Producing a Film School: A Dodge College History

A Dodge College Production

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Producing a Film School—A Dodge College History

Directed by Bob Bassett Written by Janell Shearer Edited by Tina Graves, Ciara Jones, Meagan O'Shea, Theresa Watson Research by Julie Gorzik, Sora Kim, Jessica Kryser, Meagan O’Shea Titles by Adam Rote Technical advisor: Tod Withey

Producing a film school 1981-2019

What is a college/university?

It’s not an entity you can touch, yet it has a life—a life that began before the people who are there today and a life that will continue long after they are gone.

This history of Dodge College attempts to capture that life, knowing full well that any attempt to do so is as imperfect as our memories, our records, and our perceptions. History appears to be what we remember, what we wrote down, what we took pictures of, but it is evanescent. Our memories are colored by relationships we enjoyed and those we did not, by the fun, frustrations, obstacles and successes we encountered along the way remaining finally a mirage, an enigma.

We recognize that there is a great deal more to tell than what is included here and we apologize for things missed and for our inaccuracies and mistakes. Please think of this as our version of an impressionist painting—a picture brought to life from a scattering of images and ideas that might be seen differently, depending on your point of view.

We offer, humbly, this book, in hopes it will stir your own memories and bring back good thoughts of what we all—faculty, staff, alumni, students—built together.

Bob and Janell Bassett

The mission of Dodge College is “To nurture the dreams and open the minds of students, preparing them for a creative life in the film and television arts.”

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The School of Film and Television had one of the very ďŹ rst web pages at Chapman, when the Internet was still in its infancy. Today, Dodge is visible on many platforms: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and on its own blog pages.

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Dean Bassett and Kristina Dodge joined forces to host Next Generation Filmmakers in the TV studio in DeMille Hall, telling the stories of Dodge students and the challenges their ďŹ lms presented.

Telling our story

By Janell Shearer Bassett

From my very first days at Chapman, I have been involved in telling the story of what we—our students, colleagues and alumni—have attempted and accomplished. In the early '80s, I worked with student writers and editors to publish The Channel, a Xeroxed newsletter that described various doings in the Department of Communications.

Over the years, Bob and I were involved in creating many multi-image shows (multiple-projector slide shows, often as large as 18 computer-controlled projectors running simultaneously) to tell various Chapman stories, primarily for fundraising purposes. As the film program grew, I brought my background as a writer and editor to bear on various iterations of newsletters and brochures, viewbooks, event programs, web copy, letters, reports, speeches, PowerPoint presentations, videos and just about everything else to share what we were doing through the accomplishments of the people with whom we worked.

The marriage of film, Bob’s discipline, and PR, mine, is as natural as our partnership. Both are about storytelling, about understanding your audience and drawing them into the tale you want to tell. From our earliest days at Chapman, Bob has always said “take your destiny into your own hands.” In other words, don’t wait for others to do things for you, do what you need to do yourself.

Telling our story ourselves has been central to that dictum and to our success. This book is the last chapter in that story, for us, but it is just a piece of what we hope will be continuing success story for students, faculty and alumni for many years to come.

Marketing is at the heart of admissions and for many years Dodge College produced its own handsome viewbooks, managing all copy, design and photography to position the school and its programs.

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Left page, graduation ďŹ lm books showcased student work, while In Production magazine highlighted student, faculty and alumni accomplishments and took an in-depth look at each of our programs.

Getting our story out also involved pitching trade and local media and working directly with vendors to tell our story, as Dean Bassett did at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas, above left. He was also the ďŹ rst dean featured in an ad campaign sponsored by Kodak.

Visits by our students to other countries also captured media attention, as here in The Korea Times.

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Video promotions, it goes without saying, have long been at the heart of telling the Dodge story on our website and in other venues. Produced by students and alumni, What's Your Story featured an inside look at all Dodge has to offer.

A video created for the gala premiere featured students of the future, below, wearing shirts listing their class years, led on a tour by the Dean. Major donors also participated; Don Sodaro mimicked swimming as Dory in Finding Nemo for a motion capture session and Marion Knott dusted the sign bearing her name from the top of a cherry-picker.

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Branding has always been central to telling the Dodge story. The first Chapman Studios logo was inspired by the MGM logo. Later versions graced every student film and the Panther frequently came to life in the hands of our animation students.

Telling the Dodge story included pitching industry and local media, promoting our industry faculty, student screenings and awards, and alumni accomplishments.

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On-going media coverage has helped grow Chapman’s reputation, draw prospective students and highlight the film school vision over the years. A sampling from local magazines and newspapers.

From Film School Confidential, The Insider’s Guide to Film Schools by Tom Edgar and Karin Kelly, 2007 “If there’s a better-equipped, better-funded film school on the planet, we haven’t seen it.

And if Chapman doesn’t yet have famous alumni to put them on the map, they certainly will before long.”

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A film school vision: Big ideas Over the years, big ideas drove the vision for what became Dodge College. Some ideas came from Dean Bassett’s experience as a teacher, including his years teaching at private/boarding schools as well as at public high schools and universities before coming to Chapman. A literature/philosophy major at Pomona College, and later a photographer/cinematographer, he led week-long photography trips to Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley and other photogenic places. Other ideas were inspired by what was happening in the business; still others came from working with colleagues at Chapman and at other film schools around the country as well as with friends in the community. And the value and power of those ideas was driven by constant reexamination and reinforcement through regular faculty retreats and a constant focus on planning based on what was best for the students, rather than faculty schedules or preference.

Key elements of the overall vision took many years to develop and new pieces were added as new opportunities arose. Among the strategic ideas that helped drive Chapman’s film school to national and international recognition with highly selective student admissions and top students in the classroom, were the following: Core values: Planning/curriculum Film is the literature of this century: An understanding that film is the most powerful medium of our time—the lingua franca that crosses international borders, communicates with people at every socio-economic and educational level and brings together all of the other art forms—paints the bigger picture of film education. The art of visual storytelling has become vital to every business, particularly with the continuing evolution of the Internet and mobile devices. The ability to use the tools of filmmaking is preparation for a wide variety of careers, Dean Bassett says, not just for a graduate’s first job, but for his or her job 20 years from now.

Student-centric: Schedules and activities focus on what works best for students. Although many faculty live in L.A. and face a sometimes challenging commute, they are committed to the idea students come first. Mentoring is the hallmark of student/faculty interaction.

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Core values: Mentoring matters—top, one-on-one discussions with faculty who have worked in the industry, such as Professor Bill Kroyer.

Students need to know the business of the business, above. In 2015, television Professor Ross Brown, left, and Dean Bob Bassett kicked off the launch of the New Era of Television program at Sony Pictures featuring Netflix COO Ted Sarandos, AMC COO Ed Carroll, and Steve Mosko, then president of Sony Pictures Television and now CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group.

restricted filmmaking to the junior year and after. Although that kind of restriction is less prevalent today as other schools have adopted Chapman’s philosophy, it still exists in some places.

International initiatives have helped students see the world and explore stories of other cultures through new eyes.

Students own their own films: From the beginning, Chapman students have retained the rights to their own films. Even today, some film schools hold copyright to student work.

Open 24/7: Reflecting both how students live and work and the business itself, Marion Knott Studios, the Digital Media Arts Center and Chapman Studios West are available to students 24/7 through key card access.

The business of the business: Every film school teaches the art of filmmaking, but Dodge College also teaches the business of the business. Teaching students how the film business works is the strategy behind many of the special programs that have come to define Dodge College: the annual Women in Focus conference, Filmmakers-in-Residence, annual trips to Sundance and the Busan International Film Festival (the Cannes of Asia held in Korea), adding Public Relations and Advertising to the film school (no other film school offers entertainment marketing), the development of the Creative Producing program, and the addition of classes that study changing business models such as The New Era of Television.

Signing a partnership to launch a Creative Producing program in Singapore.

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International initiatives: Filmmaking exchanges have taken Chapman students to Korea, Singapore and Taiwan and brought student teams from those countries to Orange to work together on cross-cultural filmmaking projects. The value of discovering meaning through the filmmaking process also animates documentary travel to countries in Africa (Malawi, Ghana, Mozambique, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Uganda, and Tanzania) as well as filmmaking trips to Cambodia and Cuba, Ireland and Iceland and other countries.

Paul Folino, left, and Jack Lindquist, below, were two early believers/ supporters in what the film school could mean in and to Orange County.

A Chapman degree offered in Singapore at the invitation of that country’s government created many international opportunities until the government decided to move in another direction. One graduate of that program, Janice Chua '11, was a producer on Crazy Rich Asians. On-going conversations with various entities in China may see the development of a new international degree program down the road.

Working faculty: Although academic hiring traditionally values degrees over experience, the faculty of Dodge College has been built on an entirely different model. As Dean Bassett says, he has Dodge College faculty 2016

Front, from left: Jurg Walther, Harry Ufland, David Ward, Paul Seydor, Janell Shearer, Bob Bassett, Paul Gulino, Madeline Warren, Nam Lee. Second row: Judy Kriger, Steve Hirsen, Emily Carman, Roy Finch, Eric Young, Alex Rose, Russell Schwartz, Bill Kroyer, Chuck Workman, Andy Lane, Dan Leonard, Pavel Jech, Michael Kowalski, Jeff Swimmer, John Chichester, Kiku Terasaki, Bettina Gilois, Johnny Jensen, Rachel Goldberg. Back row: Harry Cheney, Dan Pavelin, James Gardner, Jim Fredrick, Kelli Fuery, Scott Arundale, Veston Rowe, Bill Dill, Adam Rote, Dave Kost, Gil Bettman, Bill Rosenthal, Paul Wolansky, James Dutcher. Absent: Barry Blaustein, John Badham, Martha Coolidge, Pete Weitzner, Sally Rubin.

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Keeping pace with technology is an expensive, but necessary component of film education, from editing to virtual reality storytelling to learning to use a Steadicam.

brought in faculty who can teach the complex art of filmmaking because they’ve done it, rather than reading about it in books. The result is a faculty with more than 500 feature film credits.

The impact of technology: Making the switch to non-linear editing when it first became available, creating a workflow in Marion Knott Studios that allows students and faculty to access their digital assets from anywhere in the building or out, adding a degree in Animation and Visual Effects, moving to get into the emerging fields of VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality)--these have all been steps taken to keep up with changing technologies.

Reputation/development Thinking big: The support of community leaders who understood Dean Bassett’s vision for the film school enabled its growth and progress over the years. Fundamental to that vision was the leadership of campaign leaders such as Jack Lindquist, a marketing guru and former president of Disneyland, and Paul Folino, CEO of Emulex, who famously said that Dodge College should aim to be “the best film school on the planet.”

The missing piece: In reaching out for fund-raising support, Dean Bassett foregrounded the idea that although Orange County had a well-developed cultural scene that supported music, dance and the visual arts such as painting and sculpture, film education/production was the missing piece of this cultural landscape. With the growing influence of film, Orange County needed a place where the art of film was studied and films were made.

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Outreach: Letting the world know what Chapman is and does has taken many forms over the years, from the launch of one of the first websites at Chapman to annual screenings of student films at the Directors’ Guild of America in Los Angeles and New York, and the hiring of a film festival coordinator to help students get their films into festivals.

Outreach also included bringing a steady stream of Hollywood guests to campus for weekly dinners, classes and panels, thereby acquainting those in the industry with what was happening just down the road.

Outreach also included positioning Chapman as a leading film school academically by hosting the annual conference of the national association of film schools, the University Film and Video Association (UFVA), as well as the international association of film schools, The International Association of Film and Television Schools (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision – CILECT) and sending faculty to those conferences year after year to present, learn and interact.

Just this year Associate Dean Michael Kowalski was elected to the CILECT board as leader of CILECT North America (CNA), a richly deserved honor because of all the work he has performed for CILECT over the years.

Innovation: Chapman Filmed Entertainment (CFE), a feature film production company designed to produce $1-2-million films in order to accelerate the careers of Chapman alumni, is unlike anything else in higher education today. With the theatrical release of its first film, The Barber, as well as distribution for its second film Static, CFE is now poised to begin production on a slate of films. This unique initiative has captured wide media coverage in both the trade and national press.

Outreach and innovation have gone hand-in-hand in the development of Dodge College, bringing in faculty from other schools for conferences, such as the UFVA conference held at Chapman in 2013, left, and creating a first of its kind independent feature film company which produced the thriller, The Barber (scene above).

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HISTORY In the beginning...

Bob Bassett, founding Dean of Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, has often said that building a film school is like producing a film. It requires vision, leadership, a coherent narrative, careful preproduction and production, fundraising and marketing.

Or, as journalist Terence Loose once wrote in an interview with Dean Bassett in Coast Magazine, “Creating a first-class film school is not unlike making a movie. You start with nothing but a vision and a strong passion, recruit talent and deploy them in their fight against the inevitable setbacks and challenges of any grand undertaking, and finally, hopefully, a blockbuster product flickers to life. And of course there’s the money. You’ll need a lot of it.”

Thirty-eight years later, as Dean Bassett prepares to retire, Chapman’s film school enjoys a national and international reputation and is highly selective, accepting about one in nine students who apply for the film production program. Over the years, it has added both undergraduate and graduate degrees, taken students around the world, and expanded to two more buildings beyond Marion Knott Studios, a distinctive facility that has captured and continues to capture the imagination of prospective students and Hollywood visitors alike.

Film classes originally met in space managed by the art department in Nellie Gail Moulton Hall. Black paper was taped over the windows to enable film screenings.

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The early days But in the beginning, things were very different. Bassett arrived to find no real film major, just a few film classes in what was then the Department of Communications, a handful of students, and just a few pieces of equipment.

“The entire film school was in my office,” he says. “I had one lighting kit, one camera and one sound package, which I personally checked out to the kids, as well as a moviola. As limited as it appears from our current vantage point, I thought it was a heavenly gift: we could make movies!"

But it was enough, as Bassett soon realized that teaching film language could only be truly meaningful if students made films—if they learned how camera placement, editing choices, lighting etc. helped shape the stories they wanted to tell.

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Above, the Film Club. The third location film was a melodrama, Quiet on the Set, starring Liz Pacela '86. Left, early equipment was basic, but did the job; top, Mark Parry '84, who later became an adjunct instructor, splices film; bottom, Jon Miller '85 hooks up a sound recorder.

A PR major, Je Torkelson '84, below, hands out some publicity for an upcoming screening of 16mm ďŹ lms.

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In the world of largely mechanical equipment, Professor Bob Bassett had to make repairs himself, below, left. (Note the chalkboards, also long gone.) Mark Cary '84, top left, edits on a atbed moviola.

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Although location filmmaking began early, much of the instruction and practice took place on campus. Students were also largely responsible for wrangling and checking their own equipment, as there was no staff to manage that sometimes complicated task.

Neal Ng '85, at the camera, lines up a shot under the watchful eye of his professor, Bob Bassett.

Far right, Mike Ritter '86 checks out equipment.

Near right, Greg Thompson ‘85, (center) consults with Marc Messenger '86. Thompson went on to become an editor on films including Mission Impossible II and Armageddon, as well as on Chapman Filmed Entertainment’s The Barber.

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Sinan Kanatsiz '97, who went on to become a founder of the alumni support group Chapman 50, center, at the PRSSA conference in St. Louis with Janell Shearer, right, in 1997.

Film and Public Relations began as part of the Communications Department, along with theater, dance and speech. The Com Department faculty, below, in 1985, front row: Richard Watson, Donna Cucunato, Pat Doetkott, Ron Thronson, Charles Rainey, Dick Doetkott; back row, Iris Gerbasi, Greg Hobson, Henry Kemp-Blair, Jay Boylan, Bob Bassett.

Members of the original PR Club, precursor to PRSSA in 1982. Bottom row, from left, Laura Kranser, Dave Delgado, Linda Haertling; top, Loring Fiske, Velvet Fiala, Steve Valkenburg, Professor Janell Shearer, Dana Apple, Craig Underwood.

Student ďŹ lmmakers in the early days didn’t let the lack of equipment slow their creativity. Front, from left: Bryan Nelson, Jon Miller, Joyce Tani, Dave Swett, Kathy Newton, Mary Francuz, Marc Messenger, Rob Ferguson. Back, Greg Ropp, Mike Sigalas, Mark Cary, Olga Monroy, Karen Hodge, Laura Strickler, Tracy Crowe.

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Early video cameras were cumbersome just as recording sound required the use of equipment most students today would not even recognize.

Professor Jay Boylan supervises Christina Tasulis '86 shooting on campus, right.

Below, left, Charlie Moe '82, wearing headphones, was the very ďŹ rst student Bob Bassett met when he started at Chapman.

Later, his daughter, Kayla '16, was a PR/Ad student in Dodge.

Below, right, Neal Ng '85 works out the timing of a slide-tape project.

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Location filmmaking: where it all began In what became the basis for the school’s focus on hands-on learning, Bob Bassett took a group of students to Death Valley over Chapman’s Interterm in 1983 for a ”location filmmaking” experience. That, he says, “was the genesis of the film school today—it moved things forward and started everyone thinking larger.”

That trip set the stage for many years of location-based projects during Interterm.

As one who had camped and hiked most of his life, Bassett was familiar with the exotic visual landscapes offered by Death Valley and thought it was a good location for a January trip “because it was warm.” So the students packed up tents, food and film equipment, which included film stock bought through Army surplus, and headed out for a seven-day shoot of a script written just days before. The resulting postapocalyptic film, The Cocktail Party, provided an unforgettable experience and was the first of many such trips.

Bob Bassett center, gives instructions before students load up for the trip to Death Valley.

Above, Olga Monroy '85, center, and Mary Francuz '86, right, take on some of the work of feeding a hungry crew, one of whom, right, barely made it back to the tent, possibly after a few beers.

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Ready to shoot, from left, George Waters '83, Brian Vyrostek '83 and John Connelly '84.

A frame from the original storyboard by Marc Messenger '86.

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A foreign filmmaking first

The next year took the students to Cabo San Lucas, an adventure which saw them changing from an air-conditioned Greyhound bus at the Mexican border to a bullet-riddled bus with no heat that tortured them through the frigid mountain pass on the way to the beautiful locale where they finally shot their film. And from there, well, students were motivated to keep traveling to tell their stories.

The film shot in Cabo San Lucas, titled Countermoves, starred Candance Savalas '85.

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Below, John Northrup '85 directs, from left, Patrick Plumb '85 and Neil Lowenthal '86.

From left, Daryl Harper '86, Mike Ritter '86 and Neal Ng '85 set up a shot.

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From there, students went everywhere

Student filmmakers go where their locations demand, from Colorado, top, to California, middle left; from airports, middle right, to Arizona, bottom. Opposite page, to a Western town movie set, into the forest, up cliffs and into the mountains, onto the ocean and into lakes, and up in the air—whatever it takes, that’s where they go.

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Building our film school: A few thoughts on 38 years Bob Bassett, Founding Dean I first came to what was then Chapman College in 1981.

I was the first film professor, charged with creating a film program out of the existing two classes, in what was then the Communications Department. The department had more of a performing arts focus, with theatre and dance providing the bulk of the students, but also offering film, speech and public relations.

The seminal event of that first year for me was meeting and becoming friends with Janell Shearer, the first PR professor hired that same year, who, over the decades became my partner in telling the story of what we both worked to create.

Chapman College was very small at that time, just 1500 students total, and not selective: Chapman took anyone who applied. In fact, budgets weren’t made up until January because the College had to wait and see who showed up before we knew how much money we had to spend. I expected to remain only a year or two but everyone was so kind and so much fun to work with that I began to have other thoughts.

I had an office in the Art Department—space was not a problem in those days. I created the first equipment checkout in my office and eventually took over a larger room, at least for a year or two, until they wanted me to move out as they realized what was going to happen to their excess space.

When Argyros Forum was built, Chapman was set to demolish the old cafeteria, a building that had once been a bus barn for the Orange Unified School District. In Jim Doti’s telling of the story—the bulldozers were about to raze the building when I dashed into his office and asked to have it for the budding film program. We took possession of the building and it was later renamed DeMille Hall, in honor of support from Trustee Cece Presley, the granddaughter of Cecil B. DeMille.

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Early Chapman College scenes: top, Professor Bill Womack teaching class; bottom, Janell Shearer works with the slide-tape crew for a fundraising event.

film program. One idea I had that really paid off was to take students on location to make a film over Interterm. Our first trip was to Death Valley, where we spent a week writing and shooting a film, returning to campus to edit and screen what we were sure was a masterpiece. I am still in touch with some of the alumni who worked on that first film; one of them, Marc Messenger '86, now a Project Director at Blizzard Entertainment, was my TA at the time and, to save money, he actually slept in my office at night.

Right, President Buck Smith, who started fundraising at Chapman. Below, Dean Ron Thronson, who turned Bob Bassett loose to raise money for a film school.

Bottom, Cece Presley, Arthur Hiller and Marion Knott join Bob Bassett for the dedication of Cecil B. DeMille Hall.

The program grew slowly in the ‘80s, reaching 150 students as Chapman College became Chapman University. Communications had evolved into a school with departments with Ron Thronson as dean and I eventually became chair of Film and Television. I began to think of producing a film school like producing a film—that we needed a vision and a director/leader to work with the “actors” in order to create something distinctive.

During my first days at Chapman College, I was befriended by then President Buck Smith. Buck was a gifted fundraiser who launched Chapman’s first major fundraising campaign for $54M. He truly laid the groundwork for what Chapman is today and I had a front row seat. I worked with him closely and studied his leadership and his ability to strategically bond with people and build relationships in support of his goals for the College.

Jim Doti built on what Buck began and created a very entrepreneurial environment at Chapman that suited me perfectly. I will be forever grateful for the supportive and open-minded culture that Jim created as I set out to build a film school of distinction.

One of my first big steps toward that end was to go to my dean and best friend, Ron Thronson, to ask his blessing on my plan to form a separate school. Knowing that universities don’t typically just hand out buildings, I saw that we would need a film school building to house the program that I had in mind and so I also approached Jim Doti about becoming a dean, for the purpose of raising money. They both said yes.

At that time, I was on the Orange County Film Commission and was introduced to Gary Bastien, an architect who had done a great deal of work for the studios. Chapman had just purchased two city blocks where some old warehouses belonging to the Anaconda Wire Company stood. I told Gary about my vision of building a first-class studio and a backlot on those 10 acres, and he created a site plan and rendering of a studio with an iconic arched gate and a water tower.

I put that rendering up in my office and when people would come meet with me, they would often ask “what’s that?” Marion Knott was one such visitor who saw the painting and thought it was a great idea. She pledged $500,000 29 Proof Copy: Not optimized for high quality printing or digital distribution

on the spot. Later, when Cece Presley heard that story, she matched Marion’s gift. Not long after, I got a call from Jim Doti, saying, “What are you doing? That hasn’t been approved.” When I mentioned I had already raised $1M, there was a long silence. Then he said, “Come see me,” and so our Chapman Studios campaign was born, joining Jim's $250M universitywide campaign.

A classroom in DeMille Hall.

Next, Jim and I had a meeting at the Balboa Bay Club with Don Sodaro where we sketched out plans for a film school building on a napkin.

Don made a $3.5M challenge gift on behalf of himself and his wife Deedee and Ed and Libby Pankey. We estimated our plan would cost $9M although the true cost would prove to be $42M. One of the game-changing moments of our efforts to build a firstclass film school facility was when I was introduced to Kristina Dodge, who subsequently introduced me to her husband, Larry. The first time I met Larry, I came prepared, in good fundraising style, with asks at three levels: $1M, $5M and $20M. That afternoon proved to be an astonishing and pivotal moment, as he agreed, on the spot, to donate $20M to name the school. I was so surprised that I know I asked him, at least three times, “you know that’s $20 million?” “Yes,” he replied, “that’s the one that I want.”

Jim Doti was a master fundraiser, and working alongside my campaign chair Paul Folino, friends such as Doug Kimmelman and many others helped us raise $70M that ultimately brought us Marion Knott Studios, the Digital Media Arts Center (DMAC) and Chapman Studios West, which houses our Dhont Family Foundation Documentary Center. Paul Folino, after whom we named our theater, the heart and soul of the film school, also connected us with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came to Chapman many times and hosted our studio groundbreaking ceremonies. I remember on one of those early visits I shared my vision of building a studio facility with Arnold and his advice was that I’d better make it happen or I’d “feel like a schmuck” for talking it up and not crossing the finish line. It’s hard to put into words how that reinforced my motivation.

Key support over the years has also come from Women of Chapman, who made substantial gifts and have been great ambassadors for Dodge College, supporting programs, bricks and mortar and student filmmaking. Twyla Martin was an early and key friend in this group, as was Adrienne Brandes, who has become a great film school ambassador, along with Donna Bunce and many, many others.

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Above, the original rendering Dean Bassett used to visualize his idea for the film school studio. Left, Kristina and Larry Dodge made the pivotal gift that resulted in the naming of the college. Below, Jim Doti was a master fundraiser and communicator who knew the power of the media to reach out, as he did with his own television show produced through the film school, Dialogue with Doti.

the country’s oldest film school, USC, as a benchmark. Students looking for a film education were changing in those days; they were more experienced, having access to camcorders and making their own films in junior and senior high school. Film schools were no longer repositories of expensive equipment needed to make a film. Students were not willing to wait until their junior year in college to get their hands on equipment, a limitation set by USC and other programs at that time. So, we immediately launched a “camera in your hands day one” approach— later adopted by so many—a strategy that brought us top students right off the bat.

We adopted an approach to hiring faculty that mirrored this hands-on approach, actively bringing in industry professionals who had learned how to make films by doing rather than reading about it in a book. This strategy helped us create a project-based school that met the needs and desires of the very best students who wanted to tell stories for the screen.

Bob Bassett’s early vision, above. A visit from Arnold Schwarzenegger who challenged Bassett to make it happen or he'd feel like a schmuck!

A second key strategy, that supported both hiring and our practical approach, was to make Dodge College known in the industry. In the early days, no one had heard of Chapman. We approached this issue in two ways. One, we brought film faculty from around the country, and later, from around the world, to Chapman, by hosting conferences of the key film school associations on campus, beginning with a University Film and Video Association (UFVA) conference in 1996 and then again in 2006 and 2013, and later bringing the annual congress of the International Association of Film and Television Schools (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision – CILECT), the international association of film schools, in 2014.

With the support of Marion Knott, we inaugurated our Filmmaker-inResidence program. Marion made a $1M endowment gift that brought our first Filmmaker-in-Residence, Arthur Hiller, to campus. Hiller was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and director of the first true blockbuster, Love Story. The program brought him to campus one day a week to screen films, to mentor 10 students and to have dinner with students each week. Not only did this program get our name known in the business, but it enabled us, with the support of Provost Ham Shirvani, to hire industry veterans and build an exceptional faculty not staffed by Ph.D.s, but by those who had earned their terminal degree through 20+ years in the business.

Both Provost Ham Shirvani, left, and Provost Harry Hamilton, right, supported the growth of the film school with hiring focused on industry veterans.

Subsequent Filmmakers-in-Residence were also funded by Ed and Libby Pankey and others, and brought us top people from throughout the industry: writers, directors, producers and more.

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Over the years, as we raised funds and visibility, the nature of the film school’s culture was a crucial focus. It is my belief that culture evolves but also needs to be led—that our vision needed to drive the kind of school we wanted to be. This culture needed to be defined by how we treat each other, how our work and policies are defined, and by the underlying values we share.

By its nature, filmmaking is highly interdisciplinary, combining business, the arts and technology. And, it is an industry where it is often said that good ideas can come from anywhere. This philosophy has driven Dodge College, as we have worked to encourage creative ideas about how to make Dodge College distinctive from all members of our community.

We have empowered our staff, many of whom are alumni, who love our environment and the opportunity to take advantage of the teaching opportunities that arise each day. We actively engage our faculty in discussion of curriculum and a wide range of issues through weekly meetings. And we have taken advantage of our safe, suburban location to make our building accessible to students 24/7, which has encouraged them to take ownership of our facilities and pursue their creative work whenever and as often as they like, in a true live/learn environment. My model was my own experience at Pomona College in the early ‘60s. The result has been a nurturing culture that puts students at the center, doing their own work as they explore and begin to discover their own creative voice.

As we worked to build strength internally—through initiatives such as our Summer Film Academy, which allowed us to attract and “audition” top high school students for a two-week filmmaking course on campus—we also kept an eye on both our community and trends in the industry.

As financial support for the film school has come from only two sources, Orange County and parents—not from Hollywood, as many have mistakenly proposed as a viable source of funding over the years—we focused on serving those constituencies.

In Orange County, our documentary students have provided an unparalleled form of service through our Community Voices program, which creates documentaries about local non-profits. The support of the Dhont Family Foundation has been invaluable in making this impact in our community.

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Our Filmmaker-in-Residence program brought us industry veterans such as screenwriter David Ward and director Arthur Hiller, top, with Dean Bassett. Hiring industryexperienced veterans continued with faculty such as producer Alex Rose, below.

magazine, In Production, and through our weekly email newsletter, The Slate, which also goes to parents. It is my belief that regular communication about the opportunities and accomplishments of our students, faculty, and alumni strengthens the bonds between our school and the parents who have entrusted their children to us.

We have paid careful attention to film school rankings, as they are important to parents and prospective students in evaluating college prospects. While publications such as U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review rank colleges and programs in law and business, they do not rank film schools. That role is filled by industry publications. We have actively worked with the media and our industry friends to communicate our accomplishments to these publications each year, with the result that Chapman has risen steadily from #22, the first year we were ranked by The Hollywood Reporter, to #6. We were also ranked #6 by The Wrap in its 2018 list of top 50 film schools.

A welcome by-product of our growing reputation has been that high-level people in the industry have increasingly sent their children to Chapman and, in many cases, have become personally involved. I have created an industry advisory board, on which Dodge parent Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix, serves along with a wide range of other top industry artists and executives. Other industry parents, such as Steve Mosko, formerly president of Sony Pictures Television and now CEO of Village Roadshow; Danielle Alexandra, CEO of GlobalView Television, and Brian Robbins, just named president of Nickelodeon, have opened doors and provided invaluable counsel.

Top, left and right, the Summer Film Academy brings top high school students to campus to get a taste of Dodge. The number of applications grows every year. Bottom, Dean Bassett interviews Brian Robbins, president of Nickelodeon, for a Women of Chapman event.

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from my first days, we have always tried to take our destiny in our own hands, and not leave our growth or direction to chance. Beyond working hard to build our reputation in the industry and hence in the rankings, we have also launched another unique initiative, Chapman Filmed Entertainment (CFE).

CFE is a feature film production company designed to accelerate the careers of our alumni by offering them key creative positions on a professional feature film—not a long student film—under the guidance of faculty and industry pros. Designed to produce films in the $1-2M range, our first film, The Barber, saw theatrical release and was invited to screen at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival. Our second film, Static, has secured distribution through The Orchard. No other film school provides this kind of opportunity for students, faculty and alumni to work together on a professional production.

One of my key mantras has always been that we want to be the film school of the future. What this means is that we are always looking forward, trying to anticipate where the industry is going and to focus our teaching on preparing our students for the future, for careers that may not even yet exist. A prime example of success in this arena has been the career of the Duffer brothers, whose Netflix show, Stranger Things, saw 14-million people watch it in four days when the second season launched. Both Matt and Ross Duffer and Justin Simien, whose series Dear White People is in its third season on Netflix, are building their careers on a platform that did not exist when they graduated.

One key initiative in this regard has been our annual Women in Focus conference, created 19 years ago. As women and minorities have played an increasingly important role in bringing diverse stories to the screen, we have supported a focus on the success of women—and the challenges to achieving it—by bringing prominent women to campus to talk about what it takes for women to make it in the business.

The success of our alumni will be the measure of our success going into the future. Returning to campus to talk about their hit Netflix series Stranger Things, top, Matt and Ross Duffer ’07 are an example of the fact that Dodge College aims to prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist—just as Netflix's streaming service did not exist when they were in school (bottom). Their willingness to come back to Chapman and share what they’ve learned with current students is evidence of the value we put on our community of alumni remaining connected to the university throughout the years.

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Certainly, another growing issue in the industry is diversity. The power of film is global. As I often say, film is the literature of this century. The interest in and engagement with film around the world is a key reason we have spent many years developing international partnerships and travel programs.

One of our first international initiatives was to offer a degree in creative producing in Singapore in 2006 through Chapman Singapore. That program was highly successful for a number of years; in fact, one of our Singapore grads was a producer on the recent film Crazy Rich Asians, which has brought in more than $230M at the box office. That program continued until the government decided to move the funding into science and technology.

Over the years, we have developed a number of international initiatives to offer our students opportunities to travel and make films in different countries, from Cambodia to India, from Australia to Ireland. This has included an ongoing partnership with Dongseo University in South Korea, whose President Jekuk Chang has become a dear, personal friend I enjoy interacting with during the annual Busan International Film Festival, which I attend with Professor Nam Lee each year. We have taken students to the Busan festival for years, having formed strong friendships with the festival director Lee Yong-kwan, who is also dean of the Im Kwon-taek College of Film and Media Arts at Dongseo.

Over the last several years, we have been discussion with various entities in China about offering programs there. We have been involved in a couple of small efforts, e.g. a summer program in Shenzhen, but nothing larger has quite come together yet. China, which has a nascent film industry, has the second largest box office in the world. Yet it has virtually no film schools, except the prestigious Beijing Film Academy, and thus I am hopeful that we will someday be able to create a program that would cross the East/West cultural divide and benefit both Chinese and American students.

Above, Brian Robau. Below, Justin Simien.

A particular facet of this possibility opens the door for Dodge College to also take a stand on the world stage in a completely different way. There is an utter disconnect between Asian and American storytelling. No film from mainland China has “traveled” to the U.S. since Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In the U.S., stories tend to focus on the hero’s journey; Star Wars is a great example, if not the most profound. Chinese stories center on ghost stories and martial arts. The stories created by these two cultures do not travel between them. It is my hope that Chapman might lead the way in exploring new storytelling forms that would be resonant on both sides of the Pacific, leading to a deeper, richer exchange between the U.S. and China.

Looking back at nearly 40 years of building a film school at Chapman, I proud of so very many things, none of which I have accomplished alone. I look to the incredible success of alumnus Justin Simien, whose film and Netflix series Dear White People has helped us discuss race in new ways. I was thrilled to see Brian Robau capture a second student Academy Award, a feat that has not been matched by any film student for 45 years. And I am gratified, warmed and truly humbled by the support and friendship of our incredible faculty and staff. I don’t know why I have been so lucky as to be able to take this amazing journey, but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything.

Finally, I look forward to watching the continuing success of our programs and people in the years to come.

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Building a studio The idea behind Marion Knott Studios was, simply, to teach ďŹ lmmaking in a working studio—to create a facility unique in higher education with industry standard tools and coherent working spaces. When the University bought 10 acres of the former Anaconda Wire Company just two blocks from the main campus, location met opportunity and Dean Bassett's relentless drive to share his vision with Orange County donors. Today, when Hollywood visitors see the production facilities students get to use, they often say "this is better than what we have in the industry."

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Keeping up with technology The devil is in the vision: The switch to non-linear editing was a sea change in the film business. The news was widely greeted with skepticism at first, both in the industry and in education where editors lamented the lack of a practical/aesthetic component to computer editing (“you can’t touch or smell the film” was a common complaint). But timing and a willingness to change drove Chapman forward. That, and the sheer practicality of cost. At the time, Chapman had one flatbed editing system, worth about $10,000, whereas schools like NYU had 50 much more expensive Steenbecks (at a cost of about $50,000 each). AVID has just come out with a MAC-only hardware/software package that ran about $150,000.

Dean Bassett saw an opportunity when he learned about DVision, a lowcost PC-based software. With minimal hardware requirements, converting to the new system was within reach. He signed a partnership with DVision in 1994 and built the first editing system himself.

“We were able to switch quickly at a time when a school like NYU, with its huge capital investment and larger size would have faced a much bigger challenge in making that leap. We were small, young, and nimble which enabled us to move quickly,” he says. That, and a belief that a change was coming put Chapman out front, even as some industry editors dug in their heels and students struggled at first to learn the new system, which they nicknamed “devil vision.”

Tod Withey, Digital Systems Engineer, right (in white shirt), is the longest serving staff member at Dodge.

Tod knew television production and had an interest in computers and thus was able to manage the film school’s transition from analog to digital.

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The faster technology changes, the steeper the learning curve, not to mention the on-going expense of buying new equipment to keep up. Dodge College has faced that challenge over the years with ingenuity and, overall, with a fair measure of success.

PEOPLE "Buck Smith always quoted Lao Tzu to me," says Dean Bassett: "A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulďŹ lled, they will say: we did it ourselves."

Far left, campaign chairman Paul Folino. From left ,above, Chuck and Twyla Martin, Nina Montee, Dean Bassett, Kristina and Larry Dodge, Janell Shearer.

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The Dodge Factor Larry and Kristina Dodge each brought unique qualities to their interest in what became the college that bears their name. Larry was an astute businessman, always looking to the long game. Kristina loved to learn and had a passion for filmmaking, making a first gift to support young filmmakers on their projects and later co-hosting a TV show, Next Generation Filmmakers, with Dean Bassett. Both were driven, ambitious, and visionary. They were a power couple, and doting parents. Although we lost Larry in 2016, his legacy, shared with Kristina, will live on. The Dodges understood the power of philanthropy to change people’s lives; at Dodge College they laid a path for generations of young filmmakers and storytellers in every discipline to follow their dreams.

Left and below, in China with the Dodges exploring international opportunities.

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Above, with Meryl Streep on the set of the production of Dark Matter, a film produced by the Dodge’s company, American Sterling Productions.

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Kristina Dodge had a very direct interest in film production. She made the first gift to the film school, funding student filmmakers, above. Right, with Paul Heller, far right, with whom she produced The Annihilation of Fish, directed by Charles Burnett, starring Lynn Redgrave, Margot Kidder and James Earl Jones.

Both Larry and Kristina had a deep interest in Chapman students and their creative works. Top, with their daughter Laurenz, later a documentary student at Dodge College, at the Anaheim International Film Festival. Above, Larry congratulates Chapman students Rick Curnutt '08 and Michael Moore '10, honored at the festival.

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Marion Knott Building relationships One relationship that was central to Dean Bassett’s own development was his friendship with Chapman trustee Marion Knott that blossomed in the early 80s. Desperate for equipment to keep the fledgling program moving forward, conversations with Knott led to a $25,000 gift that went to buy four badly needed cameras.

Marion’s gift was also a turning point for the Dean, when he realized that he could cultivate support from people who understood what he was trying to build. He began studying, reading about, and attending workshops on leadership and fundraising. That got him over the hump that intimidates many faculty.

“I realized that fundraising was not about asking for money,” he says. “It’s an exchange of value.

Donors find value in supporting projects that are aligned with what they believe is important in the world. Their gifts bring value to the students and the university by enabling young people to pursue their passions and prepare for their careers.”

It was the start of a fundraising campaign that ultimately raised $50-million and built and equipped Marion Knott Studios, the 76,000-square-foot facility that is the embodiment of one of Dean Bassett’s other radical ideas—to build a mini-studio on campus, where the filmmaking process would mirror real-world production.

Although Marion Knott was reluctant to have her name put on the studios facility, she listened when Dean Bassett told her that naming the building after her was not about her, but rather about associating the school with the values she represented. For the donor video created for the premiere gala celebrating the opening of the building, she gamely climbed on a cherry-picker and pretended to get busy dusting her sign for the big event.

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Marion Knott and her husband, Tony Montapert, took a hardhat tour of the new studios and then returned for the gala opening celebration in 2007.

Above, Dodge College friends at a summer reception at the home of Twyla Martin.

From left, Kristina and Larry Dodge, Daranne Folino, Marion Knott, Dean Bassett, Twyla Martin, President Jim Doti. Left, Marion invited Dean Bassett and his wife Janell to dinner to celebrate his birthday in 2005.

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Libby Pankey The always curious Libby Pankey is truly one of a kind. Libby and her husband, Ed, a Chapman trustee, made a key gift that led to the naming of the Sodaro-Pankey Undergraduate School of Media Arts, but what's most remarkable about Libby, now 101 years young, is her zest for life, and her willingness to try new things.

As a young woman, she learned to fly a plane when few women did, in case her husband "ran into trouble" while they were aloft. When she visits campus, as she still does regularly, she regales students with stories of life on the farm, such as how to talk to a mule to get it to move.

As sponsor of the Pankey Chair in Digital Arts, she supports a program that brings the top names in the animation and visual effects to campus and connects them to the Pankey Scholars. She always wants to hear what students are doing and is game to join in, as in trying the latest VR setup (below).

Below, Professor Janell Shearer (center) with Marion Knott, left, and Libby Pankey. Bottom, Mrs. Pankey, joined by Professor Bill Kroyer, right, honored Dean Bassett’s years of service with a plaque at a reception in his honor.

Libby still comes to Chapman each year to meet the students chosen as Pankey Scholars, right, with Professor Bill Kroyer (center, back) and curator of the Animation Show of Shows, Ron Diamond, far right.

Below, student Luke Snedecor '19 takes her on the VR journey At Sea.

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Don and DeeDee Sodaro Trustee Don Sodaro and his wife, DeeDee, made a challenge gift that kicked the campaign for Marion Knott Studios to a new level. Don was chairman of the Board of Trustees during the years when Marion Knott Studios was under construction and ďŹ nally opened; his support has been invaluable.

Both have been dear friends, steadfast in their commitment to Chapman and Dodge College, now splitting their time between their winery in Napa Valley and their many on-going involvements in Orange County.

Clockwise from upper left, the Sodaros at the gala premiere of Marion Knott Studios; at a fund-raising celebration with Phil and Lisa Case; at a ceremony celebrating the naming of the Sodaro-Pankey Undergraduate School of Media Arts with Libby Pankey, Kristina and Larry Dodge, and at their Napa winery, Sodaro Estate Winery, with Janell Shearer and Dean Bassett.

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Cece Presley Fundraising typically follows a process: a vision is developed, campaign leaders and major gifts are identified and once lead gifts are in place, others follow. But critical to the first phase are advocates who understand and champion the idea that becomes the vision.

Cece Presley, a Chapman trustee and granddaughter of Cecil B. DeMille, was that advocate and champion for the vision of a film school at Chapman University. Not only did she make a lead gift, but she helped sell the idea of a film school to Chapman’s Board of Trustees. Over the years, she has provided leadership and support in many ways, offering a course on the films of DeMille and personally curating the outstanding collection of movie art that graces the halls of Marion Knott Studios.

Cece brought many opportunities to Dodge College. Framed photographs, above left, once hung in Cecil B. DeMille’s office. Top, center, Randy and Cece Presley with David Ward and Jim Doti. Bottom right, Dean Bassett, Joe Rosenberg, Cece, Cheryl Boone Isaacs and John Ptak, the panel that presented to guests from the National Defense University, a program of higher education for military personnel and civilians that explored how the media shape perceptions and values.

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Paul Folino Without the leadership, commitment and follow-through of Paul Folino, Marion Knott Studios would not exist. From the earliest days when he committed to serve as the campaign chair, Folino carried the vision of what he famously called “the best film school on the planet” into the Orange County community, reaching out to friends and philanthropists to raise the money to build the magnificent facility we enjoy today.

His impact is recognized in the naming of the Paul and Daranne Folino Theater, which the dean calls the heart and soul of Marion Knott Studios, now simply referred to as “the Folino,” as in “I’ll meet you in the Folino.” Having become part of the vocabulary of the film school, Paul Folino’s contributions touch every student who passes through our halls.

Top, left, Paul Folino and Dean Bassett take a hardhat tour. Center, with Arnold Schwarzenegger at the groundbreaking. Top right, with Daranne Folino and Linda White-Peters, development director for Dodge. Bottom, left, Paul and Daranne Folino (right) with Stacey Physioc at the gala premiere. Bottom right, the campaign cabinet tours the building: front, Sandy Stone and Linda White-Peters; back, Kris Elftmann, Lynette Hayde, Kelly Burt, Jack Norburg, Joanne Grienke, Paul Folino, Bryan Murphy, Twyla Martin and Dean Bassett.

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Breaking ground for Marion Knott Studios A community-wide celebration in October, 2004, marked the oďŹƒcial groundbreaking for the new studios. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was the keynote speaker. Below, Dean Bassett unveils an elevation of the planned facility for the crowd.

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Framed renderings of Marion Knott Studios were presented, left, to Larry and Kristina Dodge by Dean Bassett, far left, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Don Sodaro, and President Jim Doti, right, and below, to Tony Montapert and Marion Knott.

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The gala premiere of Marion Knott Studios Long-time ďŹ lm school supporter Twyla Martin chaired a grand celebration party for all who had supported the building of Marion Knott Studios in 2007. A program in the Folino Theater was followed by an elegant dinner in a tent erected in the parking lot behind Marion Knott Studios and a party/reception on the Knott sound stages.

Right, Gala chair Twyla Martin with President Jim Doti, left, and her husband, Chuck Martin. Far right, Jim Doti and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Top, ready to celebrate, from left, Paul Folino, Dean Bassett, Twyla Martin, Marion Knott, Larry and Kristina Dodge. Below, left, actress Virginia Madsen meets the photographers’ line; right, the hallways of Dodge decorated for the event.

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Friends who helped us get where we are today So many people helped create Dodge College—adding to our ideas, taking us in new directions. Some were connected to Dodge College through their sons and daughters. Others were already part of the Chapman family or were active in the Orange County community and found Dodge College another avenue to follow their own passions while supporting young people. Some were in the business and connected with our mission, bringing their talents to helping us grow.

As a result, we were the grateful recipients of the incredible works of art that live in our building. We enjoyed trips to the Cannes Film Festival and saw our students o on documentary journeys to locations around the world. We were able to create and equip wonderful new facilities and to produce programs that served thousands of people through organizations in our local communities. And along the way, we made true, wonderful friends, friends with whom spending time was never an obligation, but a real pleasure.

Above, left, Bob Topp and Andre Dhont with Professor Sally Rubin in the Dhont Documentary Film Center. Right, Karin and John Kukral with Janell Shearer and Dean Bassett at the Telluride Film Festival.

Far left, Trudy Durant in front of the sculpture Cinema Architectonica, which she and her husband Don, left with Dean Bassett, donated. Above, Michael Luisi of WWE Studios with Dean Bassett. Right, Lynette and Mike Hayde, who funded both building and program needs.

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Top, left, Bicky Singh, who has welcomed international students to his home and funded the Project S ďŹ lms, promoting understanding of Sikh communities; top right, Doug Kimmelman, whose major gift helped bring Chapman Studios West into being.

Bottom, (from left) Joan and Robert Sobel; Robbie and A.J. Tuttle, equity investors in Chapman Filmed Entertainment, and Sandy and David Stone, who hosted a student trip to Cannes.

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Support for Dodge College comes in a variety of forms: from advocacy with the Board of Trustees and other constituencies to business and marketing advice to direct support of programs. Near right, Tim and Pamela Kashani with Dean Bassett; far right, Terry Goldfarb Lee (left) with Larry Dodge and Janell Shearer.

Middle, from left, Chris and Linda Elftmann and Doy and Dee Henley.

Bottom left, Lorette Bayle from Kodak was always supportive of events and provided film grants to student filmmakers.

Middle above, invaluable advice and support came from Tom Tardio, formerly CEO of Rogers and Cowan, a major entertainment PR firm, pictured with his wife, Cathy; far right, George Davis with Dean Bassett. Above, students receiving finishing funds from the Leo Freedman Foundation, represented by Ellis Stern (back, third from right) and Sharon Lesk (front, right).

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From left, WOC members Karly Brown, Kathy Hamilton and Barbara Eidson.

WOC member Sheri Nazaroff, formerly development director for Dodge College, with Janell Shearer, Dean Bassett, and her husband, Mark Whitfield.

The Zonta Club of Newport Harbor funded a faculty office as well as providing film grants to students; from left, Barbara Sisson, Janell Shearer, Linda WhitePeters, a former development director for Dodge College who was a key team member in raising the $50M to build Marion Knott Studios, and Wendy Weeks.

The Women of Chapman (WOC) have played a major role in supporting the film school, hosting speakers at their luncheons and awarding funds to student filmmakers. Top, left, Women of Chapman members (l to r) Donna Calvert and Donna Bunce with Dean Bassett, producer Cathy Schulman, and WOC member Donna Bianchi. Below, students jump for joy to the delight of Adrienne Brandes, a member of the committee that selects recipients of the Women of Chapman Endowed Student Filmmaker Award.

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Academic leadership Beyond what the public sees, nothing happens without strong internal leadership. Our academic team over the years has created an effective curriculum without shying away from the necessary drudgery of managing the details and of designing and implementing policies and procedures that make it all work.

The key leadership team in recent years has consisted of, below (l to r), Pavel Jech, Film Division Chair; Dan Leonard, Associate Dean and Chief Technology Officer; Dean Bassett; Janell Shearer, Media Arts Division Chair, and Michael Kowalski, Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer, at CILECT in 2016 at Griffith University in Australia.

Michael Kowalski, above, second from left, on one of many Dodge College visits to China, has played a major role in international partnerships around the world as well as leading travel courses to various countries. He is the elected representative of all film schools in North America on the board of CILECT. Pavel Jech, center below, presenting on a panel at CILECT in Australia. Jech, the former dean of FAMU, the film school of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, also helps build Chapman’s international connections.

Dan Leonard, at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, above, works tirelessly to research changing technologies and to troubleshoot Dodge College systems and workflow. Janell Shearer, center right, manages and has helped develop a wide range of academic programs, including the entertainment marketing focus that Public Relations and Advertising brings to the film school.

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Many others have provided invaluable leadership to Dodge College over the years.

Far left, Deszo Magyar, with students, served as Senior Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer. Right, Frank Patterson (r) with Dean Bassett and Bruce Sheridan of Columbia College Chicago, came to Chapman as Associate Dean from his position as Dean at Florida State University. He is now President of Pinewood Atlanta Studios.

Left to right: Professor Joe Slowensky was Chair of the Film Division before becoming Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Faculty Affairs.

Professor Eric Young, center, served as Film Division Chair and continues as program coordinator for the Film Division. Far right, Professor Barbara Doyle (center) served as Film Division Chair before leaving to serve as Chair of the Motion Pictures Program at Belmont University in Nashville. She has since returned to serve as Director of the College to Career program in Dodge.

Left, Professor Ken O’Donnell (on the right) with composer Hans Zimmer, served as Undergraduate Program Chair and Assistant Dean before moving on to a variety of positions with the California State University system.

Right, Professor Pat Braithwaite, a Chapman film school alum, with Janell Shearer, served as Associate Dean before moving on to be Division Chair of Visual Communications at the Okmulgee campus of Oklahoma State University.

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Administration and staff In an operation as large and complex as the film school, being a good leader and a good follower is essential. Just as on a movie, there is one person in charge—the director—but there are heads of many departments who must function for the good of the whole film. The camera department, production design, the editing team and more, all must collaborate for the best possible outcome. The same is true for a film school.

Tina Graves Director of Administrative Operations

Ciara Jones Assistant Director of Administrative Operations

Tim Durban Production Manager

Kareem Marashi Director of Technical Services

Tina manages a staff of more than 40, many with advanced technical know-how. She has been a true partner to the Dean for more than a decade, fostering collaboration between faculty and staff. She understands that information empowers teams and shares information regularly. She studies leadership, and has facilitated leadership and management training among the staff as well.

She has organized the staff into teams, each led by a manager whom she oversees. The Dean has often been heard to comment that “Tina walks on water,” a sentiment echoed by top Chapman administrators.

Ciara manages the academic and financial operations staff, supporting the academic and operational vision for the college.

She is responsible for developing and executing strategies for efficiency, student-centered service, and support of academic excellence.

Tim manages and oversees the day-to-day operations and functionality of the preproduction and production process. He establishes policies and procedures that support the production and academic environments, helping students bring their visions to the screen in the most efficient and safe manner possible.

Kareem oversees the technical infrastructure and operations for Dodge College across all three buildings. This includes directing the key service areas of media applications support, video systems integrations, theater operations, film archives, data management, storage systems, information systems, as well as post-production.

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Meagan O’Shea Communications and External Relations Manager

Lauren Kacura '09 Admissions Director

Nick Peterson '06 Production Support Manager

Theresa Watson Senior Administrative Assistant

Meagan manages all forms of communications and marketing, which includes supervising the development of marketing collateral and publications, overseeing content, identifying and segmenting target audiences, developing messaging, and determining distribution methods. Additionally, she oversees the communication conflux of our websites, electronic newsletters, and many email blasts.

Lauren provides leadership and direction for the vast and complex process of reviewing and selecting undergraduate and graduate students who are admitted to Dodge College. This work includes setting standards and processes for the recruitment and review of prospective students all the way through their transition to current student status.

Nick oversees the operations of the production support team and facilities, including the sound stages, equipment room, scene shop and prop warehouse.

Through careful planning and coordination, he and his team ensure that students and classes have access to the wide array of production resources they need.

Theresa is the smiling face of the Dean’s office, providing support for administrative functions including serving as the primary contact for visitors to the Dean’s office, managing various meeting logistics, assisting with the faculty search process, coordinating interviews, and coordinating employee development and appreciation activities.

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Production design (here, student works featured in the annual showcase in the Marion Knott Studios lobby), broadcast news and television writing and production are among the growing programs in Dodge.

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Programs & Initiatives An important part of the vision of Dodge College was Dean Bassett’s drive to make the school distinctive, largely driven by an appreciation of how the business of storytelling for the screen continues to change. Thus new programs were introduced over the years to constantly leap forward and take advantage of new opportunities.

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Industry Advisory Board Hollywood changes every day, says Dean Bassett, and those who want to succeed in the business need to keep their ears to the ground and keep up with how new initiatives are changing the landscape. The Dodge College Industry Advisory Board, made up of distinguished professionals who understand what’s taking place, meet yearly to help Dean Bassett steer the school into the future and make themselves available individually to provide guidance in their areas of expertise. We are indebted to these individuals for their wise counsel and their commitment to film education.

Danielle Alexandra

Ashok Amritraj

Danielle Alexandra is CEO of the London Film and Television Group and Founder and CEO of GlobalView Television. With more than 35 years of experience in the film and television industry as a screenwriter, film and television producer, and executive, she has scripted and produced films and television for Universal, Warner Bros., Fox, Paramount, Sony and Disney, among others.

She was appointed as UK Business Ambassador for Film, Television and Digital New Media by Prime Minister David Cameron and serves on the Board of the Prince’s Trust.

Susan Cartsonis Susan Cartsonis is a partner at Resonate Entertainment, a company focused on the female audience. Cartsonis celebrates diversity and the female perspective with films such as Deidra & Laney Rob a Train (2017), Carrie Pilby (2017), The Duff (2015), Beastly (2011), No Reservations (2007), Nell (1994), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).

She is collaborating on a female ensemble set in India with writer-director Leena Yadav. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producer’s Guild.

Akin Ceylan A Chapman Alumnus from the class of 1990, Akin Ceylan has served as the Chief Operating Officer of Lionsgate Entertainment since 2005. Formerly, he was the SVP Domestic Operations at MGM Home Entertainment from 2004-2006.

Award-winning film producer, United Nations India Goodwill Ambassador, and former tour professional tennis player, Ashok Amritraj is the Chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment.

He has produced over 100 films during the span of his 30-year career, with a worldwide gross in excess of $2 billion.

Tony Bill Tony Bill’s feature, The Sting (1973), became one of the highest grossing films in history and brought him an Academy Award® for Best Picture. He has served on the Motion Picture Association of America’s Board of Governors and Board of Trustees and on the board of the Public Justice Foundation.

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Denise Di Novi Responsible for over 40 feature films, Denise Di Novi has been instrumental in bringing to the screen the work of many of today’s most imaginative filmmakers. Her producing credits include Heathers (1988), Little Women (1994), Practical Magic (1998), and Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011). Di Novi recently made her directorial debut with the thriller Unforgettable for Warner Bros.

Michael Phillips

David Glasser

Since 1971, Michael Phillips has been producing films and television in Hollywood. His films have garnered 23 Academy Award® nominations, winning him a Best Picture Oscar for The Sting (1973). He also received the coveted Palme d’Or Prize for best film for Taxi Driver (1976) and the David di Donatello award for best film for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

David C. Glasser currently serves as CEO and partner of the newly formed 101 Studios. Glasser sits on the board of directors and currently overseas the theatrical, television and film production divisions. The first TV show from the new studio, in which he serves as an EP, was this summer’s Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner, for the Paramount Channel.

Cooper Hefner

A graduate of Dodge College, Cooper Hefner (B.F.A. Film Production ‘15) was the Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises. In addition to overseeing all of the company’s creative divisions, Hefner worked alongside the advertising and licensing teams to ensure a cohesiveness across every channel of the Playboy brand. He recently left that position to launch a Millennial-focused digital content platform and media brand, HefPost. He also teaches at Dodge College.

John Ptak Following 35 years as a talent agent, first at ICM and thereafter at William Morris and CAA, John Ptak is a producer of such films as Peter Weir’s The Way Back (2010), Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) and Matt Reeves’ Let Me In (2019).

A 1967 graduate of UCLA’s Film School, Ptak is a member of the National Film Preservation Board, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and The Motion Picture and Television Foundation.

Randal Kleiser An internationally known film director since the release of his first feature, Grease (1978), Randal Kleiser also served as the O.L. Halsell Filmmakerin-Residence for Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Fall 2010.

Michael Luisi Michael Luisi is the former President of WWE® Studios, where he oversaw all film development, production, acquisitions and marketing for the studio, as well as the studio’s worldwide strategy and business operations. The company produced and acquired its greatest numbers of films under his leadership. Prior to joining WWE, Luisi spent twelve years with Miramax Films, most recently as Executive Vice President, Worldwide Operations.

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Brian Robbins Brian Robbins was President of Paramount Players, a newly formed production division of Paramount Pictures. At Paramount Players, Robbins and his team were charged with developing, producing and marketing distinctive feature films, both from original source material and in conjunction with parent company Viacom’s portfolio of brands, including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and BET. He was recently appointed President of the company's Nickelodeon Group.

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Ted Sarandos Ted Sarandos is one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most influential People of 2013, and has led content acquisition for Netflix since 2000. With more than 20 years’ experience in the home entertainment business, Sarandos is recognized as a key innovator in the acquisition and distribution of films and television programs, leading the transformation of Netflix into an original content powerhouse.

Cathy Schulman

Producer on the Academy Award®-winning Best Picture Crash in 2004, Cathy Schulman has served as President of Women in Film and was formerly head of production at STX Entertainment. She recently launched the new production and finance company, Welle Entertainment.

James Smith After graduating from Chapman with a B.F.A., James Smith '01 has worked in development and production for companies ranging from Scott Rudin Productions to the Robert Evans Company, Pariah and OddLot Entertainment, with credits including Drive (2011), The Way, Way Back (2013), Rabbit Hole (2010) and Ender’s Game (2013).

Dawn Taubin Dawn Taubin formerly served as Chief Marketing Officer at DreamWorks Animation from 2013-2015 and President of Marketing at Warner Brothers from 2002-2008. Taubin was also a Professor of Public Relations and Advertising at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts from 2011-2013.

Russell Schwartz President of Pandemic Marketing since its inception in 2008, Russell Schwartz has also served since 2010 as an Associate Professor at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Schwartz was formerly President of Worldwide Marketing at Relativity Media and President of Domestic Marketing at New Line Cinema, and was responsible for The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), Elf (2003), Wedding Crashers (2005), and over 150 additional movies.

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Roy Taylor Roy Taylor is the CEO and co-founder at Ryff, a team of C-level executives, inventors, animators and software innovators working to make image intelligent. Taylor was formerly the head of AMD Studios and serves as Chairman of the BAFTA VR Advisory Group, Chair of the VR Society, Director of the Board of Governors for the Advanced Imaging Society and Technical Advisor for Immersive Technology to Chapman University and the Beijing Film Academy.

Advisory board members participate in a wide range of Dodge College activities. Michael Phillips, above, appointed a Trustee Professor, taught a class on science fiction films and one on the cinema of the ‘70s. Dawn Taubin, above, right, has served as moderator for several Women in Focus conferences and is a regular guest speaker at Chapman. Ted Sarandos, below, right, talks regularly in classes about the changing nature of the television business and was a speaker at commencement in 2015.

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Filmmakers-in-Residence As close to the heart of the industry as Orange County is, in the early days, few in Hollywood had ever heard of Chapman or its film school. Dean Bassett came up with the idea of bringing working filmmakers to campus one day a week for an entire semester and took the idea to Marion Knott, who funded it with a million-dollar endowment. That program opened a new avenue into the industry. The arrival of former Academy President/director Arthur Hiller (Love Story, The Out-of-Towners, The Hospital) as Filmmaker-in-Residence in 1999, launched a program that has brought many of Hollywood’s top names to campus over the years.

In the process, they learned what Chapman had to offer, brought others in the industry with whom they’d worked to campus, helping to make Chapman’s film school well known in the industry. Not only did students have the chance to learn from some of the film industry’s best and brightest, but writers, directors and producers came away impressed with the passion and talent of Chapman students.

Top, from left, Randal Kleiser, JoAnne Sellar, Carl Franklin. Below, from left, David Foster, Peter Medak and student, Harold Becker.

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Top, from left, Donald Petrie, Mace Neufeld, Betty Thomas. Center, Martin Landau with Dean Bassett and Mark Rydell. Bottom, Leslie Dixon, Michael Apted.

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Top, from left, Je Kleiser, Richard Edlund, Don Hahn. Middle, Tom Mankiewicz with Dean Bassett, Cathleen Summers with Professor Alex Rose. Bottom, Susan Cartsonis and Cathy Schulman. Mankiewicz, who continued to teach at Chapman, famously asking the Dean to let him "play the big room," is honored by a plaque naming his habitual perch as The Storyteller's Bench in front of the building.

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Top, from left, Polly Platt, Rob Cohen with Professor Alex Rose. Bottom, from left, Martin Shaer; Sheldon Epps (center) with guests John Shaner and Joe Stewart; Tony Bill.

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Left, Cheryl Boone Issacs.

Right, Richard Gladstein and scholars with Professor Alex Rose.

Left, Dean Devlin. Above, Michael Phillips and guest Edward James Olmos. Right, Bob Jones and Arthur Hiller.

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Left, Jocelyn Moorhouse and her husband Daniel Lupi, with Dean Bassett. Below, William Friedkin.

Above, Gary Foster reviews a project with a student. Right, Joyce Cox.

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Those who stayed An incredible added bonus has been that four of those industry veterans who got to know Chapman through the Filmmaker-in-Residence program fell in love with teaching and joined the faculty full-time. Academy Award-winning writer David Ward (The Sting), director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever), director Martha Coolidge (Real Genius) and animator Bill Kroyer (Tron) now share industry wisdom in the classroom while continuing to stay active in the business.

Top left, John Badham and Marion Knott with the Knott Scholars. Below left, John Badham with guest DJ Caruso. Top right, Martha Coolidge. Below, Martha Coolidge and her husband, production designer James Spencer.

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Top left, David Ward, Marion Knott, Dean Bassett and Knott Scholars.

Top right, David Ward and guest Jerry Zucker. Below left, Bill Kroyer and guest Jim Reardon. Below right, Dean Bassett, Libby Pankey, Bill Kroyer, Janell Shearer and Pankey Scholars.

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Bringing Hollywood to campus Hiring faculty with industry experience adds another benefit for students—they can pick up the phone and call some of their friends as well as friends of friends and bring them to campus as guest speakers. Writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, actors, production designers, you name it, these are the people who have come to Chapman to screen their work, share their stories and offer advice to Chapman students. Guests, in turn, often share impressions from their visits to Chapman with colleagues, helping to spread the word about our facilities, faculty and students with those in the business.

Top, left, Andrew Stanton; right, Professor Leonard Schrader and guest Nick Kazan. Below, left, Gregory Hines; right, Garry Marshall.

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Top, left, Ed Zwick; center, Dean Bassett with guest Jon Landau and his Oscar; right, Laura Dern. Below, left, Rob Reiner with Professor Alex Rose; right, Malcolm McDowell demonstrates how his eyes were pinned open in A Clockwork Orange.

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Top, left, guest Richard Donner with his old pal Tom Mankiewicz; right, Ron Shelton.

Middle, left, Jeanne Tripplehorn; right, David Ward with guest Ron Xerxa; below, left, Robert Towne; right, Anil Kapoor, who attracted a huge audience from the local Indian community.

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Top, left, Chris Buck, director of Frozen; right, Steven Poster. Middle, left, Shoreh Aghdashloo; right, Bob Zemeckis. Below, students at dinner with Tim Miller, director of Deadpool.

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Top, left, Mark Andrews (Brave). Center, Michael Schier, an adjunct professor in Dodge College. Right, Donald Petrie welcomes guest Jon Favreau.

Below, left, music supervisor/conductor Richard Kaufman and composer Elmer Bernstein talk about ďŹ lm music. Center, Dean Bassett welcomes Academy President Jack Shea. Right, Greg Foster of IMAX.

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Top, left, Dean Bassett with producer Lauren Schuler Donner. Right, Professor Harry Uand with Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures.

Left, Dante Spinotti. Above, Conrad Hall, in one of his last public appearances. Right, Laraine Newman of Saturday Night Live.

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Top, left, Maria Bello; center, Professor Bill Rosenthal with alumnus Matt Mosko '14; right, Nicholas Meyer. Below, left, entertainment attorney Skip Brittenham with Professor Harry Uand; former Sony executive Michael Lynton, center; right, Oscar-winning visual eects supervisor John Dykstra.

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Top, left, Professor Andy Lane with a panel consisting of (l to r) Dodge alum Alex Theurer ’06, co-writer of Sleight, and executive producers Michael Luisi and John Hegeman. Right, Sherry Lansing and The Hollywood Reporter Editor Stephen Galloway, who wrote the biography about Lansing, Leading Lady. Below, left, Harry Ufland and his students on a field trip to see Ufland’s former client, Martin Scorsese. Right, Bill Kroyer leads a discussion with Rich Moore and Jim Reardon of Wreck-It Ralph.

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Top, left, Ted Danson, Peter Medak, Professor Ken O’Donnell and Mary Steenburgen. Center, Alan Ladd Jr. Right, Ken Whittingham. Below, left, Bobby Moresco talks with Professor Ken O’Donnell; at dinner, Moresco surprised students by calling the real Donnie Brasco on his cell phone for a conversation. Right, producer Frank Marshall.

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Top, left, Professor Bill Dill talks with Laszlo Kovacs. Right, Irvin Kershner. Below, left, Vilmos Zsigmond visits with students. Right, Stewart Lyons, production manager for Breaking Bad.

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Women in Focus Recognizing the very specific and often different challenges that women face getting into the entertainment industry, Chapman has been hosting this annual conference since 2000. Over the years we have hosted editors, cinematographers, directors, producers etc., bringing such amazing women as actress Maya Rudolph, chair of Universal Pictures Donna Langley, and Terry Press, President of CBS Films, to Chapman to share their experiences. Male and female students, as well as alumni, have had the opportunity to learn about career paths in various disciplines as well as to reflect on what it takes to find and support an environment where talent takes precedence over gender.

Women in Focus panelists represent women in all disciplines. Above, 2001: The Next Shot—Directors of Photography, from left, Teresa Medina, Professor Lynn Hamrick, Nancy Schreiber, Elizabeth Ziegler, Emiko Omori and Jo Carson with Dean Bassett.

In 2013: Women in Comedy, above, from left, Dawn Taubin, Maya Rudolph, Diablo Cody, Dean Bassett, Anne Fletcher, Nancy Meyers, Penelope Spheeris and Donna Langley. Below: Conference chair Alex Rose, left, and moderator Dawn Taubin, right.

In 2014: The Business of Entertainment, from left, Dawn Taubin, Erica Huggins, Sue Kroll, Michelle MacLaren, Terry Press, Cathy Schulman and JoAnne Sellar.

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Conferences organized by women, led by women and sponsored by women--to beneďŹ t both men and women students as they learn about the challenges of collaboration. Above: 2009: The Director’s Vision, from left, Kira Davis, Martha Coolidge, Sanaa Hamri, Catherine Hardwick, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Kimberly Peirce, and Penelope Spheeris; moderators Susan Cartsonis (center) and Dawn Hudson.

Above, 2011: The Independent Film Industry, from left, Dawn Hudson, Susan Cartsonis, Shana Feste, Mary Lambert, Cathy Schulman, Nancy Utley and Rebecca Yeldham.

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Animated conversations are typical of Women In Focus panelists; above, clockwise from left, Catherine Hardwicke, Cathy Schulman, Penelope Spheeris and Kimberly Peirce.

Top, right, nothing would be possible without the support of community sponsors, from left, Twyla Martin, Bonny Schumacher, Harriet Sandhu, Diana Martin, Eve Kornyei Ruatto and Sally Crockett with Dean Bassett.

Above, in 2015, the conference featured Women in Television: Showrunners, from left, Dawn Taubin, moderator, and Kerry Ehrin, Debra Martin Chase, Robin Schi, Janine Sherman Barrois and Deena Katz.

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Guests over the years have included, top, left, 2008: The Writer’s Vision (from left), Cynthia Whitcomb, Susannah Grant, Leslie Dixon, Karen McCullough Lutz, Dana Stevens. Top, right, Haifaa al-Mansour and Niki Caro share a laugh from In The Director’s Chair, 2017.

Bottom left, production designers joined us in 2007 for The Creative Vision (from left), Jeannine Oppewall, Marcia Hinds, Ida Random, Polly Platt, Maia Javan and Jane Ann Stewart; and, bottom right, in 2016: Challenging the Status Quo (from left), moderator Denise DiNovi, Sanaa Hamri, Hannah Minghella, Nicole Rocklin and Molly Smith.

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In 2005 we welcomed Producing the Vision panelists and sponsors (from left): Ilona Herzberg, Nancy Baldwin, Alex Rose, Gail Muturx, Dean Bassett, Twyla Martin, Janet Yang, and Buy Shutt. Below, Gabriella Cristiani enjoys a conversation with a student following the 2005 conference, The Cutting Edge: Editors.

The 2010 conference, Today’s Television Industry featured, from left, Jessika Borsiczky, Kim Fleary, Lee Shallat Chemel, Anne Beatts, Felicia Henderson, Lesli Linka Glatter, and Danica Krislovich.

The 2019 conference, Passion, Purpose, Perspective featured moderator Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Chapman alumna Janice Chua '11, Bonnie Curtis, Lori McCreary and Vanessa Morrison.

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Women in Focus conferences bring together panelists, their student hosts for the day and sponsors for individual conversations at a preconference luncheon.

Below, left, in 2012 we explored The Intersection of Art and Commerce with (top row, from left), sponsors Twyla Martin, Bonny Schmacher, Laurie Rodnick, Harriet Sandhu, Eve Kornyei Ruatto, and Tricia Berns. Front, panelists Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Debra Martin Chase, Leslie Dixon, Nina Jacobson and Stacy Snider.

In 2001, Elizabeth Ziegler also conducted a Steadicam workshop for students.

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Screening student work A big part of helping students make the connections and receive the recognition that their hard work deserves has been setting up screenings for the industry and for our friends and supporters in the community. The Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut, our annual showcase of the top student films— selected by alumni—takes place at the Directors Guild of America theater in both Los Angeles and New York.

Top left, the DGA theater in Los Angeles; right, in New York City. Immediate left, Admissions staff and Dean Bassett prepare to greet prospective students in NYC.

From right, Becky Gill '15 and Takuji Murata '00 display their film posters.

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Guests mingle at the reception following the screening.

Student filmmakers, from left, Justin Lutsky '05, David May '05 and Rosie Lambert '10. Rosie’s commercial Kid Entrepreneur was a finalist in 2006 Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker contest and screened in 30,000 theaters before the feature.

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In addition to regular screenings of all thesis films each year, student screenings include documentaries made through various programs, from Community Voices films that feature local non-profits, to films made through a variety of international programs, such as Destination: Africa.

Top, left, representatives from local non-profits profiled frequently join in at the screenings for Community Voices; here girls from Girls Inc. International film screenings also featured food, music and art from the countries visited.

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Topic specific programs have also created films on a wide range of subjects, from Project W: Stories of Women Creating Change to Project S, through which students tell stories of the multifaceted activities of the Sikh community (right, above and below). Below, left, student filmmakers answer questions following each screening.

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Innovative programs—keeping up with the industry Keeping the curriculum fresh is a constant challenge. As educators, we seek new course ideas, new content, and new methodologies to keep pace with what is happening in the industry. Among recent additions to the Dodge College curriculum have been a course in The New Era of Television, a minor in Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, and a class devoted to learning to use drones to capture footage, among many others.

Above, Ed Carroll of AMC Networks talks with students. Below left, TV writer/producer Gabriel Garza ’06 shares his experience on The Flash and Bella and the Bulldogs with Professor Bill Rosenthal. Below right, Ted Sarandos of Netflix shares what’s happening in the streaming world with Professor Rosenthal’s New Era class.

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Students are busy exploring the narrative and gaming possibilities of VR both in making their own projects and in learning what the major players in the ďŹ eld are doing.

Capturing drone footage has been the topic of Dodge classes as students and faculty work to keep up with changing technologies.

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International initiatives Watching the increasingly global nature of storytelling for the screen—in particular, the rise of the Asian market—Dean Bassett took advantage of relationships he developed with faculty from schools around the world through the international association of film schools (CILECT, Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision) to develop partnerships and exchanges with schools in Singapore, Korea and Taiwan. These laid the groundwork for a wide range of travel and exchange opportunities for Chapman students over the years, creating lasting friendships and offering students a wider perspective on the global impact of film language.

In Singapore, Dodge established a Chapman degree in Creative Producing at Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Chapman Singapore students on a field trip to the Hong Kong FILMART, where they met with Bill Kong, producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (sixth from left). Leading the trip were Professor Madeline Warren, to the left of Kong, founding director of the program, and Professor Nana Greenwald, right front, who became director after Professor Warren returned to the U.S. 96 Proof Copy: Not optimized for high quality printing or digital distribution

In Korea, Dodge created a partnership with the Im Kwon Taek College of Film and Media Arts at Dongseo University, left; below, ďŹ lm studies Professor Nam Lee regularly takes students to the Busan International Film Festival.

Working together in the host country, right, and making new friends, above.

Filmmaking exchanges with the Seoul Institute of the Arts saw realtime online screenings, such as this in the Folino theater, above, during which students in both countries shared their ďŹ lms and memories of their experiences.

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In China, we attended conferences and explored university partnerships. We trained Chinese students in Shenzhen and engaged in discussions about future programs with Wanda Studios.

Invited to speak at the World Film Institutions Forum in Beijing, Dean Bassett reconnected with long-time friend director/producer Kim Dong-Ho of the Graduate School of Cinematic Contents at Dankook University and founder of the Busan International Film Festival.

Above, an exchange of gifts with Yongming YU, Vice President of Qingdao University, following talks of possible partnership opportunities.

Professor Bill Kroyer, director of Chapman’s Animation and Visual Eects program, was a featured speaker at the 2010 international conference on animation education in Beijing.

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Left, Trustee Scott Chapman (right in photo) joins the Chapman delegation in Shenzhen. Below, Chapman’s Chinese alumni gather for a meal and a meeting in China.

Left, Chapman students had the opportunity to shoot a ďŹ lm at Hengdian Studios in China. Above, Dean Bassett visits Wanda Studios with Chapman alumna Shasha Dong '14.

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Making films around the world A key component of internationalizing our program, and helping students burst their cultural bubbles, has been taking advantage of opportunities for students to travel and make films in other countries. While this has necessitated complex planning and logistics, the results have always been exceptional; students constantly refer to their experiences as “transforming.” Making documentaries about non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or working with student exchange teams in another country to write and produce films both in the U.S. and in the host country have given students a look at other cultures as well as how filmmakers work—what’s the same and what’s different—around the world.

Clockwise, from top left: New Zealand, Korea, India, Botswana.

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Clockwise, from top left: Galapagos, Uganda, Cameroon, Cuba.

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Left, Greece. Center, Cameroon. Bottom, Cambodia.

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From left, director Kent Bassett, Bonner Paddock, and cinematographer Jeff Dolen at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which Paddock climbed to demonstrate that cerebral palsy should not hold people back from following their dreams in the documentary Beyond Limits.

Above, Japan. Left, Laos, where the film Gardeners of the Forest produced by Ceylan Carhoglu ‘16 and Nicole Jordan-Webber ‘16, was a finalist in the 2016 Student Academy Awards in the Documentary category.

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Outreach: Conferences and connections In the early days of what was to become the film school, no one had ever heard of Chapman. Dean Bassett sought ways to broaden our reach and learn from counterparts around the world by hosting and attending film school conferences. Two organizations were pivotal to this effort, the University Film and Video Association (UFVA) and the international association of film schools, Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (CILECT).

Left, attending UFVA conferences around the country gave Chapman faculty the chance to see how other schools approached film education. From left, Dave Kost, Scott Arundale, Sally Rubin, Janell Shearer, Jeff Swimmer, Dean Bassett, Ross Brown and Roy Finch in Bozeman, Montana.

A group photo is an annual feature of the conference; here in 1996.

Dean Bassett brought the UFVA conference to Chapman in 1996.

Robert Zemeckis was a keynote speaker and the final banquet went on, even though the power went out during the event and the staff was forced to barbecue outside and carry the food upstairs.

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The UFVA conference returned in 2006 when Marion Knott Studios had just barely opened.

We made it through, but the air conditioning kept everyone a lot colder than we wished. In 2013, Professor Peter Debruge, chief film critic for Variety, below, kicked off the conference as the keynote speaker.

Top, UFVA President Norm Hollyn welcomes guests to the annual picnic in 2013. UFVA members, from left, Don Zirpola, Ben Levin, Art Nomura and Bill Huie join in the festive spirit at Tortilla Jo’s at Downtown Disney.

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Travel to CILECT conferences around the world gave Dodge faculty an international network. In 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa, above, Dean Bassett proposed that Chapman host in 2014, below, the first time a CILECT conference had been held in North America in decades.

Above, Caterina D’Amico, dean of the Italian film school, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografiaformer, and president of CILECT, with Dean Bassett in Helsinki. Below, With Don Zirpola, Chapman grad ‘71, Professor at Loyola Marymount, and CILECT vicepresident for finance and fund-raising.

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Bringing several hundred attendees from countries around the world was a massive undertaking involving visas, travel arrangements and incredible planning superbly handled by our outstanding sta. The conference gave us a chance to introduce professors to Dodge College and to share a little taste of the California lifestyle. Dean Bassett interviewed Director William Friedkin, top right, to open the conference. In 2017, Chapman hosted a conference on sound for members of CILECT North America.

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Film festivals at home…

Film festivals serve as a launching pad/market for the work of filmmakers worldwide. At the same time, they offer the opportunity for aspiring filmmakers to sample the latest storytelling trends and to evaluate what works, and what doesn’t. Classes have been going to the Sundance Film Festival for years, learning about how films are marketed and, it goes without saying, enjoying parties and celebrity sightings.

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Clockwise from top left: 2019 was a big year for Chapman at Sundance when the two opening night films were both directed by Chapman alumni, Blindspotting by Carlos Lopez-Estrada '12 and Kailash by Derek Doneen '09.

Brett Simmons’ '04 screening of Husk was Chapman’s first film at Sundance in 2005. Students in the Sundance class with Professor Janell Shearer met actor Chazz Palminteri. In 2014, Justin Simien '05, on stage with his cast, took home the special jury award for Breakthrough Talent.

Top left: alumnus Ben York-Jones '06 on stage in 2013 with his film Breathe In; top, right, cinematographer Jeff Dolen ’00 greets Dean Bassett at the Chapman Sundance reception. Middle, left, Dean Bassett with producer James Smith ’01, Sorrel Geddes ’05 and Aaron Schnobrich ’03 at the reception; middle right, the Chapman class enjoys a sunny Sundance day. Bottom, left, Erika Cohn ’09 screened her documentary film In Football We Trust in 2015.

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Alumni and friends regularly gather at the Telluride Film Festival. Left, Film Festival Coordinator Derek Horne joins the team behind Into the Silent Sea, alumni Almog Antonir '13, Ben Fischinger '14, Andrej Landin '13 and Dean Bassett celebrating the film’s screening in the Colorado town in 2013.

Dean Bassett, left, at the patron’s brunch with John and Karin Kukral; AJ, Robbie and Alexa Tuttle and Professor Travis Knox.

Above, top row, Professor Travis Knox and Dean Bassett (second from left) join Chapman alumni Max Keller ’13, Daniel Klein ’16, student Brian Robau, Alexa Tuttle ’17 and front, Grant Moore ’17 and John Sayage ’17 for a meal in Telluride.

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Back on campus, Dodge College was the proud host of the Sikh Arts and Film Festival, showcasing a riot of color, wonderful food, music, films and art.

Bicky Singh, immediate left, and his wife Gurpreet, have been major supporters of the festival, of the Project S documentary films, and have regularly hosted international students at their home. Bicky is the founder of the SikhLens Foundation.

Fauja Singh, second from left, with Dean Bassett, Janell Shearer and Bicky Singh, was the 101-year-old marathoner who was the subject of a film called I Run While Talking to God produced by Dodge students that screened at the festival.

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Another great on-campus film festival was Pusan (later Busan) West, a partnership with the international film festival in South Korea that brought major directors and a wide variety of work to Chapman. Right, Dean Bassett with director Bong Joon-ho in 2012. Far right, alumnus Andy Knauer ’06 and the star of the film he wrote, The Last Stand, Arnold Schwarzenegger, talked about their work with director Kim Jee-woon, below right, with Dean Bassett.

Left, dignitaries from the city, the university and the Busan Film Festival meet the press.

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Audiences were introduced to a wide variety of Korean ďŹ lms, from horror to comedy, at the 2009 festival, as well as to some traditional Korean dancing in a colorful performance.

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...and abroad Festivals also provide the chance to meet up with and celebrate alumni whose work has been selected to screen and to taste the differences offered by festivals in France, Italy, and Korea. Trips abroad have further broadened opportunities for our students to see and learn from different cultures and filmmaking traditions.

Below, Sandy Stone, who sponsored the student trip to the Festival de Cannes, celebrates opening night with Dean Bassett.

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Each year a class visits the Busan International Film Festival (formerly Pusan) in South Korea where students get an up-close view of the thriving Asian marketplace. Bottom left, dinner with with Shim Sung-bo, (third from right) director of Sea Fog, is a great part of the experience.

Film Studies students travel to the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Italy, under the direction of Professor Emily Carman to savor some of the best ďŹ lms of the past at this festival dedicated to ďŹ lm restoration. Outdoor screenings in the Piazza Maggiore, above, are a special treat.

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Feature film production Chapman Filmed Entertainment (CFE), a feature film production company designed to produce $1-2-million films in order to drive the careers of Chapman alumni, is unlike anything else in higher education today. The theatrical release of its first film, the thriller The Barber, was followed by Static, which addresses the challenges of the #MeToo movement, now being distributed by The Orchard. This unique initiative has captured wide media coverage in both the trade and national press.

Scenes from The Barber, starring Scott Glenn, Stephen Tobolowsky and Chris Coy. The film was screened theatrically in New York and LA and in the Busan International Film Festival, where director Basel Owies '10, far right on the red carpet, got a taste of stardom as fans lined up to get his autograph.

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An emotionally charged story centering on anonymous accusations of rape that threaten to destroy the career of a rising rock musician drive Static, the second feature produced by Chapman Filmed Entertainment. Bottom left, Dillon McEvoy ’17 served as the digital imaging technician, as well as managing color correction in post.

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Produced entirely on the sound stages in Marion Knott Studios, the production featured an impressively lit radio station set, where changing lights mirrored the mood of the action. Director Miriam Anwari ’17, above, prepares for a day’s shoot. Charlie Reetz ’18 ran camera B.

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PR and Ad: A unique addition to the film school In seeking to differentiate Dodge College from other film schools, we developed a focus not just on making films, but also on “the business of the business”—prompting students to keep in mind that this is show business and challenging them to understand it from all angles.

Central to that effort has been the addition of the Public Relations and Advertising program to Dodge College, with an emphasis on entertainment marketing—a program not found in any other film school that we know of. Teaching students to understand how creative properties are marketed regularly captures the attention of industry guests, who applaud this direction. At the same time, students preparing for careers in PR and advertising learn to use the tools of visual storytelling, giving them an edge in a world where content creation and telling stories shape the fortune of every company and organization.

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PR and Ad students create marketing plans for narrative, documentary and animated student films.

They have also partnered with more than 100 community organizations over the years to create marketing plans for organizations from the American Diabetes Association to Stand Up For Kids and many more —serving the OC community and raising the visibility of Dodge College.

So helpful is this effort that more than 20 non-profits a year reach out and request Dodge College partnerships.

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Left, Kyle Decker (on the right) and Noah Rashba, with Professor Jim Fredrick, accept a student Emmy for their commercial for the Aussie Bean.

Below, the 2017 Bateman team and advisors, from left, Mara Conway, Sabina Hahn, Veston Rowe, Allie White, Skye Sinyard, Katie Paige and Janell Shearer.

PR and Ad students have brought national recognition to Dodge, placing nationally in the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) seven times, including first place, and 14 times, including a first place win, in the Public Relations Student Society of American Bateman Case Study Competition. Top, the NSAC team with their advisor, John Most, back row, right, took first in its district in 2018.

Kara Ojebuoboh and Sabina Hahn, above, from left, campaign for student veterans in 2016. In 2015, Bateman teams created community projects for Home Matters, left.

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Inside Dodge In a school built on storytelling, creativity reigns. If you know how to stage a scene, dress a set, cast characters, and create impact, why not harness those same tools in everything you do. Coming to work or to school in the halls of the ďŹ lm school is always an adventure— you never know what you might meet around the next corner.

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Traditions over the years Traditions are the ties that bind us across time. Although some traditions ultimately end, memories of those things we did together continue to touch us— and make us smile. Students were the driving force behind many of the activities that lasted for years, from the Cecil Awards to the Warlocks and Witches Ball. The photos here are further proof of the creativity, engagement and zany results wrought by generations of students. We can’t help but smile.

In the early days of DeMille Hall, students convened in the halls late at night for “Dance Party.” One night honored Dean Bassett’s fund-raising prowess with a dance dedicated to “songs about money.” Other evenings challenged Team Shaka to a “dance off” or celebrated the holidays.

End-of-the-year award ceremonies were run by students, originally taking place in Memorial Hall, including, above, the year Dean Bassett arrived in a DeLorean, based on a Back to the Future theme. Renamed the Cecils, the event grew more elaborate over the years, with sets, guest hosts, dancers, and an after party.

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Some years included guest hosts, such as Titanic producer Jon Landau, left, in 2011, as well as singing and dancing.

The design of the show was always a great chance for students to realize some of their most creative ideas.

Parents and friends joined the celebration.

Awards were given to honor accomplishment in each discipline and faculty took the stage to make remarks. Left, Professor Adam Rote.

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The Cecils got bigger every year, to the point where the Folino Theater couldn’t even hold the crowds, which was at least one reason for the event's demise (along with an ever-growing budget!). But while it lasted, the sets, themes and after party elements—yes, live snakes, monkeys, games and food—were fun and imaginative. The entire extravaganza was a proving ground for students in our Special Events Planning class, who got to see how plans played out in real time.

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The same creativity that brings students to Dodge College was fully unleashed at the Warlocks and Witches Ball. Costumes ran the gamut from movie-inspired to pop culture commentary—see Waldo, above, and the Tooth Fairy, below.

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Professor Cory O’Connor (bow tie, top right) was the driving force behind the Warlocks and Witches Ball for many years. He harnessed the talents of the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) team to create the Halloween extravaganza, and occasionally threw in a little audience research for whatever the NSAC client was that year. But fun was the primary purpose—one well fulfilled!

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A very large spider took up residence in the second-floor storage room between holidays, only to reappear in time for October’s end. Costume contests were judged by crowd voting. A cemetery one year offered a tombstone for Windows Vista and noted, for advertising Professor Rich Wang, that a tombstone “is outdoor advertising too.”

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Even faculty got into the act, here, Professor Bill Kroyer seems to have lost in a ďŹ ght with some pushpins.

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A culture of collaboration--and fun While the focus is often on faculty, nothing would happen in a complex environment like the film school without an amazing staff that works hard and has fun just being together, a staff that is supportive in every way of the non-stop slate of activities that benefit our students.

Above, front, from left: Julie Gorzik, Kareen Marashi, Hannah Clausen, Paige Pillon, John Blalock, Ciara Jones, Theresa Watson, Marissa Ellena, Jon Hernandez, Robby Campbell. Second row: Dan Leonard, Nick Peterson, Samuel Prince, Gama Hernandez, Adam Rote, Marita Tyler, Priscilla Gonzalez, Taylor Braun, Jim Smith. Back row: Lydia Richards, Hunter Delaney, Tim Durban, Steve Baker, Eunyoung Kim. Right, Dodge has taken home the top prize more than once in the annual university pumpkin carving contest. Tina Graves, front, with staff members, front row from left, Julie Gorzik, Suzanne Wachman, Kareem Marashi, Lauren Kacura, Ciara Jones and Samantha Markowitz. Back row, Sean Riddle, Meagan O’Shea, Bill Kroyer, Samuel Prince, KC Wayland in disguise, and Brian Hamilton.

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At the 2013 UFVA closing banquet, from left, Ciara Jones, Meagan O’Shea, Dan Leonard, Josh Rieger, Sorrel Geddes, Kareem Marashi, Michele Kennedy, Tina Graves.

Dodge College staff make it happen, and they make it fun! Ably led by Director of Administrative Operations, Tina Graves, Dodge College staff study leadership and participate in retreats to refine and reflect on their operations, all activities that have added to the strength of their team.

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Joining in the Halloween fun, from left, Noelle Novoa '06, Julie Gorzik, Sorrel Geddes '05 and Janell Shearer.

Bowling always works for team bonding; front, from left, Pete Vander Pluym, Liz French, John Snyder. Standing, Brooke Hazard, Tod Withey, Pat Braithwaite, Stephanie DesPalmes, Frank Patterson, Vicki Bunkley and Julie Gorzik.

Good staff refine and enhance every effort. Media Arts Division Chair Janell Shearer attributes much of her success over the years to the able assistance of Brian Hamilton, left, and Aaron McLean.

Robin Hartwig August '10, left, served as the Dean's assistant while she finished her degree and went on to a career editing for television.

The kindness and commitment of staff can be traced back to the earliest days, to Vicki Bunkley, (bottom, left, center) who was the very first staff member in what was to become Dodge College. Vicki’s unflappable demeanor and quiet efficiency set the tone for those who followed. And, as many staff over the years have also been alumni, their commitment to creating the best environment possible runs very deep.

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Looking Ahead A strong foundation has been laid and the future is in the hands of those who remain and those yet to join the Dodge community. If they follow the Dean’s dictum to “take your destiny in your own hands,” the future promises to be as bright and as unexpected as the past and, we expect, even more so.

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Always evolving One of the most interesting challenges of filmmaking is that in order to make a film you need to know how to do everything—write, light, shoot, direct, edit, capture sound etc.—or at least understand how these activities function and work together. To be successful as filmmakers, students need to understand the basics of production, along with the history of film language and the structures of storytelling in their discipline, whatever it may be. By beginning at the simplest level, their work can grow as they master more complex skills and ideas, increasing in quality over time.

In the same way our film school has continued to evolve, to provide space, equipment and exercises to help students master the evolution of the art they are pursuing, whether it is animation, advertising, production design or some other aspect of today’s complex world of visual storytelling.

Opening in August, 2014, the Digital Media Arts Center, fondly known as the DMAC, is an open and airy home for our animation and visual effects students. Under the leadership of program director Professor Bill Kroyer, this spectacular award-winning facility draws on the traditions of the animation industry, with open spaces and art on every wall.

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Thesis boards test student stories as they evolve taking into account notes and feedback from faculty and peers.

A gallery of posters signed by leading animation directors, writers and VFX supervisors testify to the high level guests that Professor Bill Kroyer brings to Dodge.

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Chapman Studios West (CSW), a 38,000square-foot facility houses the Dhont Documentary Center and production, shop, cinematography and classroom/ screening spaces.

Opened in 2016, the building took over from a pre-existing production house, and with extensive retroďŹ tting and remodeling was born again as the third component of the facilities available to Dodge College students.

Cutting the ceremonial ribbon are, from left, Doug Kimmelman, Bob Topp and Andre Dhont of the Dhont Family Foundation, President Daniele Struppa and Dean Bassett.

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Rankings and recognition Although we would prefer not to have to think about rankings, as they are, in the end, subjective and not scientific—they do matter, particularly to prospective students. And so, we never wanted our reputation to be left to chance. We have always taken it upon ourselves to tell the story of what we do and what we value so that others, in the media and in the industry, will have an accurate picture.

Dean Bassett was named Media Mentor of the Year by Variety in 2013.

Dean Bassett was honored with the Artistic Visionary Award by Arts Orange County recognizing “an individual who perceived a community need and has demonstrated dedication and perseverance to build his/her vision into a thriving arts organization which has enhanced the quality of life in Orange County.”

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2018 – No. 6 2017 – No. 6 2013 – No. 7 2012 – No. 13 2011 – No. 22 (inaugural year)

2017

2018

2018 – No. 6 2017 – No. 7 2016 – No. 8 (inaugural year) From The Wrap 2018 "Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts began in 1981, when Bob Bassett, now dean, started the program with one camera and infinite chutzpah.

"Chapman was ahead of the curve in recognizing women, from faculty member Martha Coolidge, the first female president of the DGA, to the many industry bigwigs who trek south for Chapman’s 19 Women in Focus Conferences, moderated by innovative marketer Dawn Taubin. " 141 Proof Copy: Not optimized for high quality printing or digital distribution

Commencement: not the end of the road, but the beginning After many long years of hard work, students cross a stage to receive their diplomas and step off into the world of life after college. What last advice might resonate as they begin this new and exciting journey? Some of the industry’s biggest names have shared their thoughts.

Offering words of wisdom to new graduates, from left, Steve Mosko of Sony Pictures Television (now CEO of Village Roadshow) in 2011, actor/director/ producer Tony Bill in 2010, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs in 2016.

Below, left, Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer of Netflix, in 2015.

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Thoughts for what’s next have also been oered by producer Cathy Schulman (Crash), top left, in 2014; director Michael Apted (the Up documentary series), bottom, left, in 2018; producer Jon Landau (Titanic), top right, in 2012; animation producer Don Hahn (The Lion King) in 2017, center right, and producer Hawk Koch (Source Code) in 2013, bottom right.

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Alumni successes Alumni are the only permanent part of any school. As Dean Bassett has said on many occasions, “Our reputation as a film school will be most clearly cemented by the accomplishments of our alumni.”

As a relatively young film school, our alumni are just beginning to make their mark; many are building on success they first found as students, such as the Student Acadmy Award winners, below. Tracking their accomplishments is a daunting challenge, as they move often in order to build their careers. While it is virtually impossible to include even a fraction of their accomplishments or name the positions our graduates hold, here is a small sampling of what some of them have achieved.

Brian Robau captured a second Student Academy Award for Esta Es Tu Cuba in 2018, a feat that no other student has accomplished in 45 years.

Although the Student Academy Awards are but one measure of success, they certainly focus national attention on the talent of student filmmakers so recognized. Daniel Drummond, far left, took home Chapman’s first award with the gold medal for his animated film Chiaroscuro in 2015, made when he was a B.F.A. student in Digital Arts. The next year, two more Chapman films, Brenna Malloy’s Rocket and Brian Robau’s It’s Just A Gun took silver and bronze medals respectively. And then Drummond received a second nomination in 2017 for A Foreman, his narrative film made when he continued his education at Chapman in the MFA program.

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Left, Chris Marrs Piliero ‘01, a prolific producer of music videos, took home the MTV Music Video Award for Breakthrough Video in 2010 for his video for Tighten Up by The Black Keys and was named Alum of the Year in 2012. Below, Sean Stiegemeier ‘05 and Andrew Davis ‘10 (below, left and right) are joined by Professor Bill Dill, left, and Jurg Walther, right, as they are honored by the American Society of Cinematographers. Both went on to careers in cinematography.

Carlos Lopez Estrada returns to campus to share his experience directing Blindspotting with Professor Peter Debruge, chief film critic for Variety, who named it one of the 10 best films of the year in a rave review.

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Above, Erika Cohn ‘09 won a DGA award as Best Woman Student Filmmaker, predicting her growing directing career, most recently for The Judge, which won a 2018 Peabody Award.

Top, left, Olatunde Osunsanmi ’00 broke out with The Fourth Kind in 2009 and has gone on to an active career in directing for television.

Bottom, Andrew Knauer returned to Dodge to celebrate the release of the film The Last Stand, which he wrote for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Kathleen Remington ‘05, right, above, with Marissa Moffitt ‘10, was promoted to partner with ICM, after being named one of The Hollywood Reporter’s up-and-coming execs 35 and under in 2017. Moffitt went on to become a brand partnerships consultant for the Cinema Napa Valley Film Festival.

Clockwise from top left, Colin Sommer ’14 works as Digital Marketing Manager for Harry Potter Global Franchise Development at Warner Bros.

Rodrigo Patino ’02, returned to Chapman to share his film Muralla, a feature that represented Bolivia in the Oscars.

Derek Helwig ’05, spent three years as a producer on The Amazing Race and is now Vice President of Development at Xpedition Media; he has returned as an adjunct instructor to Dodge College. Emily Brandon ’07 is Senior Manager of Digital and Partnership Marketing at Freeform for Disney.

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Janice Chua ’11, below, is a graduate of Dodge College’s creative producing program in Singapore. Working in international co-productions, she was an associate producer on Crazy Rich Asians and is now Vice President for International Development and Production at Imagine.

Above, Patrick Don Vito ’91, became Chapman’s first Oscar nominee for The Green Book, with a nomination for editing. He once took an editing class with Dean Bassett and has since racked up some 37 credits on IMDB. Right, working in Hollywood, Travis Knox ’93 found a script that became the hit film The Bucket List. Returning to Chapman, he teaches producing and served as Vice President of Production and Development for Chapman Filmed Entertainment.

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Marc Messenger ’86, left, is Project Director at Blizzard Entertainment, where he makes cinematics for games including World of Warcraft.

Nick Hines ’99 has carved out a career in the advertising and promotion business, currently as Vice President, Events for The Stronach Group Racing and Gaming.

Nico Aguilar ’16 won both the American Society of Cinematographers Heritage Award and the Kodak Scholarship Award in 2015 for his work on the film Run, directed by fellow alum Trevor Stevens '15. He has gone on to a growing career as a cinematographer, shooting the film Rock Steady Row, also directed by Stevens, which took the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance in 2018.

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Steve Lavin ’88, below, left, today a College Basketball TV Analyst with Fox Sports and the Pac-12 Networks, was recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005. He spent 11 years as head coach with UCLA and St. John’s University, and now teaches Sports Broadcasting at Chapman. Right, Tom Teller ’16 (on right) and Julian Conner ’17 won the Coca-Cola/Regal Films competition in 2017, putting the Chapman name on theater screens across the nation.

They went on to found Frame 48, a content production company. Teller was also a 2015 Student Academy Award finalist in the Animation category for his film Hum.

Brenda Brkusic ’04, left, is an eight-time Emmy winner, a Los Angeles Area Governor of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and a Director of Programming and Development for NBCUniversal Media. Right, Jason Wise '05 and his wife Christina '05 (with Dean Bassett and Professor David Ward) directed and produced three documentaries on the world of sommeliers that have taken the world of wine by storm and made them celebrities among winemakers and wine aficionados.

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Below, Justin Simien ’05 returns to share his Netflix experiences with Professor David Ward.

Left, Wes Rapaport ’15, reporting at the Oscars, is a Capitol Correspondent in Austin, Texas, for the Nexstar Austin Bureau.

Below, Mike Mohan ’02 visits with, from left, Dean Bassett and Professors Jeff McCracken and Andy Lane. Mohan and Ben York Jones ’06 launched Everything Sucks! on Netflix in 2018.

Far left, Derek Doneen ’09 directed Kailish (retitled The Price of Free), a documentary about a man who works to rescue children from slavery that opened the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

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Sorrel Geddes ’05, right, formerly Manager of Special Projects for Dodge College, is Senior Vice President of U.S. Production and Events at the British Film Commission.

John Duber ’00 is an Emmy Award-winning director who has been with CNN for seven years, after spending five years with FOX News. He is also a certified drone pilot who specializes in VR/ AR and aerial content.

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Yasu Tanida ’01, below, has accumulated a long list of credits as a cinematographer including, most recently, 53 episodes of the TV series This is Us.

Nathalie Con ’11, a VP and Strategy Director at Giant Spoon, an agency named Adweek’s Rising Star for 2017, was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Marketing and Advertising for 2019.

Tara Hernandez ’10 had several internships while a student at Chapman, one of which was at Warner Bros. Television, the studio that produces The Big Bang Theory. Nine years later, she’s still there, having moved up the ladder from assistant to staff writer.

Kelly Galuska ’06 has been busy mining the indignities of life through the comedy of animated characters as a writer/producer on multiple episodes of Big Mouth and BoJack Horseman.

Kurt Soderling ’87 has carved out a career as an aerial cinematographer as well as a producer/director for his own company Soderling Productions, which has produced a number of award-winning documentaries. He has worked with major directors from Jim Cameron to Steven Spielberg, and brings his talents back to Chapman as a member of our adjunct faculty.

Ben York Jones ’06 has built a significant career as a writer, with multiple films appearing at Sundance, starting in 2010, and winning the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize for Like Crazy in 2011. He partnered with fellow alum Michael Mohan ‘02 to create the TV series Everything Sucks! which was bought by Netflix. Recently, he adapted a New York Times bestseller into the film Ashes in the Snow, a period piece shot in Lithuania.

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Left, John-David Currey ’98 founded his own company, Fresh Cut Creative, after working as Senior Vice President and Creative Director for On-Air Marketing for NBCUniversal. He has returned to Dodge to teach trailer editing.

Right, Leah Estrin ’98 started her career at Imagine Entertainment.

She is now Managing Director of the TV/Digital Fellowship for the CineStory Foundation.

Right, Noka Aldororty ‘95 is a Director of Disney Fine Art Product Development, Marketing and Creative.

Far right, Nick Don Vito ’87, here with Tony Hawk (r) works on Beat Shazam for Mark Burnett Productions.

Alumni routinely share their experiences with each other and with current students at alumni mixers and College-to-Career nights hosted by Dodge College. These events provide a strong foundation for the on-going alumni community and offer immediate networking opportunities for alumni at all stages of their careers.

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Looking Back The Dodge College motto: Ars longa, wita brewis The story behind a motto When the schools at Chapman were asked to submit ideas for images for a flag for each unit, Dean Bob Bassett also came up with the idea of creating a Latin motto to convey the proper sense of academic tradition. As he reported in his speech to the graduates in 1999, web research yielded some sites devoted to Latin phrases, but many, which addressed weighty topics such as war and death, seemed inappropriate.

And so, with a little help from religion professor Dr. Marv Meyer, we set about translating some phrases that applied to film. Two that were considered included “Widisthina nupear imaginess mowentes bonahs?” which translates as “Seen any good movies lately?” and editing Professor Harry Cheney’s favorite, “Figamgus hoc in edithiona,” or “We’ll fix it in the editing.”

But as those seemed to lack the right tone, we ultimately decided on “Ars longa, wita brewis,” or “Art is long, life is short.”

As Dean Bassett observed, this motto “tells us that the best of human thought—expressed as art—can have a life beyond our own. It tells us that we can speak across generations about our trials and triumphs. It tells us that, however brief our time on earth may be, our meanings can live on.

“The excitement of the creative act,” he said, “is the possibility of capturing a story that connects us to the universal human condition, and lives on. Ars longa, wita brewis.”

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A film school timeline 1970s First film classes offered at Chapman

*Arnold Schwarzenegger headlines film school studios

1981 First full-time film professor hired, Robert Bassett (now dean)

groundbreaking

1983 First Location Filmmaking project, true beginning of the film program

2005 Brett Simmons’ film Husk is first Chapman film to play at Sundance

1992 Department of Film and Television formed 1994 Film program moves into what was formerly the student union and

*Dodge College hosts first market showcase at Cannes 2006 Marion Knott Studios opens

cafeteria

*Chapman hosts the 60th annual UFVA conference for U.S. film

1996 The School of Film and Television founded

school faculty

*Chapman hosts 50th annual University Film and Video Association (UFVA) conference

*Dean Bob Bassett named Artistic Visionary by Arts Orange County 2007 The Premiere—film school opening gala welcomes donors and

1999 First Filmmaker-in-Residence, director Arthur Hiller *A record 800 students enroll

community 2008 Dodge College Singapore campus opens doors, directed by Associate

*Screening at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles highlights

Dean Madeline Warren

student work for industry guests

*International documentary program launched with trip to Cambodia

2000 Women in Focus event draws top women editors *Students get access to a 15,000-square-foot shooting stage, shop

*First Korean filmmaking exchange launched 2009 Dodge hosts first Pusan West Film Festival, featuring renowned

and scene dock in a warehouse purchased by the university *A remodel in DeMille Hall adds administrative and faculty offices,

Korean director Park Chan-wook 2010 National Student Advertising Competition team takes first place in

connects the back and front sections of the building

the nation

2001 Nearly 150 students work on six location films during Interterm; The

*Dodge hosts first Sikh Art and Film Festival

Last March, a Civil War story is sponsored by Kodak and shot on 35mm film

*Community Voices documentary program launched 2011 Dean honored with American Spirit Educator’s Award by the Caucus

2002 PR and Advertising program joins the film school

for Producers, Writer and Directors

*Killer Scripts, compendium of best student scripts, sent to industry

*The Hollywood Reporter ranks Dodge College #22 of Top 25 Film

2003 Film Festival Coordinator hired 2004

Schools in the U.S.

Film school named the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts

*Chapman Filmed Entertainment (CFE) founded 2012

The Hollywood Reporter ranks Dodge College #13 of Top 25 Film

*First class goes to Sundance Film Festival

Schools in the U.S.

*Conservatory of Motion Pictures launched

*Dhont Family Foundation gift names Dhont Documentary Center

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2013 The Hollywood Reporter ranks Dodge College #7 of Top 25 Film

2017 The Hollywood Reporter ranks Dodge College #6 of Top 25 Film

Schools in the U.S. *Dean Bob Bassett honored by Variety as Media Mentor of the Year

Schools in the U.S. 2018 CFE begins production on its second feature film

*Dodge hosts UFVA annual conference: Story First 2014 The Digital Media Arts Center (DMAC), an 18,000-square-foot facility

*Bob Bassett announces retirement; the search for a new dean

begins

dedicated to animation and visual effects, opens *Chapman Filmed Entertainment (CFE) completes first feature, The Barber, starring Scott Glenn *CFE’s The Barber is represented by The Little Film Company for worldwide sales and is acquired for domestic distribution rights by Arc Entertainment *Dodge College welcomes over 200 film school faculty from 102 schools in 48 countries as host of the 2014 CILECT (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision) Congress, addressing the topic of Previsualization *Dodge alum Justin Simien wins the Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at the Sundance Film Festival for his independent feature film Dear White People 2015 Daniel Drummond wins the gold medal in the 42nd Student Academy Awards for his film Chiaroscuro *New Era of Television class launched on Sony lot with Ted Sarandos, Steve Mosko and Ed Carroll *CFE’s The Barber opens in select theaters in Los Angeles and New York, later plays on Netflix 2016 Dodge College opens Chapman Studios West, the 38,000-square-foot production and documentary center *Institute for Creative Reality launched, directed by Professor Madeline Warren 157 Proof Copy: Not optimized for high quality printing or digital distribution

Filmmakers-in-Residence Term

Filmmaker

Credits

Spring 2019

Producer/Martin Shafer

LBJ, Before Midnight, Friends with Benefits, Bernie, Music and Lyrics, Modern Romance,

Spring 2019

The Awakening Director/VFX - Jeffrey Kleiser

Tron, Stargate, Judge Dredd, Clear and Present Danger, X-Men, Mortal Kombat Annihilation

Fall 2018

Writer/Producer/Actor Dean Devlin

Independence Day, Godzilla, Independence Day:Resurgence, Stargate, Universal Soldier Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars:

Spring 2018

Producer/VFX Richard Edlund

Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Airforce One

Fall 2017

Director/Michael Apted

Enigma, The World is Not Enough, Ray Donovan, 35 Up, Gorillas in the Mist, Coal Miner’s Daughter

Spring 2017

Producer/VFX Joyce Cox

The Jungle Book, The Dark Knight, Avatar, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Men In Black 3

Spring 2017

Producer Richard Gladstein

The Hateful Eight, Pulp Fiction, The Bourne Identity

Spring 2016

Producer Don Hahn

Beauty and the Beast, Maleficent, The Lion King

Spring 2016

Producer/director Rob Cohen

The Fast and the Furious, XxX, The Boy Next Door

Spring 2015

Producer Gary Foster

Short Circuit, Sleepless in Seattle, Daredevil, The Soloist, Community

Fall 2014

President, Academy of Motion Pictures

The Call, The Artist, The King’s Speech, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,

Cheryl Boone Isaacs

Spider-Man 2

Spring 2014

Director Donald Petrie

Miss Congeniality, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Grumpy Old Men, Mystic Pizza

Fall 2013

Producer Cathy Schulman

Crash, The Illusionist, Tears of the Sun, Sidewalks of New York

Spring 2013

Producer Cathleen Summers

The Sandlot, Dogfight, D.O.A., and Stakeout

Fall 2012

Screenwriter/producer Leslie Dixon

writer, Outrageous Fortune, Pay It Forward, Overboard; producer/writer, Limitless and That Old Feeling

Spring 2012

Producer JoAnne Seller

There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love

Fall 2011

Director/producer/ actress Betty Thomas Dr. Doolittle, Private Parts, i-Spy, 28 Days, John Tucker Must Die

Spring 2011

Producer/director Jonathan Sanger

The Producers, Vanilla Sky

Fall 2010

Director Randal Kleiser

Grease, The Blue Lagoon, Flight of the Navigator

Spring 2010

Director/actor Richard Benjamin

Director, My Favorite Year, Little Nikita, Made in America; actor, Goodbye Columbus, Catch-22, Diary of a Mad Housewife

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Fall 2009

Producer Michael Phillips

Taxi Driver, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Flamingo Kid

Fall 2009

Director/producer/ actor Tony Bill

Producer, The Sting; director, My Bodyguard, Untamed Heart, A Home of Our Own, Five Corners

Spring 2009

Animation Director Bill Kroyer

FernGully, The Last Rainforest; Cats and Dogs, Garfield, Scooby Doo, TRON

Spring 2009

Director Martha Coolidge

Real Genius, Rambling Rose, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

Fall 2008

Director/producer Jocelyn Moorhouse

How to Make an American Quilt, A Thousand Acres, Proof, Peter Pan, Muriel’s Wedding

Spring 2008

Screenwriter Larry Gross

48 Hrs., We Don’t Live Here Anymore

Spring 2008

TV director Sheldon Epps

Friends, Frasier, George Lopez, Girlfriends, Hannah Montana

Fall 2007

Production designer/producer/

The Witches of Eastwick, Terms of Endearment, Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show

writer Polly Platt Fall 2007

Producer David Foster

Collateral Damage, The Mask of Zorro, The River Wild, The Getaway, Running Scared, Short Circuit, McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Spring 2007

Producer Mace Neufeld

The Hunt for Red October, The Omen, Beverly Hills Cop II, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger

Spring 2006

Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz

Ladyhawke, Live and Let Die, Diamonds are Forever, Superman II; Dragnet; Mother, Mother, Jugs & Speed, The Eagle has Landed; director of TV shows including many episodes of Hart to Hart

Fall 2005

Director Harold Becker

The Onion Field, Mercury Rising, City Hall, Malice, Taps

Spring 2005

Director Carl Franklin

Out of Time, High Crimes, Devil in a Blue Dress, One False Move

Fall 2004

Director William Friedkin

The Exorcist, The French Connection, To Live and Die in LA, Rules of Engagement

Spring 2004

Writer/director/producer David Ward

Flyboys, King Ralph, Major League, Major League II, Cannery Row, Oscar-nominated Sleepless in Seattle, and Academy-Award winner The Sting

Spring 2003

Director Peter Medak

Romeo is Bleeding, Pontiac Moon, Species II, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

Spring 2002

Director John Badham

Saturday Night Fever, Point of No Return, Blue Thunder, Short Circuit, WarGames, and American Flyer as well as TV episodes of Heroes, Men in Trees and Crossing Jordan

Fall 2001

Writer/editor Bob Jones

Bulworth, The Babe, Heaven Can Wait, Shampoo, The Last Detail, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Coming Home

Spring 2000*

Director/actor Mark Rydell

On Golden Pond, The Reivers, Cinderella Liberty, The Rose, The River

Spring 2000*

Director Daniel Petrie Sr.

A Raisin in the Sun, Sybil, The Betsy, Fort Apache The Bronx

Fall 1999

Director Arthur Hiller

Love Story, Hospital, Silver Streak, Outrageous Fortune, The Americanization of Emily

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Women in Focus Conferences history

2000: The Cutting Edge—Editors Gabriella Cristiani, Luna, Lost and Found, You Disturb Me, The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky, Savior Carol Littleton, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Manchurian Candidate, The Big Chill Sally Menke, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Reservoir Dogs Lisa Zeno Churgin, Pitch Perfect, The Ugly Truth, Pride and Glory, The Last Kiss, The Cider House Rules, Dead Man Walking, Reality Bites

2001: The Next Shot—Directors of Photography Jo Carson, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Matrix Reloaded, Back to the Future Part II, Ghostbusters Teresa Medina, The 24 Hour Woman, Things I Never Told You, Colors Straight Up. Emiko Omori, Rabbit in the Moon, Corpus: A Home Movie for Selena, Rebels for a Cause Nancy Schrieber, fourth woman voted into membership of the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers, Reaching Normal Elizabeth Ziegler, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Tombstone, Wayne's World

2002: Words into Image—Screenwriters Barbara Benedek, The Big Chill, Immediate Family, Men Don't Leave, Sabrina Jill Goldsmith, Law & Order, The Practice, Ally McBeal, NYPD Blue Felicia Henderson, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Sister, Sister, Soul Food Amy Holden Jones, A Weekend Home, Hollywood Boulevard, Slumber Party Massacre. Indecent Proposal Fay Kanin, Tell Me Where it Hurts, Hustling, Friendly Fire, Heartsounds, Fun and Games Gina Wendkos, Boys, Girls/Men and Women. Coyote Ugly, Princess Diaries, Jersey Girl

2003: Studio Executives Amy Baer, My Best Friend's Wedding, The Mask of Zorro Karen Glass, The Princess Diaries, Tuck Everlasting, The Count of Monte Christo, The Santa Clause 2 Michelle Manning, Forrest Gump, The Hours, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Sleepy Hollow, The Truman Show

2005: Producing the Vision: Directors Ilona Herzburg, The Manchurian Candidate, The Truth About Charlie, Thirteen Days, Dante's Peak Gail Muturx, Kinsey, The Shape of Things, Nurse Betty, Rain Man Alexandra Rose, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Norma Rae, Overboard, Frankie and Johnny 160 Proof Copy: Not optimized for high quality printing or digital distribution

Buffy Shutt, Universal Pictures; 16 Candles, Apollo 13, Terminator 2, Hook, Basic Instinct Janet Yang, The People vs. Larry Flynt, The Joy Luck Club, Killer, Empire of the Sun

2007: The Creative Vision—Production Designers Marcia Hinds, Six Feet Under, 28 Days Maia Javan, House of Sand and Fog, Crazy/Beautiful Jeannine Oppewall, L.A. Confidential, Pleasantville, Seabiscuit Dorothea Petrie, moderator, Love is Never Silent, Caroline?

Polly Platt, The Witches of Eastwick, Terms of Endearment, Paper Moon Ida Random, The Fast and the Furious, Rain Man, The Big Chill Jane Ann Stewart, Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways

2008: The Writer’s Vision Leslie Dixon, Overboard, Mrs. Doubtfire Susannah Grant, Pocahontas, Ever After Karen McCullah Lutz, 10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, The House Bunny, The Ugly Truth Dana Stevens, For Love of the Game, Safe Haven, Julie & Julia Cynthia Whitcomb, Buffalo Girls, Mark Twain and Me, I Know My First Name Is… Laura Ziskin, Spider-Man, What About Bob?, Lee Daniels’ The Butler

2009: The Director’s Vision Martha Coolidge, Dorothy Dandridge, Material Girls, Sex and the City, Weeds, CSI Kira Davis, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, Prisoners Sanaa Hamri, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, 90210, Nashville, Glee, Empire, Shameless Catherine Hardwicke, Thirteen, Twilight, This is Us Kimberly Peirce, Boys Don’t Cry, Stop-Loss Penelope Spheeris, Wayne’s World, The Little Rascals

2010: Today’s Television Industry Anne Beatts, Saturday Night Live, Square Pegs, A Different World Jessika Borsiczky, If These Walls Could Talk, The Promotion Kim Fleary, The Wonder Years, Roseanne, Home Improvement, The Drew Carey Show Felicia Henderson, Family Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Danica Krislovich, The Jon Stewart Show, MTV's Rock N Jock Lesli Linka Glatter, Now and Then, The Proposition, The Good Wife, Mad Men, Weeds, House, Brooklyn South Lee Shallat Chemel, The Middle, Cougar Town, Ugly Betty, Gossip Girl,

Gilmour Girls

2011: The Independent Film Industry Susan Cartsonis, What Women Want, Beastly Shana Feste, Country Strong, Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow: Me and Tennessee Dawn Hudson, moderator, Chief Executive Officer: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Mary Lambert, Music Videos, Pet Sematary Cathy Schulman, Crash, Isn’t She Great Nancy Utley, The Tree of Life, Influential Women of Hollywood Rebecca Yeldham, Motorcycle Diaries, The Motorcycle Diaries

2012: The Intersection of Art and Commerce Debra Martin Chase, Sparkle, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Princess Diaries Leslie Dixon, Overboard, Mrs. Doubtfire Nina Jacobson, The Hunger Games), One Day, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Kung Fu Panda 2, Madagascar, Dark City Stacey Snider, The Help, War Horse, Seabiscuit Dawn Taubin, The Harry Potter series, The Help, The Dark Knight

2013: Women in Comedy Diablo Cody, Juno, Young Adult Anne Fletcher, The Guilt Trip, The Proposal Donna Langley, Producer: Red Notice, Lost Souls, The Bachelor Nancy Meyers, It’s Complicated, The Holiday Maya Rudolph, SNL, Bridesmaids Penelope Spheeris, Black Sheep, The Little Rascals Dawn Taubin, The Harry Potter series, The Help, The Dark Knight

2014: The Business of Entertainment Erica Huggins, Rush, Get on Up, Made in America Sue Kroll, producer: A Star is Born, Birds of Prey Michelle Maclaren, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones Terry Press, CBS Films, Hell or High Water, Patriot’s Day Cathy Schulman, Voices, Horns, Crash Joanne Sellar, Inherent Vice, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love Dawn Taubin, The Harry Potter series, The Help, The Dark Knight

2015: Women in Television—Showrunners Debra Martin Chase, Sparkle, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Princess Diaries Kerry Ehrin, Bates Motel, Friday Night Lights Deena Katz, Dancing with the Stars, Real Time with Bill Maher

Robin Schiff, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Down Dog Janine Sherman Barrois, Criminal Minds, ER Dawn Taubin, The Harry Potter series, The Help, The Dark Knight

2016: Challenging the Status Quo Denise DiNovi, Crazy Stupid Love, Little Women, Practical Magic, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns Sanaa Hamri, Empire, Shameless, Nashville, Glee, Desperate Housewives Hannah Minghella, Baby Driver, Trainspotting 2, Zero Dark Thirty, Captain Phillips, 21 Jump Street Nicole Rocklin, Spotlight, The Perfect Guy, Middle of Nowhere Molly Smith, The Blind Side, P.S. I Love You, Beautiful Creatures

2017: In the Director’s Chair Susan Cartsonis, What Women Want, The Duff, French Kiss, The Truth About Cats and Dogs Niki Caro, Whale Rider, The Zookeepers Wife, Anne of Green Gables Sydney Freeland, Deidra and Laney Rob A Train, Drunktown's Finest, Her Story Kelly Fremon-Craig, The Edge of Seventeen, Post Grad Catherine Hardwicke, Thirteen, Twilight, The Twilight Saga Haifaa Al Mansour, Women Without Shadows, Wadjda The Green Bicycle, A Storm in the Stars

2018: In the Streaming Era Amanda Barclay, 12 Deadly Days, Good Game, Youth & Consequences Dorothy Fortenberry, Season 2 of The Handmaids Tale on Hulu, The 100 Winnie Kemp, The Chase, Chambers Bonnie Pan, YouTube channel, all social video platforms and all owned and operated platforms, Capturing Everest, Keys of Christmas Rachel Skidmore, oversees Skybound's slate of premium, non-tradition content, VR/AR projects and other innovative partnerships

2019: Passion, Purpose, Perspective Janice Chua, VP, International Development and Production at Imagine Entertainment & Television and associate producer, Crazy Rich Asians Bonnie Curtis, Saving Private Ryan, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Minority Report, Albert Nobbs, Dietland; content producer, computer scientist, former co-president of PGA, CEO of Revelations Entertainment and executive producer Lori McCreary, Madam Secretary, The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman, The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, Invictus Vanessa Morrison, President of Fox Family, Ferdinand, Rio, Book of Life, the Ice Age franchise Cheryl Boone Isaacs, moderator, former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, marketing executive 161

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The importance of film education A speech by Dean Bassett that puts film education into the context of the liberal arts.

Life is a journey––a journey outward, as we build our lives and our careers, and a journey inward, as we seek to understand the human condition––who we are and why we are here. The arts help us engage with the perennial questions addressed by philosophy: the questions of cosmology (Why is there something instead of nothing?), of psychology (Who am I?), of ethics (Why is there evil in the world?) and so on. The arts provide us with a means of exploration on this journey and thus are central to living a meaningful life.

Film is among the very youngest of our art forms. Born during the last decade of the 19th century, it is little more than 100 years old. Yet the tropes of film are intimately connected to drama, to the theories of Aristotle’s Poetics. In the days when Shakespeare’s plays were performed in the Globe, theater was the primary cultural experience for the public at large. Today, the theater experience has been replaced by the movie theater experience.

Film education, of course, is also very young, beginning with a handful of film schools born in the 1920s, schools that were created to help aspiring film artists explore the artistic potential of this new medium.

Film schools began to proliferate in the ‘60s, however, as the art film movement driven by the cinematic achievements of film artists in Italy, France, Japan, and elsewhere ignited tremendous worldwide interest.

The impact of the first generation of American film school graduates, including such artist as Coppola, Spielberg, and Scorsese, began to be felt in the compelling film output of the ‘70s.

At the same time that this new generation of film artists was exploring the depth and breadth of this powerful medium, the birth and growth of television transformed society in other important ways. With the advent of round-the-clock broadcasting and a continuing explosion of channels through cable and satellite delivery, today’s young people are surrounded by moving images from the minute they are born. Similarly, as we moved into the ‘90s and beyond, the rapid growth of the Internet has further expanded the global reach of stories told through the media of film and video––crossing boundaries of time and space in ways heretofore unimagined.

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Students use film to explore how other people live; here a story set in an Afghan village.

For all of these reasons, film has become the literature of this century; in some ways, it has surpassed the reach of literature in today’s world, as even the illiterate can “read” the story of a film. Indeed, film has become the primary language of our culture. Although society’s educated and elite may appreciate opera, modern art, or classical ballet, it is more likely that the bank CEO and the janitor of the bank will be able to discuss a film they have both seen rather than a shared experience of any other art form. Thus, film carries an added significance as the primary carrier of our cultural conversation about what it means to be human.

As with literature, film supplies us with a text that can be studied.

Through film, we can explore the human condition and consider our past, present, and future. Film can help us understand where we came from. Film can help us think about the current state of society, the nature of our human interactions as they are defined by history and culture. Similarly, film can help us imagine the future and, perhaps, shape our path.

Given the importance of film as a language we can all speak, it is critical to understand the twin objectives of a film school education and how they infuse with what we do, both in theory and in practice.

In the academy, the first objective is to help students (all students) develop visual literacy. Given the power and pervasiveness of film, it is essential that students develop the critical thinking skills to decipher the film images they encounter and that surround them. Our methodologies for teaching students to explore the trends that shape our world––social, political, economic––as they are represented in film include semiotics, deconstruction, ethnographic studies and many others. This study of how film creates meaning is vital for every educated person today, regardless of whether or not they have any interest in becoming a filmmaker.

Second, a film school education is designed to help today’s young people master both the art and craft of effective storytelling. From the earliest cave paintings found in France through the development of Greek drama

scope of what we do. This focus on narrative filmmaking supports the central objective of our film school education: to help aspiring filmmakers master their art, through an appreciation of film history and film language, and through learning the tools of writing, cinematography, editing, sound and so on that give form to the story the filmmaker wishes to tell.

A film school is an art school in the truest sense of what an arts education has always been. Certainly, filmmakers have more complex technology at their command than is typical in some of the other arts, but it is important that we not let the presence of that technology obscure our view that the tools are only valuable in service of our art.

The film artists of today seek to explore issues of family and society, culture and race, gender and sexuality, religion and values, just as artists in every other medium seek to do.

These two goals––teaching visual literacy and developing effective storytellers––are at the heart of a Dodge College education. In creating an environment that will serve today’s young people, who are attracted as never before by the unmatched power and global reach of film, we provide an arts education that is valuable to society as a whole. Whether our students ultimately make their living as filmmakers or move on into other career paths, their education in the film arts will help them be critical thinkers, more broadly acquainted with the perspectives of others and, we hope, more committed to a lifetime of inquiry about what it means to be human.

and beyond, man has sought ways to depict, and thus to share, his inner experience. The ability of film to make man’s inner experience palpable, external and visible, enabling the filmmaker to move others emotionally and share his or her perspectives or questions about the human condition gives this art form its tremendous power.

But telling an effective story is tremendously difficult. The focus of Dodge College on narrative filmmaking is one of our key strengths––our curriculum is built to help our students tell narrative stories very well.

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In Memoriam The loss of a faculty member is particularly hard on the community because everyone in Dodge College works so closely and faculty and students get to know each other so well. Three colleagues we’ve lost in recent years were David Garcia, Harry Ufland and Cory O’Connor. Though very different in style and approach to teaching, they were all beloved and made a huge impact on Dodge College and their students.

David Garcia was a no-sense production professor who pushed and encouraged students in a way that they loved. His ability to motivate students to do more with less brought great results to the screen. Alumnus Jason Wise ’05 dedicated his groundbreaking documentary SOMM to Garcia.

A former agent, Harry Ufland treated his students like clients. He called them into his office individually and offered no-nonsense career advice, guiding many to consider working as an agent.

He also worked his connections to bring an endless stream of high-level industry guests to Chapman; right, Professor Ufland with Sherry Lansing.

Cory O’Connor inspired new levels of commitment and creativity among students in Public Relations and Advertising. Not only did he lead the National Student Advertising Competition team to multiple wins, including first place in the nation, but he brought the Warlocks and Witches Ball to life, for years of fun and crazy costumes.

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A Dodge College Production

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Producing a Film School—A Dodge College History

Directed by Bob Bassett Written by Janell Shearer Edited by Tina Graves, Ciara Jones, Meagan O'Shea, Theresa Watson Research by Julie Gorzik, Sora Kim, Jessica Kryser, Meagan O’Shea Titles by Adam Rote Technical advisor: Tod Withey