. Submit completed petition to L&S Advising at lspetitions@berkeley.edu

5. Applications for double majors must be submitted prior to the first day of classes in the term in which you intend to graduate.

Please make an appointment with the Berkeley Career Engagement for support with resume and cover letters.  For guidance on graduate school or your intellectual interests, you can reach out to our Film Faculty Advisors