In Production Spring 2015

SPRING 2015

CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS

TEACHING DIRECTING: Veteran director John Badham (Short Circuit, WarGames) demonstrates how to stage a fight

FROM DEAN BOB BASSETT

A time of Good things continue to happen at Dodge College, but sometimes the changes that bring them can be difficult. At the end of this year, we will be saying goodbye to Film Division Chair Barbara Doyle, who is leaving us for a promotion and the opportunity to develop a young film program at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Knowing what she has done here, it is obvious that this is the kind of work for which she is well suited.

Barbara has been one of my key partners in building the film division and in continuing to revise the strategies for elevating our brand. In particular, she has been instrumental in developing our focus on the business of the business, as well as in creating new “transition to career” opportunities for our students including resume and union workshops, and creating lasting relationships with production companies that have resulted in many, many internships and jobs.

However, we are extremely fortunate to have Eric Young, who is known to many of you, ready and willing to step into Barbara’s shoes. He was mentored by her throughout this semester as he prepares to take on this rather monumental job.

Eric brings seven years on our faculty and 30+ years of industry experience, including knowledge of writing, production, postproduction and producing in film and television, along with work as an executive at The Walt Disney Studios.

His many interests include documentary, web series, animation, and digital systems and software.

His extensive background and wide experience will serve him, and us, well.

At Cinema Village, New York City

She has been central to the structure and success of Chapman Filmed Entertainment, our most recent strategy for creating visibility for Dodge and helping our alumni transition into the business. She provided oversight of budgets and production management, using her connections in the business to ensure the strength of our work and the resulting first film.

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I also want to mention her extraordinary commitment to both her job and her students.

She is literally in my office every day. Her personal attention to students is legendary. It is hard to imagine our film school without her.

Of course plenty of other good things are happening to and for our students and alumni. I call special attention to the incredible success of The Barber, which opened nationwide, to the top television industry execs we are bringing into our New Era of Television class, as well as to the terrific experience of learning from this semester’s Filmmaker-in-Residence, producer Gary Foster (Sleepless in Seattle, The Soloist, My Old Lady, and the TV series Community and Satisfaction).

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what’s inside

other stuff 8

In Havana Witnessing History Firsthand

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In New York a Front Row Seat on Breaking News

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Big TV Pilots Tackle Sensitive Themes

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Using Motion Capture to Climb Out of the ‘Uncanny Valley’

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Working with Students as Colleagues

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Inside the Gold Room Like Working in a Real Studio

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Dodge College News Briefs

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Alumni Entrepreneurs Building a Career from the Ground Up

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Industry Internships Stepping-Stones to Career Success

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Dodge College Alumni Notes

NFL Live on CBS

features 2

TEACHING NEWS Preparing Students to Work in a 24/7 Broadcast World

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THE ART OF DIRECTING Building on Creativity and Collaboration

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THE BARBER Screens Nationwide

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PR STUDENTS Recruit Good Neighbors

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Dodge College Launches Focus on

THE NEW ERA OF TELEVISION THE MARKETING PERSPECTIVE Academy President Shares Insights on Getting a Movie Seen

On the cover: Staging a fight scene demands careful preparation to position the camera to heighten the drama and insure everyone’s safety. Photo by Westin Ray (BFA/TWP ’15)

In Production: Editor, Janell Shearer; Assistant Editor, Meagan O’Shea; Writers: Brian Hamilton, Sorrel Geddes, and Jeff Heimbuch; Publisher: Kris Elftmann, Noelle Marketing Group

TEACHING NEWS

BY JANELL SHEARER

PREPARING STUDENTS TO WORK IN A

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It’s a fast-paced, 24/7, demanding job

that puts you ringside to the action, shoulder-to-shoulder with a celebrity or in the eye of the storm, literally. It’s both adrenaline-filled and tedious, non-stop, over-the-top, exciting and painful. That’s reporting the news. But the allure is irresistible and for young people studying broadcast journalism, it offers a chance to see the world and, perhaps, be a force for change in the world they see.

Preparing students to succeed in a world where news is gathered by every person with a cell phone and shared on an ever-growing number of platforms is the task tackled by faculty teaching in Chapman’s News and Documentary program. They work to help students develop good research, interviewing, writing and technical skills, as well as news sense: what makes a good story and how to structure it, using both words and images.

Sharpening a student’s news sense, says Professor Ann Owens, “is a tough one. There are people who just have a nose for news,” she says, “and then there’s the rest of them.” A veteran of more than 20 years as a reporter and news anchor and winner of Emmy and Golden Mike awards, Owens says students “need to watch news, read news, and try to make sense of what’s going on just

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24/7 BROADCAST WORLD on a local level. Forget the Big Picture (war coverage, national politics, etc. It gets overwhelming),” she says. “If they just watch LA news, they can get a sense as to what the story is ... where the important information lies.”

Broadcast Journalism program director Professor Pete Weitzner, who is also a business reporter/analyst and anchor of 20+ years, pushes students to think critically about each story. For example, he cites the recent trend of police officers wearing body cameras as “a great idea — most seem to think — but who pays? Where are you going to store all that footage? Any privacy concerns?”

Asking questions about the story behind the story is the mark of a good reporter.

Becoming a good writer is also critical to telling the story, once you’ve figured out where a story leads. Weitzner encourages students to take pride in their writing, noting that “Even Morgan Freeman can’t convert poor writing into effective storytelling. I preach re-writing. Get all the information down on paper/computer — then whittle and make it stylish: strong verbs, clear, concise, conversational.” Owens agrees, subscribing to the “it takes 10,000 hours to develop expert skill” school

CIRCUITOUS PATHS INTO THE BUSINESS Professor Weitzer reminds students that they may need to start at $7 in Idaho to build a path to success. Alumni confirm, there are many roads that grads can travel.

CHRISTIAN HARTNETT is a general assignment reporter/multimedia journalist at KPIX 5 in San Francisco, the CBS owned-and-operated station for the Bay Area.

“It took me about a year after graduation to lock down a reporting gig. After graduation in 2011, I was working/ interning part-time at 4 different jobs (mostly without pay).

I was finally able to get a multimedia journalist job at KCOY-TV in Santa Maria, CA where I stayed for 2 years.

After that, I got lucky and landed in San Francisco.”

ROBBIE HUNT BFA/TBJ ’02 is now with KVVU-TV in Las Vegas (Fox 5) as a photojournalist and editor, where he’s been for the last six years.

“Since graduation, I worked at KMIR in Palm Springs as a production specialist, worked my way up to a newscast director, but eventually found my calling as a photographer.

I was there for three years before moving on to KVVU in Las Vegas.”

IAN REITZ BFA/FTV/BJ ’00 is the weekday morning anchor at the CBS affiliate in Tampa/St. Petersburg (DMA: Market 13) where he anchors the morning show from 4:30-7am, the noon newscast and turn stories for the 11pm news.

Clockwise from left: Rapaport at the Oscars, Professor Weitzner leads post-mortem on broadcast, Rapaport and co-executive producer Leah Freeman anchor Chapman News, Reitz on air, Reitz interviewing McCain, Hartnett reporting (center).

“Like most in this industry I started in a small market. My first job was in Palm Springs where I freelanced as a reporter.

I then got a full-time opportunity in El Paso, Texas. From El Paso I moved to Tucson, Arizona, where I anchored morning. I then moved to another morning anchor job in Nashville, Tennessee. Last fall I moved to Tampa.”

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of thought, telling students to “use every opportunity to write. Whatever the class or subject is, it all counts toward your ‘10,000 hours.’”

At the same time, students are encouraged to read, read, read, and watch — to immerse themselves in news — and not just on the Internet. “The overriding point is that they should read,” says Weitzner. “Be curious enough to read the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times” and also, he advises, be observant of your surroundings wherever you are. “It’s imperative that they consume local news,” he says, “as all politics is local, so is all news, at least when you start out.

So sure, LA-affiliate TV news, the OC Register and LA Times but Patch Media, too, and whatever local websites they find provide unique content.”

Owens recommends students download “as many free news apps as their phones will hold. Prioritize by what their interest is: ESPN for sports, E! and TMZ for entertainment, etc. I always suggest LA news apps (NBC4 is the best), New York news apps as well as national news apps. I try to get them in the habit of reading those every morning. Those apps also alert you of breaking news.” While she acknowledges that “these kids are not going to pick up a newspaper,” she tries to get them to spend equal amounts of time on news sites as they do on social media.

Reading habits can lead to good research habits as well, although the faculty stress that Google and Wikipedia can only be the starting point. Weitzner recommends reading multiple stories from multiple sources as background. Owens adds a step students are sometimes reluctant

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“It takes 10,000 hours to develop expert skill.”

PROFESSOR ANN OWENS

FOR STUDENTS TODAY, WHAT MIGHT THE FUTURE HOLD? TOUGH, FASCINATING STORIES

to take: “Get off the computer and make a phone call. Talk to people who know more about the subject than you do.

Frightening, I know.”

Students come into the program because they want to tell stories that matter, “to know that each story I am able to share is giving a voice to someone who didn’t previously have one, or that informs our communities of important matters,” says Natalie Aronson, ’15.

ANN OWENS

Wes Rapaport ’15 grew up passionate about television, trying to capture family activities on camera from a young age.

An opportunity to work in public access television at age 11 “showed me the power of the airwaves and the impact that television can have on a community.”

Rapaport realized very quickly that “students need to be able to do CHRISTIAN HARTNETT

Directing a live newscast in the TV studio, students in New York City.

Middle: Rappaport reporting (first and third photos), Professor Weitzner reviews a show, Reitz takes home an Emmy. Bottom: Live remote during the weekly Chapman News broadcast.

HARNETT A few months back in San Francisco, a window washer had accidentally fallen 11 stories to an almost certain death. He ended up landing on the roof of a moving car. The window washer was seriously injured, but he lived. That day, I found the man who was driving the car that basically saved this window washer’s life.

HUNT Three big stories I have worked on since graduation have been the death of President Ford while working in Palm Springs, the shooting of two Las Vegas police officers at a pizza restaurant and then the suspects fled to a nearby Walmart where they eventually succumbed in a murder-suicide (that was one of the most difficult stories I have ever worked on), and recently the death of legendary UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian.

REITZ This job has given me the opportunity to report on some of the nation’s biggest stories. I covered the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabby Giffords and mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona. We were on the air for hours as the community learned of the tragic events, and the search for the gunman intensified. It was such a sad story, but also showed how much the community pulled together during this difficult time. During my years in Arizona I also got to do several one-on-one interviews with U.S. Senator and GOP presidential nominee John McCain. It was always fascinating to talk policy with him on immigration reform and border security. In Nashville, I field anchored all of our morning, noon and early evening newscasts after deadly tornadoes hit a community. I also had the chance to fly with the Navy’s Blue Angels.

5 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Wes Rapaport

things — how to work a control room, how to edit and shoot, how to work a camera. I kept denying the facts and focused on only what I wanted to work on.” Yet by the time she finished her junior year, Aronson discovered a new path.

everything — from shooting to writing to editing to reporting — having the ability to be proficient in all aspects of the industry comes in handy when a supervisor says they need something done.” Others begin with a focus on just being on camera, but letting someone else handle the equipment.

“In my first semester at Dodge, I assumed the technical skills did not pertain to me, only the on-camera practice and writing critiques,” admits Aronson. However, “every professor kept reiterating the importance of learning the technical side of

“I recently made the transition from pursuing a front-of-thecamera future to a behind-thescenes future,” she says. “I love the process of production and the leadership opportunities it presents and am eager to thrive in that role.

We have to know how to do it all,” she says now, “so we can be the best asset our work place has seen and so we don’t have to rely on the knowledge or skills of someone else.”

Graduates of the program now working in the field confirm this. “Learn how to use the camera well,” says Christian Hartnett, BFA/TBJ ’07. “Being able to use a camera from

DODGE COLLEGE ALUMNI ON THE AIR/IN PRODUCTION Here are just some of our alumni who are working in television and/or production: SCOTTY ANDERSON 2002, Director, Fox News Channel, “Colbert Report”, MLB Network

ADAM ARENA 2006, Technical Director, Ringling Bros. Circus

SAM ARGIER 2003, Four-Time-Emmy-awardwinning weatherman, KIRO-TV, CBS affiliate, Seattle

BETH BELEW 2002, Director of DevelopmentUnscripted, TNT (prior: VP Development, Rive Gauche Productions)

CHAS BOULE’ 2012, Technical Producer, ESPN-LA

CHRIS BURROUS 1997, Anchor-Reporter, KTLA-TV, Tribune affiliate, Los Angeles

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CORI COFFIN 2009, Anchor-Reporter, KVUE-TV, Austin, Texas

LACEE COLLINS 2001, Sports Reporter, “Root Sports” (Pittsburgh Pirates), Pittsburgh

DAVID COMPTON 2006, Technical Producer, ESPN-LA

MARC COTA-ROBLES 2006, Reporter, KABC-TV, ABC affiliate, Los Angeles

RICKY COURTNEY 2008, Producer, KING-TV, Gannettowned, NBC affiliate, Seattle

BETHANY CROUCH 2004, Reporter, KTXL-TV, Fox affiliate, Sacramento

JOHN-DAVID CURREY 1998, VP, NBC/Universal (now independent producer)

KIM DEAULEN 2002, Producer, “Jerry Springer”

WHITNEY DROLEN 2000, CBS O&O KTVT-TV, Dallas, Texas, Morning Show, Traffic Anchor/Morning Show Fill-in Anchor/Franchise Reporter

JOHN DUBER 2000, Lead Director, “CNN’s New Day”; prior “Fox and Friends”

JOE FANN 2012, Digital Producer, Tennessee Titans

MARK FREEMAN Sports Director, Huntsville, AL, WAAY-TV, ABC affiliate

LINDSEY HANEY 2012, Technical Director, “Walking with Dinosaurs”

CHRISTIAN HARTNETT 2012, Reporter, KPIX5-TV, CBS affiliate, San Francisco

ADAM HERBETS 2014, Reporter, KBAK-TV, CBS affiliate, Bakersfield

MICHAEL LANDOLINA 2008, Producer, Comcast Sports Bay Area

MJ LAT 2011, Editor, “Ice Road Truckers”, History Channel

LEVERING 2006, Play-by-Play Announcer, Milwaukee Brewers

Even Morgan Freeman can’t convert poor writing into effective storytelling.

PROFESSOR PETE WEITZNER

if I wanted to shoot football highlights. Four years later, I’m producing the show,” says Rapaport.

Wes Rapaport

day one was key. I immersed myself in learning everything I could about shooting video and using different cameras.

This helped me tremendously during my first reporting job at KCOY-TV, where I had to do everything myself (shoot, edit, write, set up live shots, write for the website). All stations are starting to value the multimedia journalist, even a top 10 market like San Francisco.”

Kelly Moody ’16, agrees. “The faculty involved in the news courses make the major so fulfilling. They advise us all on tactics to be successful in the professional world and in the classroom. I can actively apply the skills I learn at Dodge to my internships with the confidence that I am doing quality work. Any time I get to work on doing a stand up or anchoring at the desk I remember how lucky I am to have a curriculum that simulates the real news world.”

Both current students and grads praise the hands-on experience of producing a weekly newscast in Dodge College and of the many internships they have been able to secure. They also value the ability to rise through the ranks. “During my second week of freshman year, I showed up (at Chapman News) and asked how I could get involved. They asked

Robbie Hunt

MICHAEL LEVY 1995, Senior Producer, Anaheim Ducks

ADAM LONDY 2006, VP Development, Comedy Central

KIRSTEN LONG TBJ 2010, Olson Public Relations, Minneapolis

ALESSANDRA MAMAN 2011, executive assistant to Daniel Tosh and Charlie Siskel (EP), production coordinator for the show Tosh 2.0 on Comedy Central

MARIA MANSILLA 2011, Morning-Show Producer, KRXM-TV, Fox affiliate, Colorado Springs

JASON MARTINEZ 2003, Anchor, KGTV-ABC affiliate, San Diego

JESSIKA MING 1998, Executive Producer, KCBS/KCAL-TV

STEPHEN NELSON 2010, Host, “Bleacher Report”

KRYSTAL NUNGARAY 2012, Producer, NFL Network

JOAN PARK Producer, 2013, ATVs “After School Club”, Seoul, South Korea

PRESTON PHILLIPS 2002, Anchor/Reporter, KGTV-ABC San Diego affiliate

MATTY PRICHARD 2012, general-assignment reporter, Colorado Springs

MICHELE PULFREY 1998, Producer, “Good Day LA”, KTTV-Fox 11

IAN REITZ 2002, Anchor/Reporter, News 10 CBS affiliate, Tampa-St. Petersburg

AMANDA SCHNEIDER 2009, Midday Producer, KELO-TV, NBC affiliate, Dallas

KELLI STAVAST 2002, Reporter/Host, NBC Sports

CHRISTINE STILLINGS 2010, Associate Producer, “Judge Judy”

HEATHER URBAN 1999, Producer-Director, “Joan Knows Best, WE TV Making the Band”, (many others)

DEANNE VERNENGO 2001, Production Manager, NBC Sports/NBC “Football Night in America, Bachelor, Bachelorette”

EMILY WILSON 2007 (2006 $25,000 KTLAwinner, Best College Broadcaster), Broadcaster/Actress, “Entourage, How I Met Your Mother, General Hospital”

BRYAN ZIEBELMAN 2010, Cameraman/Video Asst., San Francisco 49ers; Producer, FM 95.7 “The Game”

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INTERTERM | DODGE COLLEGE

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hortly after President Obama announced the easing of travel restrictions between Cuba and the United States in December, students in Jeff Swimmer’s Expedition Documentary class landed in Cuba to shoot documentaries about the Cuban people.

“It was amazing the difference one year made,” says Swimmer. “Last year, when we traveled to Cuba, the people were really anxious about talking with Americans. This year, interactions were much more relaxed and the people were much more curious about what our students were doing.”

Students shot documentaries ranging in subjects from Cuban music and salsa dancing to Cuba’s educational system and Havana’s thriving Jewish community. They also got to see many of Cuba’s most famous sites such as the southern coastal city of Cienfuegos, where the architecture was influenced by the French immigrants who settled there, and the Bay of Pigs, the landing site of the United States’ failed attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.

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InHavana Witnessing

history firsthand

BY BRIAN HAMILTON

From left going clockwise – Marissa Messina (BFA/CRPR, ‘17), Jack Sample (BFA/TBJ, ‘16), Mor Albalak (BA/POSC, ‘15), Professor Jeff Swimmer, Emmy Gyori (BFA/TBJ, ‘15), and Monica Petruzzelli (BFA/NWD, ‘16) at the home of Cuban artist Jose Fuster.

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Jeff Swimmer and Alexander Tash (BFA/TBJ, ‘17) riding through the rural streets of Cuba.

Havana’s Hotel Nacional de Cuba

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hen President Obama gave his State of the Union address announcing his plans to open diplomatic relations with Cuba, the students watched reporters do standup coverage on the steps of Havana’s Hotel Nacional. But residents were far from shy from telling the students how they felt about the proposed change.

“I got lectured by a lot of Cubans about how the Americans only hurt the Cuban people with the embargo and how it never should have been there in the first place,” says Jack Sample BFA/TBJ, ’16. “It was also interesting to come home to news images of Cubans celebrating in the streets.

That was very different from my personal experience. In Cuba, the people I talked to were a lot more cynical about moving forward and many felt like nothing would change.”

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INTERTERM | DODGE COLLEGE

IN

NEW YORK A FRONT ROW SEAT ON BREAKING NEWS

The day after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in France, students in Pete Weitzner’s Networking in New York and DC class stood in the control room of CNN, watching director John Duber BFA/FTV ’00 direct the New Day morning show’s reporting of the event.

“It was our first full day in New York,” says freshman Hiro Ueno. “There were about 20 of us sandwiched in the back of the control room with about 40 executives and producers. Later, we visited the set as they were recording the show. It was all pretty surreal, but I tried to focus on how the executives handled it. There was so much fact checking and making sure that everything was okay to air. It was amazing to see how professionals report the news.”

“It was a terrible tragedy, what happened in France,” says Professor Pete Weitzner, 12

“but from the standpoint of the news business, it was an historic opportunity to be in a place like CNN and to see their foreign correspondents report it firsthand.”

students would be willing to help shoot some footage of the Manhattan City Council passing a bill reassigning the lease of the South Manhattan Pier.

Ueno jumped at the chance.

It wasn’t the only opportunity students had to witness news as it was happening.

A few days later, Duber contacted Professor Weitzner, asking if one of his

“While everyone else went to Letterman, I took a bus and train down to report the event,” she says. “I showed up about 6 pm, went through the rundown with them and helped record audio for about two hours. It was a great experience, getting to work with professionals and to hear about Duber’s experiences working for CNN.” Logan Beerman (BFA/TBJ, '16) on the set of ESPN's Sportscenter.

INTERTERM | DODGE COLLEGE

BIGTACKLE TV SENSITIVE PILOTS THEMES O ne of the most challenging questions facing some students today is whether or not to come out to family and friends about their sexual orientation. In the Interterm Shooting the Dramatic series classes, the students took this question head on with two new pilots, Finding Out and Calculations.

Calculations tells the story of Kiran, a brilliant, but socially inept math major who is selling Adderall to fellow students in order to pay off a classmate who is blackmailing her with incriminating photos of her and her girlfriend, Zoe. Finding Out tells the story of Lily, a student who must decide whether to come out to her father, a conservative Christian pastor, who has relocated to a new church down the street from her college.

Dustin Lawyer (MFA/FP.CR, '16), left, and Jordan Fliehler (MFA/FP.CR, '16) shooting scenes for the Interterm TV Pilot, Calculations.

This wasn’t the only challenging question facing students this year.

Another was class size. “Normally, we have about 50 students enrolled in the class,” says executive producer, Jacob Moncrief (BFA/CRPR, ’16).

“This year, we had the largest class ever with 105 students. Communicating with that many people is hard under the best of circumstances, but getting meetings scheduled and bringing people together during finals week last semester to go over production presented a challenge all of its own. We overcame it, though, by creating a shared Google calendar and sending out daily schedules of what was happening and who needed to be there.”

Another challenge students faced was how to handle some of the indoor shoots. With 105 students, a location shoot just wasn’t practical, so students built sets for the pilots on the Marion Knott Studios’ sound stages. Unfortunately, building flats can present its own problems, such as lights not working and doors not shutting properly. However, with the help of Professor Tom Wilkins (Men in Black II), who taught the Production Design section of the class, students were able to overcome these challenges as well.

Above, left to right: Aditya Akash (MFA/FP.CR, ‘16), Jordan Fliehler (MFA/FP.CR, ‘16), Austin Ray (BFA/TWP, ‘15), Loring Weisenberger, Hattie Smith (BFA/SCAC, ‘15), Taylor Owen (BFA/SCAC, ‘16), and Xuchen Song (MFA/FP.SDR, ‘16) Below, left to right: Austin Ray (BFA/TWP, ‘15), with actresses Hattie Smith (BFA/SCAC, ‘15) and Taylor Owen (BFA/SCAC, '16).

“I’ve been impressed with the dedication of the students and the faculty trying to achieve a professional level of production and I think we’ve done a good job,” says Wilkins. “I wouldn’t pat myself on the back too much, though, because it was really students, like production designer Alex Tomko, who put so much into it and made these pilots what they are.”

13 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

INTERTERM | DODGE COLLEGE Savannah Lew (BFA/FP, '18) taking motion capture to new heights.

Using Motion to Climb Out of the

BY BRIAN HAMILTON

A

‘Uncanny Valley’

t the base of the rock climbing wall in Chapman’s Sandhu Conference Center, a group of film students huddle around a laptop, staring at an image of a digital stick figure.

Behind them is a young woman, dressed in a black suit with bright orange sensors.

“Okay, go ahead and get into position,” says director Jeff Hodges, BFA/FP ’15. The young woman walks over to the rock climbing wall, the wire frame figure on the screen mimicking her movements. “Quiet on the set!” the director calls out. “And … action!”

Slowly, the young woman starts climbing the wall. As she does, the image of the stick figure on the screen climbs as well. The energy in the room is electric, because even though this is the third time that Roy Finch’s Location Filmmaking class has used the Xsens motion capture system, it’s the first time that the image on the screen has left the ground.

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Kc Wayland, digital applications specialist for Dodge College, explains. “With our current motion capture suit, if an actor tries to jump or walk on an elevated surface, the floor in the computer comes with them. This suit, which was loaned to us by Xsens and which we’re going to upgrade to later this year, uses barometric pressure sensors to know where the actor is in relation to the floor.”

The purpose of the performance is to bring to life the story of Ecila, a short film about a young girl who stumbles into an animated world as part of a journey to finding self-confidence.

“Jeff Hodges came to me in September and wanted to do something for Interterm that was more ambitious than previous years,” says Seth Josephson BFA/CRPR ’15, a writer and co-director on the film. “He wanted to combine motion capture with green screen and live animation.”

Ecila has been an ambitious project for Dodge College. “Normally, there are two or three smaller productions for Location Filmmaking,” says Josephson. “Instead, we had a massive crew

Capture

dedicated solely to our project, a much larger budget, and a lot more time to work on the production, so it was much more like working on a professional film.”

“Any time you try to do something this ambitious, people will tell you that you shouldn’t,” says Hodges.

“The flipside, though, is that in order to do something amazing, you have to do something people tell you is impossible. We’ve had some problems, sure, but we’ve turned what was once a straightforward action/adventure story into a character piece about confidence and confronting something you don’t quite understand.”

Even though the production has wrapped, the students are still working diligently to bring their story to life. In March, Hodges traveled to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to meet with professionals in the motion capture industry.

“I had a great conversation with director Jimmy Livingstone about how to avoid what’s known in the business as the ‘uncanny valley syndrome,’” says Hodges. “This is where a character appears realistic, but something is off and it evokes a feeling of revulsion in audiences. He explained that a character’s performance can’t be the exaggerated movement that you see in most animated films. It has to be more focused. The actor has to concentrate on what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

It’s a delicate balance to strike, but I’m excited to take what I’ve learned and apply it to our film.”

15 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

The Art of

DIRECTING Director Kyle Castellanet (BFA/ FP, ’15) gives his actors direction about the correct eyeline for the camera as they portray Confederate soldiers searching for a Union Captain who has evaded them in his film Copperhead.

Building on CREATIVITY AND COLLABORATION The director is one of the most readily recognized roles in the film industry. But what does the director do exactly? And how does one learn how to do whatever that is?

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BY BRIAN HAMILTON

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“

here is only one way to learn how to direct: To direct,” says Professor John Badham (WarGames, Short Circuit).

“One can look at all the films, read all the books, attend all the lectures and still have no idea of what is really involved and how hard it is. It takes actual field experience to begin to grapple with the enormity of the task.

“At Dodge the directing student is required and encouraged to start making short films immediately,” he explains.

“Baby steps. First a one-minute silent film, later three-minute films with dialogue, then five, 10, and 20-minute films with all the trimmings.”

“At the same time the director is learning how to work with actors: by working with actors, by directing scenes from produced or unproduced scripts,” says Badham. And part of the challenge is “at the same time learning how to speak ‘actor,’ which is different from speaking

‘cinematographer,’ ‘editor,’ or ‘craft service.’ Just as there are many dialects in China, Mandarin, Cantonese, etc., there is no one dialect that will work for everyone in filmmaking.

The director who attempts to speak ‘editor’ to an actor will only puzzle and confuse the actor.”

Beyond learning to speak the language of the various creative people on a set, the director needs to learn collaboration.

“Students often think that directing is telling actors or everybody else what to do,” says Professor Andy Lane. “In reality, it’s all about empowering collaborators to help tell the story with their own distinct talent without dictating or controlling everyone’s creative impulses.”

Students learn how to be collaborative while maintaining a clear vision of a project. And they learn that how people work in various roles is different in film, where the director primarily manages the vision of a project, and in television, where the writer or showrunner plays a greater role.

Professor James Gardner remembers how Melissa Kosar (MFA/FP, ’10), who was directing one of the Interterm TV pilots, was working through the differences between what happens on a film set and how a TV set is run.

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The director is the storyteller.

PROFESSOR JOHN BADHAM

Coming in as a cinematographer, Melissa developed a deeper understanding of how TV works in her next class, the Narrative Television Workshop.

Subsequently, she met Lee Shallat Chemel, director of the TV show The Middle at Chapman’s Women in Focus event and soon became Chemel’s mentee.

Now Melissa directs on The Middle.

Director Hannah McDonald (BFA/ FP, ’15) works with her cinematographer Matthew Blake (BFA/ FP, ’14) to set up a shot for her film You’ve Got to be Kidding.

“The director is the storyteller,” says Badham.

“Whether the director has written the script of a film, developed it with a writer, or been brought in by someone else, it is the director’s job to bring to life, to realize, to interpret an idea, a script, a musical piece, whatever,” he says. “A script, may be very specific or it may be very ephemeral but the director must create and manage the bringing to life of words on a page.”

17

FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Directing often demands not only people skills but the ability to meet logistical challenges as director Nick Stentzel (MFA/FP.DR, ’12) found when he took his cast and crew mountain climbing for the romantic comedy On the Edge.

T

he challenge for the director is “to sort out the many creative contributions of everyone on the crew, to decide which ones to use and which ones to discard,” he says.

“Many people will be told ‘yes’ and many will be told ‘no.’ But one thing is critical: everyone must feel welcome to contribute, even if they get ‘no’ for an answer. A director would be an arrogant fool to shut out these ideas a priori. Even the greatest directors cannot truthfully say that they are the source of all the good ideas in a film ... unless they did every single job on it: shoot, act, direct, edit, make lunch, butter the popcorn.”

But collaboration isn’t just about being open to other people’s ideas. It’s also about understanding the responsibilities of other people on their crew. “Even though it’s not the director’s responsibility to manage the budget,” says Professor Martha Coolidge (Real Genius), “it’s 18

often the director’s money that goes into the production. If directors can understand the budget, they can do a better job of communicating with the producer, who may not be as concerned about how much they’re spending, because it’s not the producer’s money.

“This is even true of student films,” Coolidge continues. “If you get a producer who spends all of your money on your cycle film, you won’t have anything left over for your thesis. That’s why I try to get our student directors to work collaboratively on things like budget, because in the end, it’s their money that they’re spending.”

So how do students learn about the roles and responsibilities of other crew members? “One way that we teach them about these roles is by assigning our directing students to crew jobs on other people’s films,” says Badham. “There, they can learn to appreciate the filmmaking process from a totally different point of view. They can observe the

Many people will be told ‘yes’ and many will be told ‘no.’ But one thing is critical: Everyone must feel welcome to contribute, even if they get ‘no’ for an answer. PROFESSOR JOHN BADHAM” good ways of directing and the bad ways. They can appreciate the value of communication and collaboration.”

And these lessons don’t just apply to students in narrative film. They apply to directing students in documentary as well. “A lot of times there’s this notion that there’s one producer, one director,

ways that I never would have thought of and she came up with so many ideas that I thought would not work, but she would show them to me and they would be amazing. If it wasn’t for that experience, I wouldn’t be where I am at all.”

students must acquire a knowledge of many subjects,” says Gardner.

Thus Dodge College students are encouraged to study a wide variety of storytelling forms and to know what drives people.

Directing professor Martha Coolidge, who continues to direct professionally, works with Chapman alumni and provides opportunities for current students to work on her sets. Left, Roger Chingirian (BFA/FTV.FTP, 02) and Jeremy Chen (MFA/FP.DR, ’13) shooting scenes with Academy Award- nominated actress Frances Fisher for The Unknown. Right, Coolidge (lower left) directing an episode of The Unknown with cinematographer Chingirian (lower middle), and second camera Pete Villani (BFA/FTV.FTP, ’02) (lower right).

one editor, and one cinematographer on a film,” says Ben Mullinkosson BFA/FP ’14. “In Community Voices and Project W, there were three of every role and it was so collaborative that at times it could be frustrating. But most of the time it became something that enabled us to create a better product.

“For example, if it was just me directing and editing the Pink Helmet Posse, it would never have gained the notoriety that it did,” Mullinkosson says. “The collaboration with my co-director Chelsea allowed me to look at things in so many

John Badham agrees — experience makes all the difference. Directing, he says, “can be a lifelong challenge.

No problems in directing are ever the same. No scripts, no actors, no locations, are ever exactly the same.

And here’s the kicker: if they are exactly the same, there is something wrong creatively. We are not turning out Chevrolets, or Coca-Colas. We are not Xeroxing ourselves; we are telling new stories; inventing new characters.”

And finally, of course, there’s the art of story. “In order to tell a good story,

“Whether it’s psychology, history, costumes, theater, or film, their knowledge must be horizontal as well as vertical, wide as well as deep,” Gardner says. “For this reason, some of the most valuable assignments we can students are things like attending plays, seeing films, and visiting museums. You have to feed your creative self first if you’re going to tell a good story” — and if you’re going to be a good director.

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FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

the hairs

Will make on the back of your neck

stand up.

SCREENS NATIONWIDE The success of Chapman Filmed Entertainment’s first film continues.

Following an international premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, The Barber was acquired for distribution by ARC Entertainment.

20

Dean Bob Bassett, left, and Travis Knox are interviewed by John Horn on KPPC's art and entertainment show, The Frame.

eginning March 27, the film played nationwide in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area. A celebration of the New York opening brought together alumni, friends and industry. The film will also be available on VOD, on all platforms including satellite and cable.

at your barber

B same way again

.

Star Scott Glenn presented the film at the Sun Valley Film Festival in Idaho and then traveled to California for promotional appearances including an event at Sweeney Todd’s Barber Shop in Los Angeles.

The social media campaign was also in full swing, with The Barber’s page on Facebook picking up likes and comments in the thousands.

A review in Spanish appeared on the website El Primo De Ridley Scott calling The Barber “a perfect shave.”

With three scripts optioned and in development, “This is an exciting time as CFE parlays the success of our first feature film into the next one,” says Travis Knox ’93, vice president of production for CFE. “We have several scripts we’re working on, but always have to be looking to the future and I do hope that our students as well as alumni reach out to us with other potential projects.

“As we approach pre-production for our next film, we’ll be reaching out to alumni as potential crew. But there’s no reason to wait. If you’re an alum who is also a DP, production designer, composer or any other part of a crew and you want the shot at working on a feature with us, I encourage you to send in your resumes and links to reels.”

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CRITICS SAY ABOUT THE

BARBER

.

A tense test of

and

expect Chapman

winning formula.

serial killer thriller.

Glenn is compelling as a small-town barber.

pretending

masquerades furiously;

climax

life and death .

“The Barber� goosebumps not to miss.

Basel Owies

smarter films not bloodlust but imagination curiosity.

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M A R I O N

K N O T T

F I L M M A K E R - I N - R E S I D E N C E

Students working with Dodge College’s Filmmaker-in-Residence each semester enjoy the very special privilege of learning directly from some of the most experienced people in the business. The Spring 2015 semester brings veteran Hollywood producer Gary Foster to campus to share his insights with students.

Working with students

as colleagues Foster has been active in television and film for almost three decades.

By the age of 25, he produced his first film, Short Circuit, which put him on the map. In 1993, Foster produced the Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated hit Sleepless in Seattle, which grossed more than $300 million worldwide.

From 1993-1995, Foster served as president of Lee Rich Productions, where he produced such films as Just Cause, The Amazing Panda Adventure, and Big Bully. He went on to work onTin Cup, The Score, The Soloist, and a trio of Marvel Studios films. He also produced television shows, such as Satisfaction and Community.

“As a producer of both major feature films and some of today’s hit television series, Gary Foster brings a unique perspective to helping our students understand the rapidly changing landscape of story-

telling for the screen,” says Dean Bob Bassett.

“His experience over many genres and platforms is particularly valuable today as the world of television is transforming what’s happening with long-form stories and attracting the top talent in the industry today.”

“I am very impressed with the students here at Dodge College, and their desire to learn about the practical aspect of Hollywood,” says Foster.

“I’m here as an open book for them: to share my experiences, to give them a realistic look at what it takes to succeed in the business, and to offer insight on the projects they are working on.”

“He’s been really helpful so far with guidance as to what routes he took to his success,” says Rahul Bansal (BFA/Creative Producing ’15), a creative producing student that Foster is mentoring. “I have a couple of projects I’m working on right now, and his input on them has been invaluable.

It’s great that he has the experience, and can give us the advice we are looking for.”

“Whether I am giving notes on a script, or helping a producing student strategize a project, I’m treating them as I would any colleague, and offer the same caliber of advice,” says Foster. “I’m excited to see what these kids wind up doing once they set loose in the industry.”

Gary Foster and scholar Melissa Taverrite (BA/Screenwriting’15) discuss the development of her screenwriting senior thesis project in their weekly oneon-one meetings.

23

PR Students

Recruit Good Neighbors

BY JANELL SHEARER

A

lthough learning a concept and taking a test to demonstrate that you know it can be difficult, taking what you learn in

class and applying it in the real world can be, in some instances, “a constant, never-ending uphill battle,� says Rachel-Jean Firchau, a senior Public Relations and Advertising major.

24

W

orking with a real

client is never simple.

The Good Neighbor Nation team recruited Chapman students and members of the Orange Lions and Rotary to join Orange High School students in a clean-up day on the high school campus and for neighborhood service projects for homeowners in Orange.

Working with people with

differing points of view and facing limited time and money, not to mention the simple realities of things not going the way you planned — are all part among the most frustrating — and best — learning experiences of getting out of the classroom and putting a PR plan into action.

As ten students in this years’ Bateman Case Study Competition discovered, the rewards were very, very real, but they didn’t come easily.

THE TASK

THE CHALLENGES

Each year, the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) challenges students across the country to create a PR campaign on a given topic. This year’s client, Home Matters, is a national movement designed to promote the idea that every American should live in a safe, nurturing environment with access to education, health care, public spaces and community services.

For Chapman’s PR students, developing practical ways to deliver this message presented some very real obstacles.

Uyen Nguyen PRA ’16, learned that “getting refused is part of the process,” as her team approached potential partners in developing their campaign.

The team developed a number of plans that they ultimately had to abandon as impractical given the time they had and the connections they didn’t have.

Key to this movement is increasing people’s engagement in their communities, because connecting neighbors can result in stronger, healthier and safer communities.

“In school we work on theoretical projects and get to spew out ideas, but half of those wouldn’t work or would be incredibly difficult to enact,” says Christian DeKay PRA ’15.

“It’s interesting to actually have to be rationally accountable to your creative side.”

Nguyen agrees. “The most creative idea cannot become a successful campaign if it does not align with the client’s goals, the market features, and the target audience’s characteristics,” she says. “Working for an actual client pressed our team to demonstrate the impacts of our campaign,” she adds.

“If evaluation is the most overlooked component in classes, it is one of the most essential parts in a real campaign.”

Continued on next page The Meet Your Neighbor team created a Community Toolbox, a series of social media and community-building tools for use by NeighborWorks Orange County (NWOC) and the residents of the Woodcrest community. Far left, Woodcrest leaders built a Facebook page to showcase projects like their community garden. Left, Chapman students meet with Glen Hayes, president of NWOC.

25

LESSONS LEARNED For Nguyen, the process helped her see how PR people need to be effective storytellers to deliver a client’s messages and how telling a compelling story “is to subtly integrate different tactics, from writing, talking to filming and designing,” she says. “Therefore, a competent PR professional needs to be well-rounded. It does not mean that all PR specialists have to be excellent writers, speakers, filmmakers and designers, but it is very beneficial knowing how to work efficiently in all areas, and being able to tell your stories yourself.”

Implementation also means choosing the channels and routes that will best deliver your ideas and messages, says Firchau. That includes trying new tools, as DeKay explains. The project “definitely broadened my view of what the industry does. For example, I never would have thought a community service campaign would be a PR tool, but our event helped us to reach and influence hundreds more than we could have without it.”

26

THE RESULTS AND REWARDS “The most rewarding moments were seeing how delighted the residents of Woodcrest and the employees of NWOC were with our final product,” says Firchau.

“It was amazing to see how all our hard work was appreciated by those we set out to help. In particular, I was absolutely thrilled when I overheard some of the Woodcrest women gushing over the article (about their work) in the Fullerton Observer, knowing that I was the one that made that possible for them.”

For DeKay, the most personally rewarding part was “seeing the effects of what our service event accomplished; we were able to actually help community members firsthand, and we got to bring vastly different groups of people together to do it.”

And beyond the immediate rewards was a confirmation of choosing to study PR in the first place. As Nguyen puts it, “participating in the fast-paced, demanding and dynamic world of PR through Bateman has made me love this path even more.”

WHAT THEY DID The Good Neighbor Nation team addressed the divide between college students and residential neighbors that many campuses experience. Neighbors object to loud parties and parking problems; students often don’t think of the place they live for four years as home, but as only temporary. The team created a series of community service events to get Chapman students out into the community to show Orange neighbors that students care and want to connect.

“The most creative idea cannot become a successful campaign if it does not align with the client’s goals, the market features, and the target audience’s characteristics.”

The Meet Your Neighbor team worked directly with NeighborWorks Orange County, a non-profit that is part of the Home Matters movement. The team elected to get involved with a NeighborWorks community-building program in the low-income, largely Hispanic Woodcrest neighborhood of Fullerton. They created a number of social media training tools and conducted social media training to help local community leaders reach out to their neighbors and engage people in projects to improve the community.

In addition, they recruited a team of Chapman documentary students to create an animated PSA to showcase the services offered by NeighborWorks and a longer character-based documentary on the same subject.

Top: Planting flowers at Orange High School.

Immediate left: A happy crew of workers at the high school clean-up and beautification event.

27

THE NEW ERA OF TELEVISION From left, Professor Ross Brown, Dean Bob Bassett, Ted Sarandos, Ed Carroll and Steve Mosko.

Everyone’s talking TV these days.

“At Sundance this year, Robert Redford said that television is the new independent filmmaking. It’s hard to imagine anyone saying that 10 years ago,” said Dean Bob Bassett to the students and press gathered for a kick-off event launching The New Era of Television class, part of an expanded Dodge College focus on what’s happening in the world of television.

And what better way to launch that focus than to bring together three of the most important players in television for a press event, on February 9, in the Backstage Theater on the Sony lot. Joining host Steve Mosko, president of Sony Pictures Television, and moderator Professor Ross Brown were Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, and Ed Carroll, COO of AMC. Besides giving students plenty to think about, the star power of the execs involved garnered press coverage of the event in Variety, the Los Angeles Times, Deadline, and The Wrap.

The panelists agreed that television today offers young storytellers unprecedented opportunities.

28

The key takeaways: ■ The perception of the value of a career in television and of the creative work being done in television has changed.

“In the past, people in feature films did TV when their film careers were over, it was a lower standard.

Now they all want to be in TV. There’s a seamless moving back and forth. The entertainment business will be driven the by the television business and not the movie business.

The motion picture business is still a great business, but there’s just so much great television being produced.

A lot of the big creative moves are coming out of television as well — and that’s exciting.”

STEVE MOSKO:

■ The most important element driving the new era of television is how people consume content.

ED CARROLL: “Ted (Netflix) changed how people consume content.

That’s challenged the linear networks to up their game.

Bingeing is a fun way to watch but the social aspect of having

The entertainment business will be driven the by the television business and not the movie business.

a schedule endures — of watching at an allotted time and then discussing it. One of the challenges is for shows to be urgent. You miss one episode of Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead and your favorite character might be killed off.

■ How many platforms the business can sustain is not clear, but it’s more than ever.

TED SARANDOS: “There is no saturation point. Have you ever heard anyone complain there are too many great restaurants?”

“There will only be too many platforms when there is not enough great content going out.”

ED CARROLL:

■ The content of shows, and how long they run, is wide open.

ED CARROLL: “Five years ago you’d hear, ‘you can’t make a show about that’ such as a show about a high school teacher selling drugs. Now it’s ‘someone is going to make that.’”

TED SARANDOS: “Now we treat a series as a 29- or 36-hour movie.”

PROFESSOR ROSS BROWN: “If every novel were the same number of pages, it would be terrible. Now stories aren’t crafted to the TV grid but you can tell the story as it needs to be told.”

■ Success is not determined by an audience of 10 or 20 million.

“The way we keep score has changed. Success can now be a show with five million viewers.”

ED CARROLL:

“We use data to size the investment. We can use the data to reinforce what we believe will be the size of an audience for a show so we can manage the size of the investment in that show.”

TED SARANDOS:

■ Students should prepare for this new era of television by: ED CARROLL:

“Watching lots of what you admire in film and TV. Learning to write (a song, for example, by writing a lot of bad songs). By staying in touch with each other.”

The kick-off event was held in the Backstage Theater on the Sony lot, above. Ed Carroll answered student questions one-on-one at a reception before the panel, below.

TED SARANDOS: “Getting to know showrunners and writers as well as you know directors and actors. Looking for stories that aren’t being told, finding storytellers who aren’t being heard.”

STEVE MOSKO: “Reading The New York Times and the trades; your textbook is already outdated. Taking advantage of what you can do to separate yourself from others. Finding something you’re passionate about.”

And, Mosko added, “You have a head start by going to Chapman.”

From left, Ed Carroll, Ted Sarandos and Steve Mosko.

29

THE MARKETING PERSPECTIVE

Academy President Shares Insights...

BY JANELL SHEARER

30

On Getting A Movie Seen “When I first found out that Cheryl Boone Isaacs was going to be the filmmaker-in-residence this semester, my first thought was, ‘only at Dodge,’” says public relations and advertising student Rebecca Haber, ’15.

Haber, who is pursuing a career in entertainment marketing and publicity, immediately applied to be a Marion Knott Scholar, one of 10 students selected to study one-on-one with Isaacs, the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. “Needless to say, when I was one of 10 scholars selected, I was ecstatic and speechless,” she adds.

H

aber’s experience pretty much typifies the reaction of students to having Isaacs as Filmmaker-in-Residence. But the level of enjoyment proved to be a two-way street, as Isaacs also fell in love with the program, so much so that she is returning in the fall to teach a new class in Motion Picture Publicity.

For many students, particularly those in production, the world of film marketing is largely unexplored.

Thus much of the semester’s discussion in the Industry Insiders class revolved around questions about the marketing of the films screened such as “What went wrong,” or “What decisions were successful?”

For Isaacs, who stresses the importance of seeing a project “with fresh eyes”— of pulling away from work you love or are too close to, talking about films such as Forrest Gump proved challenging.

Students knew only the film’s tremendous success; they had difficulty conceiving of the marketing challenges that existed when the film was produced, when people asked, “What’s a Forrest Gump?”

In fact, Isaacs cautions, film students need to recognize the difference between what they might like and what the average film-goer might like.

The average film-goer “confuses like with great,”

A trip to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was a special treat for the fall semester O.L. Halsell Scholars.

she says. Film students don’t. At the same time, she reminds students that regardless of what they see as the differentiating aspects of the vision of their films, as independent filmmakers in the marketplace they’re all the same — everyone has the opportunity to break out, or be lost in the crowd, through marketing.

The first question filmmakers need to ask is “Who’s your movie for,” she says. “Indie movies have to be very clear who they’re for, because they typically have very little marketing money.”

31

A STELLAR CAREER IN FILM MARKETING

I

In a world where people can see films on many platforms outside of a theater, “Audiences want to know what they’re spending their money on,” she says, “which is the point of trailers.” At the same time, times have changed so radically that film marketers face unprecedented challenges.

Although films may need a star to get made, it’s also the end of an era in marketing, she says. “You can’t just put an actor’s face on a poster and make money.” But audiences are still looking for something fresh and new, or for a spectacle; thus the experience of watching with a huge audience can drive attendance for a franchise film or an effects-laden blockbuster. “It has to be something big to get people out of the house,” Isaacs says. “The audience wants to feel they’re going to an event, like seeing The Hunger Games.”

The impact of social media, which Isaacs calls “horrifying,” also plays a huge role in movie marketing today. In the past, when more people read reviews and saw movie advertising before they talked to anyone who had seen a movie, the work of the marketing department was more central. Now, with a global water cooler and a universe of commentary that is “out of control like a fire in four seconds,” marketers face a completely new playing field.

That said, Isaacs came away from her first semester at Dodge with great confidence in the next generation.

“These kids are really awake,” she says, their “seeking, curious attitude” will serve them well as movie marketing continues to evolve.

The first African-American woman to head the Academy, Isaacs is currently in her second term as president. In addition, she is beginning her 22nd year as a member of the Academy’s Board of Governors, representing the Public Relations Branch.

To her work with the Academy, Isaacs brings more than 30 years’ experience as a motion picture marketing executive.

Her career includes serving as president of theatrical marketing for New Line Cinema, as executive vice president of worldwide publicity for the Motion Picture Group at Paramount, as director of advertising and publicity for The Ladd Company, as vice president of worldwide advertising and publicity for Melvin Simon Productions, and as a publicist for Columbia Pictures. For the last nine years, her company, CBI Enterprises, Inc., has consulted for clients such as MTV Films, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, The Weinstein Company and Sony Entertainment.

Among the films she worked to promote are a long line of Oscar winners and nominees, as well as films that set box office records when they were released. She oversaw marketing and publicity on films including The Artist, The King’s Speech, Spider-Man 2, American History X, Rush Hour, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Mission: Impossible and many, many others.

Isaacs is highly regarded in the industry. In 2014, she was inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame, was awarded the Trailblazer Award from Essence Magazine and was a recipient of the AAFCA (African American Film Critics Association) Horizon Award. Recognized by her peers in publicity, she was also honored with the coveted 2015 President’s Award at the 52nd Annual ICG Publicists Awards.

INSIDE THE

LIKE WORKING IN

A REAL STUDIO

BY BRIAN HAMILTON

ucked into the southeast corner of Marion Knott Studios is a room with stark walls, concrete floors, a warehouse door, and a small counter for students to check out film equipment. The room is easy to miss as your attention is drawn away to the cathedral-sized stages just across the hall. Yet despite its unassuming location and appearance, this room, affectionately known as the Gold Room, is the beating heart of Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

T

33

When I first started working here, it seemed incredible that we had all of this equipment available for students. In many ways, it’s like working for a real film studio.

T

he Gold Room first got its name some 30 years ago when the film program used to store its few pieces of equipment in a yellow-painted room in Chapman’s Moulton Hall; what makes the current Gold Room critical to student success is its vast inventory of sophisticated equipment.

Although students can make and edit films with inexpensive tools nearly anyone can afford today, serious film students are anxious to get their hands on more sophisticated equipment. On Thursday afternoons, when crews prep and check out their equipment, the Gold Room is one of the most popular spots in Dodge College.

“One of the things parents ask when they come for tours,” says Gold Room manager Nick Peterson, MFA/FP ’06, “is if Dodge College has a Red camera.

This is a relatively inexpensive, digital camera that records in 4K and was the first affordable high quality digital camera. It’s also one of the few digital cameras that most film schools can

On Thursday afternoons, when crews prep and check out their equipment, the Gold Room is one of the most popular spots in Dodge. afford, which is why so many people know and ask about it. Not only do we have two Red 1 cameras, we have four Sony F65’s and ten Sony F5’s, some of the highest quality digital cameras on the market.

34

“We also have an Arri Alexa, which is a high quality digital camera frequently used in television. You might be able to rent a camera like the Arri Alexa, but it’s unlikely you would be able to purchase one outright (the camera body alone starts at $75,000+). Dodge College purchased the camera for Chapman Filmed Entertainment and when they’re not using it for filming, we make it available to students for checkout.”

High quality cameras aren’t the only thing the Gold Room has to offer.

Among the 10,000 pieces of equipment available, all of which can be reserved online, are the Tascam HS-P82, an audio recorder that can record up to eight microphones simultaneously and can synch audio with the video recording using digital time codes.

Students also have access to Digital Intermediate Technician (DIT) media transfer stations, portable computers that allow filmmakers to quickly upload digital footage to a hard drive for editing and color correction.

“I went to a state school and their equipment room was little more than a storage closet,” says equipment operations assistant, Eunyoung Kim. “There was one person writing down your name and telling you when it was due back.

There were no sound packages, no grip and electric. The highest level camera they had was the equivalent to our HMC camera, which is a small digital camera that we check out to beginning students.

When I first started working here, it seemed incredible that we had all of this equipment available for students. In many ways, it’s like working for a real film studio.”

A typical Thursday sees the parking lot in Dodge College full of trucks loading up for weekend shoots.

35

DODGE COLLEGE

NEWS

From Costumes to Celebrations

BRIEFS

Students LearnHow

Costumes Tell Stories

In February, a group of Dodge College students, including aspiring production designers, attended the Hollywood Costume exhibit presented by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences. Students were treated to an introduction by Deborah Nadoolman Landis, collection curator and Academy Awardnominated costume designer, whose credits include Raiders of the Lost Ark and Animal House.

When asked about how she approaches her own costume design, Landis said “It’s not about what they look like. It’s about who they are. Where do they live? Where they popular in high school? Are they the middle child? Are they allergic to anything? I need to know who these people really are, because the character designs the costume. It’s all storytelling.”

36

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London present “Hollywood Costume” sponsored by Swarovski, on view October 2, 2014 – March 2, 2015 at the Wilshire May Company building. Credit: Richard Harbaugh/ ©A.M.P.A.S.

With so many industry connections there is always a guided tour, behind-the-scenes look or new opportunity available to Dodge College students. Interested in what our students are up to in between editions? Visit the Dodge College blog for first-hand accounts, event announcements and more: blogs.chapman.edu/dodge.

DIGITAL ARTS STUDENTS SEE OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORTS

Professor Bill Kroyer led a group of digital arts students to see Academynominated animated shorts at the “Oscar Celebrates: Shorts” event on February 17. The event was hosted by actor Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings trilogy) at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Digital Arts sophomore Rachel Beltran (’17) wrote about her experience for the Dodge College blog, calling it “a night I won’t forget. Not just because of the people I met or the fact that I was in the Academy building, but because I had an inside look at an industry I’m so enamored with. If I wasn’t affirmed about what I was doing, I am now. I thrived in those four hours we were talking to industry guests and getting to know more about the films.”

Continued on next page

37

DMAC

OFFICIALLY OPENS

On February 20, Chapman University President Jim Doti and Dodge College Dean Bob Bassett officially opened the Digital Media Arts Center.

The ceremony was attended by Dodge donors including Bette and Wylie Aitken, Chantal Cloobeck, Mary and Stan Harrelson, and Donna Bianchi, representing the Women of Chapman. Attendees were treated to tours and demonstrations including motion capture, traditional hand-drawn animation, and 3-D character-modeling by faculty and students, ... Cubicles including program head and animation are filled with pioneer Bill Kroyer. toys, (and) Dean Bassett praised the contributions of Professor Kroyer in guiding the program, as well as the design of the building.

everybody is out talking and interacting ...

“Bill has built the program and when we got an opportunity to build this center he was the one who took the architects to various facilities — showed them what Pixar had, what Blizzard had and what Dreamworks had. This is the environment for students which we then created. If you’ve ever been to Blizzard or Dreamworks, the cubicles are filled with toys, everybody is out talking and interacting — that is the way this building is built.”

38

SUNDANCE WAS AMAZING

DODGE COLLEGE

NEWS BRIEFS

In January, Dodge College led two groups of students on its annual trip to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

While seeing a slate of impressive films, students also had the opportunity to participate in a dialogue with director Adam Salky following the screening of his feature I Smile Back, starring Sarah Silverman. Students asked Salky about the production and his life in the industry, and sought career advice.

“Sundance was amazing. I learned more than I thought I would and about how people in the industry think and strategize. I was surprised how quickly and tightly our group became close friends,” says Alexa Tuttle (BFA/Film Prod.’17). “If you ever get a chance to attend the Sundance Film Festival, open your mind and be part of everything you can while you’re there.

Explore, make friends, and have fun!”

What would a trip to Sundance be without at least one class selfie?

Alexa Tuttle (BFA/Film Prod.’17) discovered that the fun of Sundance included finding a piece of Banksy's art hidden in an alley just off Main Street in Park City.

ALUMNI ENTR Building a Career from the Ground Up

BY JEFF HEIMBUCH

GETTING A FOOT IN THE DOOR AND BUILDING A CAREER IS NOT EASY IN THE HIGHLY COMPETITIVE FIELDS OF THE FILM AND MEDIA ARTS. FOR SOME, AFTER STARTING OUT AS AN EMPLOYEE, THERE COMES A TIME WHEN IT MAKES SENSE TO MOVE UP TO BECOME THE BOSS — YOUR OWN BOSS, AT YOUR OWN COMPANY. A NUMBER OF DODGE COLLEGE ALUMNI HAVE ARE MAKING A NAME FOR THEMSELVES AS ENTREPRENEURS, BUILDING ON THE SKILLS AND RELATIONSHIPS THEY DEVELOPED AT CHAPMAN.

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Shooting on location is a major component of building branded content for sports companies.

REPRENEURS For example, Job Hall (BA/ PRA ’06) started out during his senior year working for a sports company. “Most of my work there initially centered on creative direction for advertising, design and photography,” he says, “but developed into film production. After graduation, I became a creative director for a few years before deciding to branch off on my own.”

Hall now owns Cardinal Media in Los Angeles, a production company that produces branded content for technology and sports companies. Building on his experience as an employee, Cardinal now works with brands such as Google, Nike, NFL, Adidas, and more.

He credits Dodge for helping him learn how paramount storytelling is in the world of advertising. “Anyone can learn the technical aspects,” he says, “but crafting a compelling and memorable story is the most important skill to have.”

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JobHall

By day, Maci Peterson (BA/PRA, ’09), left above, is a brand manager for Marriott International. But in her free time, she is the CEO of On Second Thought, a start-up that has developed an app of the same name.

On Second Thought is a messaging app that lets you recall texts before they even get to the other person’s phone.

“Like everyone else, I’ve sent a few embarrassing text messages.

I honestly think autocorrect has a vendetta against me,” Peterson says. After an unfortunate text exchange with an exboyfriend, Peterson came up with the idea for the app. She took her idea to a pitch competition at South by Southwest, and won first place. That was all the validation she

needed to see that it was something people would be interested in.

She hired a team abroad to help build the app in July 2014, with a scheduled release of November. As the team got closer to the proposed release date, Peterson asked a domestic team to take a look at it to help them get done on time. Unfortunately, the second team reported back that the coding was a mess, and that they would have to start from square one again. Fortunately, this team was able to build the app from scratch again in just six weeks, allowing it to launch in December of 2014 to great success.

“At its core, my (PR and Advertising) degree merged English and business: two disciplines that are important for any entrepreneur to study. I’m thankful for my professors’ willingness to allow me to explore my entrepreneurial curiosity by using class projects to begin my pursuit of those endeavors.”

After spending 13 years at NBC, making his way from intern to senior vice president, Currey decided to open his own company close to home, so he could spend more time with his family. Having been on the other side of producing television promos and campaigns at his old job, he has a pretty good idea of what his clients are, and aren’t, looking for.

“Creatively, we’re in a business where it’s not who you know, but who you can trust,” says Currey.

“I try to hire people who’ve never been in the on-air marketing business. It’s a pretty niche field, so I love finding new ideas from people who are brand new to the business.”

Currey found his Dodge experience went well beyond just sitting in the classroom.

“Being on set or in the post-suite is like being in battle.

When you do battle with fellow classmates, you learn to trust each other. That trust and experience in a safe environment is a great learning experience to prep you for the real world,” he says.

John-David Currey, right, directs an edit on an upcoming spot. The company had seven spots on the Super Bowl this year.

John–David Currey HALL, PETERSON AND CURREY ALL AGREED THAT THEY ALSO OWE THEIR SUCCESS TO THE PEOPLE THEY HIRE. “THE CONNECTIONS I BUILT WERE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT,” SAYS HALL. “THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE I WORK WITH, FROM PRE-PRODUCTION THROUGH POST, ARE MOSTLY DODGE COLLEGE GRADUATES, OR REFERENCES FROM PEOPLE I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH. FOSTER THE CONNECTIONS YOU MADE AT SCHOOL OR ONES IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE.” “STARTING YOUR OWN COMPANY HAS VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH YOURSELF,” SAYS CURREY. “YOU’RE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE PEOPLE WHO COME TO WORK EVERY DAY. WHEN I THINK OF FRESH CUT, I THINK OF A GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS WHO COME TO WORK DAILY WITH A PASSION FOR CREATING GREAT WORK, MANY OF THEM CHAPMAN ALUMS!” BUT IN ORDER TO SUCCEED, CURREY REALLY FEELS THAT THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE YOU HAVE TO OVERCOME IS ANY LIMITATION TO YOUR COMMITMENT TO DOING WHAT’S NECESSARY TO SUCCEED.

ALUMNI ENTREPRENEURS

John-David Currey’s (BFA/FTV’98) company, Fresh Cut Creative, has spearheaded some of the biggest television campaigns in the last two years including those for Revolution, The Blacklist, Extant, Under The Dome, The Biggest Loser, and Chicago Fire.

“THE INDUSTRY IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR GOOD TALENT. IT’S UP TO YOU TO PROVE THAT YOU’VE GOT WHAT A SHOW, NETWORK, OR STUDIO NEEDS. EVERYONE’S LOOKING FOR A HERO, AND IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO BE THAT HERO.”

43 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

INTERNSHIPS INDUSTRY

BY MEAGAN O'SHEA

STEPPING-STONES TO CAREER SUCCESS

In the highly competitive world of the film and media arts, a great internship experience can help kickstart a career. Dodge College sends hundreds of interns to work at studios, production companies, TV stations and PR and ad agencies each year.

Here are the experiences of some of the most recent students literally putting their education to work.

Intern, Village Roadshow Pictures, a leading independent producer and financier of major Hollywood motion pictures, including The LEGO Movie, The Great Gatsby, and The Matrix Trilogy.

Using PantherConnect, Chapman’s Career Development Center site.

What courses or skills learned at Dodge were most helpful in your internship?

Although I’m not a PR/Ad major (I’m TBJ) many classes in Dodge teach the same general concepts. Broadcast News I and II have taught me how to present myself professionally and eloquently, which has come in handy multiple times in this area of work. Advanced Broadcast Newswriting has improved my writing skills considerably.

TANSU PHILIP

BFA/TV & BROADCAST JOUR. ’16

How did you find your internship?

What’s a typical day at your internship?

I check people’s LinkedIn profiles to make sure they’re qualified to join our exclusive community (which sounds very high-brow but in reality is just what we’re supposed to do to make sure we have a marketing professionals-only network), discuss social media strategy with our boss, play some foosball, eat some candy, listen to a LOT of music

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throughout the day, walk down to the beach. It’s a very “work hard, play hard” place.

What has been the highlight of the internship for you so far?

Getting to learn in such a great environment. This internship is more than showing up for a shift, working blindly, and leaving. From the second you walk in, you’re welcomed into a high-energy space with motivated people who are willing to help you and are anxious to see you grow.

That in itself is invaluable.

Plus, our pizza/Chipotle parties aren’t so bad either.

What advice would you offer students looking for internships in the industry?

Network. You could be the most qualified person in the room, but if you don’t know the right people, it doesn’t matter. It may not be fair, but that’s how it is. Better to accept it now and start introducing yourself than to sit around complaining about it later!

I found my internship through alumna Elise Laplante (MFA/ Film & TV Prod.’13), assistant to producer Susan Cartsonis, who emailed students to notify them of the internship opportunity.

What courses or skills learned at Dodge were most helpful in your internship?

I was a political science major at UCLA and then went to law school so I didn’t have much film background before Dodge, so what I’ve learned at this position has enhanced those experiences. A lot of coverage helped and pitching — being able to convey a script orally is extremely helpful. And, because we’re a marketing and distribution company, learning a lot of the business side of producing has helped in terms of knowing what goes on after a production wraps.

CHRISTOPHER NAUGHTON

Marketing Intern for Gigs.ly, an exclusive, membersonly community of PR and marketing practitioners, created to support and stimulate professional collaboration among top, trusted professionals.

MFA FILM & TV PROD. ’15

How did you find your internship?

What’s a typical day at your internship?

Basically I run the front desk.

I transfer all the phone calls throughout the office and do the coverage. Once a week I work with the head of marketing and

distribution to review our slate and check on the releases of other films to see what changes have been made, to make sure we don’t release the same day as another big competitor.

What has been the highlight of the internship for you so far?

The first day I had a meeting with Bruce Burman, the CEO of Village Roadshow. He pretty much had the same path I did.

He went to law school and film school, it was cool getting to hear about his experiences in the industry.

What advice would you offer students looking for internships in the industry?

Definitely use the resources you have available. All the professors here have lots of experience and want to help students break into the industry, but most students don’t seek out their advice or help enough.

Without connections to companies or individuals it’s hard to get your start and blindly go into it. The faculty help make that process easier and that transition possible.

Chapman students have a pretty decent reputation throughout the industry, it’s a small industry and people talk. Make sure to take full advantage of the opportunities you’re given.

Intern, Producers Guild of America, which represents, protects and promotes the interests of all members of the producing team in film, television and new media. Although Kendall started this internship in the fall, and it typically lasts only one semester, she was invited to stay on for the spring term.

I found my internship through a fellow Chapman alum who had it in the past.

What courses or skills learned at Dodge were most helpful in your internship?

Seminar Internship with Harry Ufland was definitely a helpful course to have under my belt.

Professor Ufland sits down with students individually to review your resume and provides input on how best to stand out against the competition and land an internship in the industry.

I wish I would have taken this course prior to starting my internship search, but it will definitely be helpful for my future internship positions.

KENDALL GOLDBERG

BFA/FILM PROD.’17

How did you find your internship?

What’s a typical day at your internship?

This internship is really wonderful because, aside from all the great people I work with (and they are all really friendly), each day is different. Some of the tasks I’ve worked on thus far: roll calls, answer phones, relay messages, arbitrations, scheduling, administrative

duties, run errands, set up meetings, organize screenings, check-ins, assist at the annual PGA Awards and Produced

By Conference.

What has been the highlight of the internship for you so far?

The highlight has been getting to know the people in the office. They are all so kind and I can tell they're looking out for me. I’m friends with every person there, and I don’t expect that to happen again at future internships, or jobs, for that matter. I have also been able to learn the backend of the business as well as industry names. I definitely feel like this experience will help me in my future internships and career path.

What advice would you offer students looking for internships in the industry?

Always do your research and put your best self forward, whether it’s on paper, over the phone, or in an interview. I started by making a list of internship opportunities out there that I was interested in, and included information about application deadlines, requirements, and contacts. I also read through thehollywoodinterndiaries.com for tips and resources. The information is out there, you just have to make an effort, get out there and search!

Top 5 Pieces of Advice from The Hollywood Intern Dairies

By Austin Carroll (BA/Screenwriting & BFA/TV Writing Prod. ’18)

Start early. Internship Applications at the major studios are due up to five months before the start of the semester!

Don’t use a word template. Don’t be afraid to sparingly use color and icons to create a streamlined graphic resume.

Read the qualifications and only apply for positions that match yours. This means limiting your applications at major studios to 2-3 departments.

Throw out the out-dated mail template cover letter. Instead create a highly personalized one that highlights your qualifications for EACH position.

Don’t just apply to the highly competitive internship programs at the major conglomerates.

Most of those companies require prior internship experience which you can gain at smaller production companies, news stations, and boutique agencies. To find listings for these smaller companies please go to: www.EntertainmentCareers.net.

For more internship advice, please visit www.thehollywoodinterndiaries.com

45 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Production Intern, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, the animation studio behind the Nickelodeon network’s popular animated series’ including SpongeBob SquarePants.

Narrative Design Intern at Jumpstart – Knowledge Adventure, a company that develops educational games for the Jumpstart franchise and in collaboration with Dreamworks Animation and the NFL.

Five months after starting as a production intern with Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Marie realized an intern’s dream — she was offered a full-time position as a production assistant.

How did you find your internship?

I think that each course at Dodge helped me in a different way. I am a strong believer that it is the attitude you choose to approach your classes with that really define how much you will learn from a class and how much skill-building will take place. I would say that the foundational art and film classes helped me stand out as an intern with artistic ability, while various group projects and on-set experiences taught me how to be a better creative collaborator.

MARIE CHENG

BFA/DIGITAL ARTS ’15

What courses or skills learned at Dodge were most helpful in your internship?

What’s a typical day at your internship?

A typical day consisted of assisting the production team of the show with everyday tasks — from office duties, to reading scripts, to design breakdowns, and asset tracking.

Nickelodeon also offered special classes to their interns taught by artists working at the studio. While an intern, I attended classes that included storyboarding, resume writing, and production. During my

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What courses or skills learned at Dodge were most helpful in your internship?

What has been the highlight of the internship for you so far?

The opportunity to learn more about how the animation industry works on a day-to-day basis. I often take for granted the hours it takes to make just a single episode of animated television come to life. Being around artists and writers and creative professionals in a fun, collaborative space like Nickelodeon was a great experience for me as a student.

What advice would you offer students looking for internships in the industry?

My biggest advice to students is to take the effort to manicure each application for the role you are applying for. For instance, when applying to Nickelodeon, I made sure to note my past experiences in animation production and interest in production despite also pursuing storyboarding.

Since the internship I applied for was in production, I wanted to show that I was interested in and capable of fulfilling the roles assigned to me. Likewise, make sure that the cover letter and resume are adjusted to fit each role you are applying for.

It takes a little extra time but it is worth it.

BFA/DIGITAL ARTS’15

I applied on the Nickelodeon Animation website (at the time it was a Nick Internship email that you sent your cover letter/ resume to). I applied three different times and received an offer to be an official “Nicktern” on the third try!

lunch breaks I would make an effort to get to know the incredible life stories of other artists working in the studio and learn from their expertise.

Storytelling in Digital Arts was a challenging course that taught us how to invent a good story and tell it well. We practiced pitching our stories, storyboarding, and taking critique. All of the principals of storytelling used in films also apply to video games.

In fact, the School of Dragons online game developed by Jumpstart shares common story material with the How to Train Your Dragon television show and the feature films. The collaboration between Jumpstart and Dreamworks is an example of transmedia becoming more prevalent in the entertainment industry. The opportunity to tell one story across multiple platforms is bringing the film and game industry closer together, so having a film education can be an advantage in the game industry.

JUSTINE STEWART

How did you find your internship?

A narrative designer at Jumpstart posted about the internship on the SoCal Game Developers Association Facebook page.

I applied immediately and got called in for an interview a few days later.

What’s a typical day at your internship?

I get to work around 8 a.m., grab some breakfast from the kitchen, sit down at my desk with a hot cup of coffee, and read through all my emails.

Then, I spend all day writing quests. I write dialogue for the How to Train Your Dragon characters when they give you quests in the “School of

Dragons” game. For example, there’s a quest in the game where you help Astrid plan a party to celebrate the end of the storm. I wrote that quest, sent it to Dreamworks for approval, and then it was pushed live to the online game for thousands of players to play! I also request art assets, attend meetings, or debug quests in Unity. On some days, I get to visit the Dreamworks campus for meetings.

What has been the highlight of the internship for you so far?

Hanging out with my awesome coworkers. They are an incredibly fun and inspiring group of people who all share a passion for games. It’s exhilarating to be working with all these talented people toward a common goal.

Most of my work at school has been on small teams or completely on my own, so it’s exciting to be a part of a large team full of talent and professional experience.

What advice would you offer students looking for internships in the industry?

A lot of students have laser-focus and say, “All I want to do is work at a big animation studio like Pixar or Dreamworks!” but it’s actually better to keep your mind open to all opportunities.

Don’t limit yourself. Keep scouring the Internet, and if something piques your interest, apply! Otherwise, you might miss valuable stepping-stone opportunities that could eventually lead to your dream job.

1 Alex Exline (BFA/Film Prod. ’10) was the cinematographer and assistant editor for the feature documentary Glen Campbell ... I’ll Be Me, which received an Oscar nomination and two Grammy’s. Producer/director James Keach and producer Trevor Albert joined Alex for a screening of the film at Chapman.

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Andrew Bergamo (BFA/Film Prod. ’13) was recently promoted to creative executive at The Donners’ Company.

Michael Berner (MFA/SW ’14) is currently working in the writers’ room for a new one-hour MTV series.

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Michael Cersosimo (BFA/Film Prod. ’07) was honored at the Venice Arts 21st Anniversary Gala for his work mentoring film classes for low-income youth between ages 10-18 and working with programming and development teams on projects including community outreach, creating a parents’ needs assessment, and running college workshops.

Cori Coffin (BFA/TBJ ’09) is an anchor/reporter with KVUE-TV in the #39 market Austin, Texas.

She anchors mornings, Monday through Friday, for KVUE Daybreak and reports breaking and trending news throughout the day.

Eric Day (BFA/Film Prod. ’10) won the grand prize in the 2014 Emerging Screenwriters competition with his script Arktos.

2 Dominic DeLay (MFA/Film Prod. ’03) played his new feature film Zola Jumped In at the San Diego Black Film Festival

DJ Dodd (MFA/Film Prod. ’12) recently developed and sold a new true crime series to Investigation Discovery set to premiere in 2015.

He is also a co-executive producer on the film Ten Thousand Saints which premiered at Sundance 2015.

Xuxu Shasha Dong (MFA/Film Prod. ’14) was nominated for this year’s MPSE Golden Reel student award for her sound work on the grad thesis film Sin Fronteras.

Alexander Gaeta (BFA/Film Prod. ’11) has been assisting Victoria Alonso, the president of post-production and visual effects at Marvel Studios.

Kelly Galuska (BA/SW ’06) served as story editor for the second season of Bojack Horseman, the acclaimed animated series on Netflix, which will air this summer. Galuska called the writing gig “the best job I’ve ever had.”

DODGE COLLEGE ALUMNI NOTES

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47 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

ALUMNI NOTES DODGE COLLEGE 48

Casey Golden (MFA/Film Prod. ’12) is now the coordinator of original programming at Starz.

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Tyler Holtman (BFA/Film Prod. ’10) received a distribution deal with Finland’s Love TV, allowing his animated YouTube web series Jarthur the Alien to return for a second season this year.

3 John Honoré (MFA/Film Prod. ’08) shot the narrative feature film Life in Color, which is premiering at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival.

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4 Alex Ivany (BFA/TBJ ’14) was hired at 20th Century Fox as the post-production coordinator for the sequel to The Maze Runner and Alvin & The Chipmunks 4 after serving as a student intern.

5 Baruch Kaufman (BFA/Film Prod. ’05) and James B. Cox (MFA/ Film Prod. ’06) have just finished shooting a micro-budget feature Ctrl Alt Delete.

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Ezra Lunel (MFA/ Film Prod. ’13) began his own video production and post-production services agency, Ezra Lunel Film & Video, in downtown Santa Ana.

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Brendan Nahamias (BFA/TBJ ’12) was promoted to development coordinator at Portal A. In addition to producing branded content, Nahamias will work to develop and sell original series for digital and cable.

Stephen Nelson (BFA/TBJ ’11) recently began working in New York City as a host for Bleacher Report covering all sports and all teams for the second-largest sports website in the country.

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Megan Overholser (BFA/PRA ’10) accepted a position as the advertising delivery manager for Specific Media.

Damon Peoples (MFA/SW ’11) recently wrote an episode for David Fincher’s upcoming HBO series, Living on Video, which centers on production assistants in the early 1980s coming of age music video industry.

Paola Pratt (BA/FS ’14) has been working at Brave World Pictures as a director’s assistant and is currently working on a documentary about Grammy Award-winning artist Wayne Shorter titled Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity (2015).

10 Andrew Putshoegl (BFA/Film

Prod.’01) had his feature, BFFs, play in more than 35 festivals around the world in 2014 and it is currently being sold domestically and internationally.

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Steven Morrison (MFA/SW ’10) is now a screenwriting professor at New York Film Academy in Los Angeles.

He is also co-writing and co-producing a feature film, Nothing Like the Sun, which is currently in pre-production.

11 Austin Roberts (BFA/PRA

’13) started her own PR agency, Plum & Parcel, dedicated to serving social enterprises and do-good brands.

Alexandra Santoro (left) was one of four chosen from UCLA’s MFA Producer’s Program to pitch her narrative feature film thesis, Steps to Becoming a Knight, in front of an audience and a panel of industry judges at UCLA’s annual Producer's Marketplace event.

12 Alexandra Santoro (BA/ FS ’12) is currently working at entertainment marketing agency Trailer Park as a production coordinator.

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Justin Simien (BFA/FTP ’05) won Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards for Dear White People, which he also directed.

15 Robert Watts (BFA/Film Prod. ’07) was promoted to manager of unscripted content at Heroes and Villains Entertainment, a production and management company that specializes in content creation for film, TV, video games, comic books, and the Internet.

Mike Woodward (MFA/FTP ’11) is the production manager for The ATS Team, the go-to company for obstacle design and challenge development for competition reality/game shows, including the Ninja Warrior franchise, Amazing Race, and Biggest Loser.

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Amanda Starrantino (BFA/TBJ ’13) recently took a position at KSBY, the local news source for central coast California.

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13 Kevin Staniec (BFA/FTP ’01) was a keynote speaker at the California Art Education Association annual state conference where he spoke about collaboration with Bryce Carlson (BA/SW ’10).

14 William Stribling (MFA/

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SW ’14) and Russ Nickel (MFA/ SW ’14) are in post-production for the feature film they wrote, Bear with Us. Christian Vieira (MFA/FTP ’14) started a production company, Replay Collective, which specializes in digital content.

16 Kayla Xavier’s (MFA/FTP ’13)

thesis film, Home, was featured in a national broadcast on KCAL 9 on Christmas Day 2014.

17 Preston Zeller (BFA/Film Prod. ’09) co-founded a tech company out of Portland where he has built a SaaS or Software As A Service cloud application product for the B2B specialty food and drink trade.

18 Nicole Zwiren (MFA/Film

Prod.’10) recently became a member in the union local 695 as a production sound mixer.

Do you have a recent accomplishment you’d like to share? Email Alumni Coordinator Sorrel Geddes, sgeddes@chapman.edu, so we can share your success with the Dodge College community.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

ON THE DODGE COLLEGE FACULTY

Saturday, May 23, 4 p.m. – Wilson Field Commencement featuring Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix After Party – Dodge College, 5:30 pm.

Authentic Death & Contentious Afterlife of Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid: The Untold Story of Peckinpah’s Last Western Film by Paul Seydor

Documentary Case Studies: Behind the Scenes of the Greatest (True) Stories Ever Told

by Jeff Swimmer

Modern Post: Workflows and Techniques for Digital Filmmakers

by Scott Arundale and Tashi Trieu

Movie Stunts: A Comprehensive Guide to Planning and Execution & Special Effects by Andrew Lane

BOOK SHELF