American High (company)

To start American High, Garelick purchased the building of the defunct A.V. Zogg School for $1 million in 2017. Before the purchase, the property was owned by a Thai businessman and served as a community church. Because of zoning laws, Garelick had to also provide a trade school in addition to filming. This was pitched to the community as the Liverpool School of Cinema. The event attracted 200 people, with Syracuse.com reporting a positive reception from the audience. Later, the school was renamed the academy at Syracuse Studios. The company attracted initial investment from Mickey Liddell of LD Entertainment. The company is known for producing films with unique protagonists in the setting of an American high school and appointing first-time filmmakers as directors. Seven of the first 11 films by the company were made by first-time filmmakers. Sammi Cohen made their film directorial debut at American High with Crush. ==Films==

In October 2022, Will Phelps, the head of production at American High wanted to expand the company's social media presence with sketch comedy. Prior to this, behind the scenes videos were made on productions with little success. The company invited several comedians, filming sketches for around five days each with them to finalize a long term cast. This process resulted in Aidan and Ryan Micho, Julia DiCesare and Luke Burke, all with ties to Syracuse University, Hyde Healy, Tommy Armstrong, and Grace Reiter, who had amassed 2 million follows on TikTok before American High. Grace Reiter went on to post a viral satire rendition called The Hunger Games (but better) - A Parody of ''Lion's Gate'' film adaptation of Suzanne Collins' book The Hunger Games. The production process of the sketches mirrors Saturday Night Live and it has resulted in American High Shorts and College Life, two social media accounts. Filming of social media content continued during the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes and often use Syracuse University as a location. == References ==