In Production Magazine Fall 2016 by Dodge College

FA L L 2 0 1 6

CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS

Alums Matt and Ross Duffer Helm Break-Out Netflix Hit

Stranger Things

What we learn from others

s we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the creation of the film school and the 10th anniversary of our move into Marion Knott Studios, I am reminded that much of what we learn we learn from others. Recently, I visited Cleveland State University to consult on their plans to build a new film school. That trip reminded me of the many lessons I have learned over the years visiting other film schools and talking with colleagues around the world. Many of those insights have come into play in the design and development of Dodge College — our facilities, our programs, and our initiatives. I see the same principle at work as I watch students struggle to learn how to collaborate successfully on the many complex projects that are central to a Dodge College education. No film, campaign, television show, or news broadcast is made by just one person. Yet sharing ideas, being willing to listen to others, understanding that our ideas are not always the best ones — those can be difficult lessons to learn, especially as passion for an individual vision can drive students away from a collaborative model. The artist working in a collaborative medium needs to find a balance between personal vision and collaboration. As it’s often said, a good film is the result of a singular vision realized through collaborative means. Our new ventures in the world of virtual and augmented reality will depend on this same spirit of collaboration. This is Safar's friends who planned the memorial service, top row largely uncharted territory — no one really knows the rules of (left to right): Wagner Lane Harman, Jessica Weimer, Vanessa Gorski, this world or what is possible. But it is exciting to move forward Josh Dominguez, Adolfo Kahan. Bottom Row (left to right): Tom Assam-Miller, Chase Cargill, Almog Avidan Antonir together exploring the ways in which these new technologies will impact how we tell stories and how we experience the world (see story in this issue). But perhaps the most valuable lessons of collaboration come from the connections we forge with other human beings. The culture that we have nurtured among our students is particularly important in this regard. I had the opportunity to see that culture in full flower this summer, unfortunately, under very tragic circumstances. The loss of one of our recent graduates, Safar Shakeyev, brought the Dodge College community together in early August to share the memories and evident love his friends and colleagues felt for this very special young man. Rarely have I been as moved as I was that evening, as student after student took the stage to talk about how Safar affected them. Working together clearly inspired them and forged deep ties, bonds that brought them together again in the wake of this tragedy to celebrate Safar’s life and the connections they had made with and through him. This is exactly the spirit we cherish at Dodge College — deep human connections forged in the pursuit of telling stories, bonds that live beyond and outside of the process, bonds that enrich us all.

what’s inside

2016 Student Academy Award winners Brian Robau (left), Brenna Malloy, presenter Joel Edgerton, and fellow medal recipient Jimmy Keyrouz of Columbia University in New York. (Photo by Chris Pizzello. Invision. The Associated Press).

other stuff 12

Students Campaign to Support Student Vets

Advertising Students Win Regional Title

Academy President Offers Grads Advice on Falling Off the Cliff

Dodge College News Briefs - Global Directors Initiative, Dodge Docs Screen in Cannes, DMAC wins restoration award

Women in Focus Conference

Summer Travel Courses

Zombie Drama Launches Career for Alum Kc Wayland

Festival Highlights

Alumni Notes

Matt and Russ Duffer (’07) on the set of the Netflix hit Stranger Things with actress Winona Ryder. Photo Curtis Baker/Netflix.

features 2

Producing a Film School

Industry Veterans, Dean from Prague Join Faculty

In Loving Memory of Safar Shakeyev

Teaching Filmmaking in China

Students Jump in to Explore Augmented and Virtual Reality Dodge Launches Institute for Creative Reality

New Documentary to Explore the Effects of Gender Bias in Hollywood

Matt and Ross Duffer Helm BreakOut Netflix Hit Stranger Things

Chapman Students Take Home Silver and Bronze at 2016 Student Academy Awards

In Production: Editor, Janell Shearer; Assistant Editor, Meagan O’Shea; Writers: Brian Hamilton, Sorrel Geddes, Kevin Harman, and Jeff Heimbuch

AN ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE:

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

The three homes of film students at Chapman. Above, Moulton Center in the early 80s. Center, the newly formed School of Film and Television moved into DeMille Hall, once Chapman's student union and cafeteria. Right, Marion Knott Studios under construction.

r, as journalist Terence Loose once wrote in an interview with Bassett in Coast Magazine, “Creating a first-class film school is not unlike making a movie. You start with nothing but a vision and a strong passion, recruit talent and deploy them in their fight against the inevitable setbacks and challenges of any grand undertaking, and finally, hopefully, a blockbuster product flickers to life. And of course there’s the money. You’ll need a lot of it.” Thirty-five years after Bassett was hired as the first full-time film professor at Chapman, the film school is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the creation of the School of Film and Television, later named Dodge College in honor of the transforming gift of Larry and

Kristina Dodge, and the 10th anniversary of its move into Marion Knott Studios, a distinctive facility that has captured and continues to capture the imagination of prospective students and Hollywood visitors alike. But in the beginning, things were very different. Bassett arrived to find no real film major, just a few film classes in what was then the Department of Communications, a handful of students, and just a couple of pieces of equipment. “The entire film school was in my office,” he says. “I had one lighting kit, one camera and one sound package, which I personally checked out to the kids.” But it was enough, as Bassett soon realized that teaching film language could only be truly meaningful if students made films — if they learned how camera placement, editing choices, lighting etc. helped shape the stories they wanted to tell. In what became the basis for the school’s continuing focus on hands-on learning, Bassett took a group of students to Death Valley over Chapman’s Interterm in 1983 for a

“location filmmaking” experience. That, he says, “was the genesis of the film school today — it moved things forward and started everyone thinking larger.” Thinking larger over the years has involved two key components — more and better. More meant more of everything: more people, more equipment, more space, more reach. And better impacted each of those elements as well. Driving things forward also meant moving into unknown territory, an often scary direction in the tradition-bound world of academia. Building on a big idea also meant taking risks, risks that required that Bassett clearly articulate his vision to people who could make a difference and get them on board. One relationship that was central to Bassett’s own development was his friendship with Chapman trustee Marion Knott that blossomed in the early 80s. Desperate for equipment to keep the fledgling program moving forward, conversations with Knott led to a $25,000 gift that went to buy four badly needed cameras.

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

Dean Bassett, Tony Montapert, with his wife Marion Knott, President Doti and Don Sodaro, then chair of Board of Trustees at the ground breaking of Marion Knott Studios in 2004.

Paul Folino, Dean Bassett, Twyla Reed Martin, Marion Knott, and Larry and Kristina Dodge at the 2006 gala opening of Marion Knott Studios.

Knott’s gift was also a turning point for Bassett, when he realized that he could cultivate support from people who understood what he was trying to build. He began studying, reading about, and attending workshops on leadership and fund-raising. That got him over the hump that intimidates many faculty. “I realized that fund-raising was not about asking for money,” he says. “It’s an exchange of value. Donors find value in supporting projects that are aligned with what they believe

is important in the world. Their gifts bring value to the students and the university by enabling young people to pursue their passions and prepare for their careers.” It was the start of a fund-raising campaign that ultimately raised $50-million and built and equipped Marion Knott Studios, the 76,000-square-foot facility that is the embodiment of one of Bassett’s other radical ideas — to build a mini-studio on campus, where the filmmaking process would mirror real-world production.

From left: Cecil B. Demille's granddaughter and Chapman emeritus trustee Cece Presley, director and first Filmmaker-in-Residence Arthur Hiller, Marion Knott and Dean Bassett at the dedication of Demille Hall in 1996.

❸

Mark Parry ('84) splicing film.

Big leaps forward ❶

On the set of the first location filmmaking course in Death Valley, January, 1983.

Location Filmmaking: Given the need for extended periods of time and the often location-based work needed to make a film, Bassett’s decision to take students to Death Valley set the stage for many years of location-based projects during Chapman’s Interterm session. As one who had camped and hiked most of his life, Bassett was familiar with the exotic visual landscapes offered by Death Valley and thought it was a good location for a January trip “because it was warm.” So the students packed up tents, food and film equipment, which included film stock bought through Army surplus and headed out for a seven-day shoot of a script written just days before. The resulting postapocalyptic film, The Cocktail Party, provided an unforgettable experience and was the first of many such trips. The next year took the students to Cabo San Lucas, an adventure which saw them changing from an air-conditioned Greyhound bus at the Mexican border to a bullet-riddled bus with no heat that tortured them through the frigid mountain pass on the way to the beautiful locale where they finally shot their film. And from there, well, the rest is history….

Bassett saw an opportunity when he learned about DVision, a low-cost PC-based software. With minimal hardware requirements, converting to the new system was within reach. Bassett signed a partnership with DVision in 1994 and built the first editing system himself. “We were able to switch quickly at a time when a school like NYU, with its huge capital investment and larger size would have faced a much bigger challenge in making that leap. We were small, young, and nimble, which enabled us to move quickly,” he says. That, and a belief that a change was coming put Chapman out front, even as some industry editors dug in their heels and students struggled at first to learn the new system, which they nicknamed “devil vision.”

Filmmaker-in-Residence programs: As close to the heart of the industry as Orange County is, in the early days, few in Hollywood had ever heard of Chapman or its film school. Bassett came up with the idea of bringing working filmmakers to campus one day a week for an entire semester and took the idea to Knott who funded it with a milliondollar endowment. That program opened a new avenue into the industry. The arrival of former Academy President and director Arthur Hiller (Love Story, The Out-of-Towners, The Hospital) as Filmmaker-in-Residence in 1999, launched a program that has brought many of Hollywood’s top names to campus over the years — names such as director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist). And in the process, they learned what Chapman had to offer and brought others in the industry with whom they’d worked to campus, helping to make Chapman’s film school well known in the industry. Not only did students have the chance to learn from some of the film industry’s best and brightest, but writers, directors and producers came away impressed with the passion and talent of Chapman students. An incredible added bonus has been that four of those industry veterans who got to know Chapman through the Filmmaker-in-Residence program fell in love with teaching and joined the faculty full-time. Academy Award-winning writer David Ward (The Sting), director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever), director Martha Coolidge (Real Genius) and animator Bill Kroyer (Tron) now share industry wisdom in the classroom while continuing to stay active in the business.

2004: Filmmaker-in-Residence William Friedkin (The Exorcist) meets with students at a weekly dinner.

Location Filmmaking, interterm 1984, Cabo San Lucas.

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

Big ideas

CORE VALUES: PLANNING/CURRICULUM • Film is the literature of this century: An understanding that film is the most powerful medium of our time — one that crosses borders, communicates with people at every socioeconomic and educational level and brings together all of the other art forms — paints the bigger picture of film education. The art of visual storytelling has become vital to every business, particularly with the continuing evolution of the Internet and mobile devices. The ability to use the tools of filmmaking is preparation for a wide variety of careers, Bassett says, not just a graduate’s first job, but his or her job 10 or 20 years from now.

Steve Mosko, former president of Sony Television, Dean Bassett, and cheif content officer for Netflix Ted Sarandos on the Sony lot for the launch of the New Era of Television class, 2015.

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

Over the years, big ideas drove the vision for what became Dodge College. Some of those ideas came from Bassett’s experience as a teacher, including his many years teaching at private/boarding schools as well as at public high schools and universities before coming to Chapman. Others • Camera in your hands day one: From the beginning, were inspired by what was happening in the business; still students began making films as freshmen, at a time when others came from working with colleagues at Chapman and many other programs restricted filmmaking to the junior at other film schools around the country as well as with friends year. Although that kind of restriction is less prevalent in the community. And the value and power of those ideas today as other schools have adopted Chapman’s philosophy, was driven by constant reexamination and reinforcement it still exists in some places. through regular faculty retreats and a constant focus on planning • Students own their own films: From the beginning, Chapman based on what was best for the students, rather than faculty students have retained the rights to their own films. Even schedules or preference. today, some film schools hold copyright to student work. Key elements of the overall vision took many years to develop and new pieces were added as new opportunities arose. Among the • Open 24/7: Reflecting both how students live and work strategic ideas that helped drive Chapman’s film school to national and the business itself, Marion Knott Studios and the Digital and international recognition with highly selective student admisMedia Arts Center (DMAC) are available to students 24/7 through key card access. sions and the top students in the classroom, were the following: The annual Women in Focus conference is a key Dodge College initiative in support of helping women build careers in the business. Below, panelists of the 2013 Women in Focus Conference on Comedy: Dawn Taubin, Maya Rudolph, Diablo Cody, Dean Bassett, Anne Fletcher, Nancy Meyers, Penelope Spheeris, and Donna Langley.

2000: Dean Bassett greets Bryan Singer (X-Men), who visited a class on sci-fi films taught by Michael Phillips (Taxi Driver); Singer is one of hundreds of industry guests who visit Dodge and share their expertise.

• Working faculty: Although academic hiring traditionally values degrees over experience, the faculty of Dodge College has been built on an entirely different model. As Dean Bassett says, he has brought in faculty who can teach the complex art of filmmaking because they’ve done it, rather than reading about it. The result is a faculty with more than 500 feature film credits. photo by Dean Buscher Warner Bros. Television

• The business of the business: The importance of teaching students how the film business works is the strategic vision behind many special programs that have come to define Dodge College: the annual Women in Focus conference, Filmmakers-in-Residence, annual trips to Sundance and the Busan International Film Festival in Korea, adding Public Relations and Advertising to the film school to reinforce a focus on marketing, the development of the Creative Producing program, the addition of classes that study changing business models such as The New Era of Television. • International initiatives: The development of filmmaking exchanges took Chapman students to locations in Korea, Singapore and Taiwan and brought student teams from those countries to Orange to work together on cross-cultural filmmaking projects. The value of discovering meaning through the filmmaking process also animates documentary travel to countries in Africa as well as trips to Cambodia and Cuba, Ireland and Iceland. A Chapman degree offered in Singapore at the invitation of that country’s government created many international opportunities until the government decided to move in another direction. On-going conversations with various entities in China may see the development of a new international degree program down the road.

7 Professor John Badham on the Set of Supernatural

• The impact of technology: Making the switch to non-linear editing when it first became available, creating a workflow in Marion Knott Studios that allows students and faculty to access their digital assets from anywhere in the building, adding a degree in Digital Arts, moving to get into the emerging fields of VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). REPUTATION/DEVELOPMENT • Thinking big: The support of community leaders who understood Bassett’s vision for the film school supported its growth and progress over the years. Fundamental to that vision was the leadership of campaign leaders such as Jack Lindquist, former president of Disneyland, and Paul Folino, CEO of Emulex, who famously said that Dodge College should aim to be “the best film school on the planet.” • The missing piece: In reaching out for fund-raising support, Bassett foregrounded the idea that although Orange County had a well-developed cultural scene that supported music, dance and the visual arts such as painting and sculpture, film education/production was the missing piece of this cultural landscape. With the growing influence of film, Orange County needed a place where the art of film was studied and films were made.

• Outreach: Letting the world know what the film school is and does has taken many forms over the years, from the launch of one of the first websites at Chapman to annual screenings of student films at the Directors’ Guild of America in Los Angeles and New York and the hiring of a film festival coordinator to help students get their films into festivals. Outreach also included bringing a steady stream of Hollywood guests to campus for weekly dinners, classes and panels, thereby acquainting those in the industry with what was happening just down the road. And, outreach included positioning Chapman as a leading film school academically by hosting the annual conference of the national association of film schools, the University Film and Video Association (UFVA), as well as the international association of film schools, The International Association of Film and Television Schools (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision – CILECT) and sending faculty to those conferences year after year to present, learn and interact. • Innovation: Chapman Filmed Entertainment (CFE), a feature film production company designed to produce $1-2-million films in order to drive the careers of Chapman alumni, is unlike anything else in higher education today. With the theatrical release of its first film, The Barber, CFE is now poised to begin production on its next films. This unique initiative has captured wide media coverage in both the trade and national press.

Actor Scott Glenn and director Basel Owies (MFA/FP'10) on the set of Chapman Filmed Entertainment's first feature film – The Barber.

MEMORIES OF CHAPMAN a father/daughter perspective Charlie Moe (BA/Comm ’82, MA/HR ’85) was the very first student brand new professor Bob Bassett met when he came to campus in 1981. Charlie graduated with his B.A. in Communications, Mass Media and Public Relations, the very next year. Thirty-four years later, his daughter Kayla Moe (’16) graduated from Dodge College with a B.A. in Public Relations and Advertising. Although their Chapman experiences are separated by decades — and by major changes in the curriculum and the campus — common threads bind them together: mentorship by passionate professors, challenging opportunities inside and outside of class, and deep friendships that have and will carry into the future. When Charlie (and Bob Bassett) arrived, the Communications degree spanned a wide range of disciplines, including film, theater, mass media, PR and even dance. Chapman had just a little more than 1,000 students (versus 1,500 in just Dodge College today). But even then, the seeds of a hands-on education were in place. Charlie remembers how he “learned communications theory, message design and delivery (early storytelling) and practiced those skills for class projects, Greek events and department shows. We learned television and film production by doing — planning and leading production teams, traveling on location, designing and building props. “Kayla had many similar opportunities but she also had a much greater specific major-focused curriculum that better prepared her for work within her chosen field,” he says. “She left Dodge College with tangible, current technology skills, relevant knowledge, confidence and job experience through her internships.

Through one of her internships, she’s just accepted a full-time position with a leading advertising agency (72andSunny) and is working on a major national retailer’s account.” Did Kayla feel pressured to attend Chapman, where her mother, Julie Ozbun-Moe (BA/MES ’83) also graduated? She says no, but they “brought me to my first Discover Chapman Day my sophomore year of high school because they were impatient to show me around campus and introduce me to the Chapman community!”

Her response was immediate: “I fell in love with the beautiful campus and vibrant, welcoming community I saw.” When she returned the next year, a tour of Dodge sealed the deal. “Seeing the opportunities students had at Dodge to follow their passions and create work that could be showcased in real world settings outside of a classroom immediately appealed to me. It was the hands-on approach and collaborative community I saw at Dodge that ultimately swayed me to choose Chapman.” Both found faculty mentors and friends who challenged them and pushed them. Charlie remembers Bill Womack, Dick Doetkott, Bob Bassett, Ron Thronson and Janell Shearer as “engaged, not just working a job. “We could reach out for help, run

Charlie Moe'82/'85, Kayla Moe'16 and Julie Ozbun-Moe'83.

into them at the student union or in the circle and they were supportive, challenged us to figure it out or pushed us to do our best,” he says. “But the key for me was their trust. We would be given suggestions or direction, advice and then with oversight, trusted to deliver a work product, production, or performance.” For Kayla, being on the National Student Advertising (NSCA) team taught her more about herself and about what it means to be an effective and helpful leader than she had ever learned before. “NSAC is a demanding competition that prepared me for the hard work and sleepless nights of working in the advertising world,” she says, “and without the guidance of our advisor Cory O’Connor we would not have been as successful as we were.” Of course times do change. A favorite family story is the time Charlie and friends Antonio Dominguez ’82 and John Lunning ’82 shot aerial footage of Memorial Hall for a college fundraiser by landing and taking off from the (then) Sunken Lawn in a helicopter provided by Fluor Corporation. Though the students met with Orange Police and Fire and Chapman Security to arrange safety, got permits to block Glassell and arranged for stand-by emergency support, Charlie ultimately got the shot by “standing on the helicopter rails, camera in hand, with the door off and Antonio holding me in by my belt!” These days? A drone would do. But such is the stuff that college memories are made of — adventure, sometimes risk, and learning along the way. As Charlie says, and Kayla agrees, “the magic is still alive at Chapman.” 9

INDUSTRY VETERANS,

DEAN FROM PRAGUE JOIN FACULTY To meet the growing demands of its academic programs, Dodge College welcomed an Academy Award-winning documentarian, the former dean of one of Europe’s finest film schools, an award-winning screenwriter, a television writer/producer and a former studio executive to the faculty for fall 2016. Pavel Jech joins Dodge College as chair of the

Pavel Jech

Chuck Workman

graduate film programs. He comes to Chapman having served eight years as dean of The Film and Television School of the Academy of the Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague, ranked as one of the top film schools in the world. FAMU, one of the oldest film schools in the world, has been called the best film school in Europe by The Hollywood Reporter. His long-term goal is simply “to make Dodge indispensable to the future of cinema.” Building on Dodge College’s “fantastic facilities and world-class faculty,” Jech sees an important component is “making sure our program offerings are always on the forefront, and adjusting in ways that ensure that no opportunities are overlooked and that the boundless potential of our students is never thwarted.” For Jech, this means “supporting and promoting a diversity of talents and viewpoints, maintaining a standard of professionalism in craft and approach, and strengthening our endgame through CFE and similar initiatives thereby creating an unsurpassed student experience that carries over long after our students graduate.” Legendary filmmaker Chuck Workman joins Dodge College to elevate the brand of the M.F.A. in Documentary Filmmaking program, building on the idea that nonfiction films can have all the same dramatic, character, and structure values as a narrative film and can be more than “a talking coffee table book or a talking informational manual,” he says. Workman credits advances in technology and the interest of news outlets, cable and network TV for revitalizing the documentary genre through the creation of non-fiction films for mass consumption, resulting in more jobs and more opportunity for creativity. “It’s a big, rich world of filmmaking, there are alternatives to the commercial Hollywood industry,” says Workman. “My goal is to see Chapman at the forefront.”

Pavel Jech Chair of Film Division Graduate Programs A graduate of the Columbia University Film Division as well as of FAMU, Jech was the founding chair of FAMU International, a department for English speaking students, and also the faculty liaison for NYU-Tisch, American University, Yale and other programs for American students visiting Prague. A screenwriting professor, he works as an expert advisor for Sundance Labs, Berlinale Talents, the Mediterranean Film Institute and FAMU’s Midpoint Center, a professional script development lab partnered with schools throughout Europe, which he co-founded and serves as head of studies. Jech lectures internationally, and his manual on dramaturgy for short films, The Seven Minute Screenplay is used by film students around the world. He has worked in over ten countries as a screenwriter and script editor, including for the feature film Grandhotel (Berlinale premiere 2007), and as a creative collaborator with noted Czech New Wave director Jan Nemec.

Chuck Workman Program: Documentary Filmmaking Credits include: Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles, What is Cinema? Visionaries, The 82nd Annual Academy Awards Workman’s Precious Images, won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short and was selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry. His most recent documentary, Magician, about Orson Welles, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. He wrote, directed and produced the documentary Superstar, on artist Andy Warhol, and produced and directed The Source, a documentary film on the Beat Generation. His credits also include The First 100 Years, The Making Of A Dream, The People’s President, In Search Of Kennedy and Visionaries, and his recent documentary on the artistic side of film, What Is Cinema?, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Workman has also created montages for 20 Academy Awards ceremonies, for which he has been nominated ten times for Emmy Awards. He has served as President of the International Documentary Association, receiving its Distinguished Achievement Award; was a Board Member of the Directors Guild of America, where he directs its documentary screening series; served on the Motion Picture Academy Documentary Executive Committee, and is on the Academy Grants Committee. A noted writer and lecturer on filmmaking, he graduated from Rutgers University, and studied theater and drama with Francis Fergusson, Harold Clurman, and Stella Adler.

Bettina Gilois

Bill Rosenthal

Madeline Warren

Bettina Gilois

Bill Rosenthal

Madeline Warren

Program: Screenwriting Credits include: Johnny (announced); Bessie; McFarland, USA; Glory Road Gilois is an award-winning screenwriter and author who has been writing in Hollywood for over twenty years. Her awards and nominations for Best Screenplay include two Image Award nominations for Bessie and McFarland, USA, the Humanitas Prize for Glory Road, two Movieguide Libertas Awards for Best Picture, and two Black Reel Awards. She currently has two movies in development, one with Howie Deutch directing, another with Lifetime Studios. Gilois first began working as an assistant to the director of Liquid Sky, Slava Tsukerman, in her native Berlin, as well as working at Andy Warhol’s Factory in New York on the television series “Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes.” She subsequently worked as a development executive. Her writing career includes projects with Joel Silver Productions, Warner Bros. and producers, directors, and actors including Michael Mann, Dick and Lili Zanuck, Jeffrey Katzenberg, William Friedkin, Robert Zemeckis, and Robert DeNiro. Her book Billion Dollar Painter: The Triumph and Tragedy of Thomas Kinkade Painter of Light for Weinstein Books is being made into a movie with Channing Tatum. She also wrote the biography Mi Vida Loca: The Crazy Life of Johnny Tapia, which is in pre-production for 2017.

Program: Television Writing and Production Credits include: Saint George, Nurse Jackie, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Working Rosenthal has worked in positions from staff writer to showrunner and in a variety of writer/producer positions on network and cable series. Most recently he was the co-executive producer of FX’s comedy series, Saint George starring George Lopez. Prior to that he was co-executive producer of Showtime’s Emmy-winning series, Nurse Jackie. He has written and produced comedy, drama, and animation and was co-creator of Working. Rosenthal is also the creator, writer and executive producer of AOL’s Greetings From Home, a digital comedy series funded by Michael Eisner that, since its launch, has had more than three million visitors. Rosenthal has taught at UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, LMU, and Columbia College Chicago. He earned his B.A. in Theatre Arts from University of California, Santa Cruz, and his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

Program: Public Relations and Advertising, Creative Producing A veteran motion picture executive and educator, Madeline Warren developed and supervised production of many major studio films, including Academy Award winner L.A. Confidential. In 2007, she began teaching at Dodge College, which led to an appointment as the Founding Associate Dean and Director of Chapman University Singapore (2008-2010), a global campus with a mission to train Singaporean filmmakers in international co-production. There, she initiated the new academic major in Creative Producing, achieved WASC certification for the program in the first year, and created a Hollywood internship program for Chapman Singaporean students. She has written the instructor’s manual to accompany a new filmmaking textbook, Filmmaking in Action; advises other universities on curriculum development and global education; and is developing a screenplay for international co-production in China.

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tudent veterans find themselves moving from a world built on hierarchy where the tasks of daily life are managed by others to one demanding individual initiative. Those who entered the military directly from high school may have never had to balance a checkbook or prepare their own meals. Facing insensitive inquiries about “what is it like to fight in a war,” they may be unable to connect to the often superficial concerns of typical college students. Stereotyped by the narrative of the “broken veteran,” 12

STUDENT VETS

As difficult as the transition to college can be for many students, there are far greater challenges in making the move from combat to college.

they also may find the skills and experience gained through service discounted or not recognized at all. Creating a campaign to assist student veterans master the emotional, psychological and social tests of trading a military career for an academic one was the task for five Public Relations and Advertising students who participated in the national Bateman Case Study Competition in the spring for the client, Student Veterans of America. Their campaign,

Project Vets, was designed to identify campus and community resources available to veterans and connect Chapman student veterans to those services while helping the larger campus community understand and appreciate the challenges student veterans face. To assist Chapman student veterans, the team put on a Service and Success Workshop bringing speakers representing community resources available for assistance with employment, benefits, legal issues and financial education to campus. The success stories of the speakers, veterans themselves, also modeled what returning veterans can hope to achieve with campus and community support. To help the campus community understand the military experience, the team created a Stories of Service exhibit in the library sharing letters written by the military from war zones and photos from Afghanistan by Jonathan Chandler, an MBA student.

To engage the campus community in recognizing the value of military service, they implemented a Salute Our Troops project inviting students to write letters to service men and women expressing thanks for their service. To spread the word about the issues facing student veterans, they made presentations to classes and clubs, tested students on their knowledge of the issues involved, and reached out to community partners to talk about what student veterans have to offer as skilled employees. Throughout, the team members were challenged to understand the needs of a client population very different from themselves and to find ways to connect with individuals who often hide their veteran status from outsiders. At the same time, they discovered the very real differences between designing a campaign in the classroom and executing a campaign on the ground. “Conducting a PR campaign for

a real client with real needs is a lot different than the simulated projects I’ve conducted in classes,” says Drew Nelson (BA/Public Relations & Advertising ’17). “If your ideas aren’t fully researched and well executed, you will see those results firsthand. It’s not a ‘Oh, I think that would be a good idea’ situation.” Sabina Hahn, (BA/Public Relations & Advertising ’19) agrees. In the classroom, “our strategies and tactics didn’t have to be realistic. I learned how to come up with creative ideas that we could also implement. It gave me a realistic view of what a PR campaign looks like from beginning to end.” “I don’t think anything during my college career has challenged me as much as this campaign,” says Kara Ojebuodoh, (BA/Public Relations & Advertising ’18). “There was not one part of the campaign where I didn’t learn something new and I am a stronger writer, student, and team member because of it. “It prepared me for future audiences that I may know just as little about,” she says. “It was an incredible journey and I am so proud to have contributed to improving the lives of student veterans at Chapman. I would recommend Bateman to anyone.” 13

A Tragic Loss in the Dodge College family The loss of a young person — full of promise, yet a promise unfulfilled — is always a tragedy. The untimely death of Safar Shakeyev (BFA/FP ’14) home to visit his family in his native Kazakhstan shook our community to its core. Whatever solace can be found rests in the ongoing influence of the spirit and memory of this aremarkable young man. Friends and colleagues gathered in the Folino Theater August 5 to celebrate Safar’s life and mourn his loss. The measure of his impact on others echoed time and time again in the emotional words of those who spoke that night, as tears flowed freely on stage and off. The stories they told were hilarious retellings of silly adventures as well as touching, painful and evocative remembrances of the man with whom these young people shared many hours and experiences. Here are just a few of the many thoughts shared by Safar’s friends that evening:

Adolpho Kahan (BFA/FP ’14): Safar made you feel joyful…he had a fire and was hungry for challenges and adventures. He pushed me to be better and made me feel like I didn’t have to go through anything on my own. Jessica Weimer (BA/Com/Spanish ’14): Safar taught me how to genuinely, sincerely, selflessly support your friends. He knew how to live life fully. Tom Assam-Miller (BFA/SCAC ’14): I’ve never met a human being with more emotional awareness. He was aware of how details affected him and made him feel. Josh Dominguez (BA/T ’10): He was someone who understood love. Vanessa Gorski (BA/PCST, T ’14): His laugh, his energy made everyone feel alive. Chase Cargill (BA/T ’14): Safar forced people to realize why they are so special. I will never forget the light you saw in others or the light you left behind. Almog Avidan Antonir (BFA/FP ’14): Sometimes I feel this overwhelming anger take over, because it wasn’t your time, because you didn’t get to do everything you were capable of doing. And other times I feel an incredible joy in recalling a cherished memory with you. But if there’s one thing you taught me, it’s that it’s okay to feel. It makes us human.

WIN REGIONAL TITLE A D V E R T I S I N G

S T U D E N T S

The thrill of winning the regional title in the National Student Advertising Competition — after a year’s worth of work and beating out nine other schools, including last year’s winner, UCLA —was simply incredible. But for the 32 members of Chapman’s team, this year’s victory was bittersweet, as the team reveled in a win that would have made their former advisor, Professor Cory O’Connor, who passed away in December, proud.

“His death really hit us hard, but it also gave us fuel. We won this for him,” says Ethan Hausser PRA ’16, one of the two account executives who led the team, along with Emily Senses PRA ’16. The campaign for this year’s client, Snapple, focused on the fact that, research revealed, the Snapple brand has faded in people’s minds, particularly in the face of increasing competition. Yet, when prompted to remember the product, the Chapman team discovered, nearly everyone “has a positive association.” The result was a campaign built

around simplifying the brand message, rather than introducing something completely new. The theme, “We Meet Again,” did not “discard anything that the Snapple consumer loves,” the campaign write-up explains, “it simply reintroduces it with gusto.” Students on the team not only experienced the joy of winning but learned about in-depth research and planning, focused creativity, and “what will be expected of me as a professional,” says Pauline Yang, PRA ’16, who interned over the summer with InterTrend Communications in account services. Elly Bannon, PRA ’16, found

NSAC “by far the best experience I had at Chapman.” She attributes newfound knowledge and confidence in the interview and job-hunting process to her landing a summer internship at Saatchi & Saatchi, a leading global communications and advertising agency. Many others over the 13 years that Chapman has participated in the national competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation have gone on to work in the advertising industry, drawing on the knowledge and professional connections made through NSAC. And, as Emily Senes puts it, “Cory would be so so proud.”

After the big win (left); brainstorming creative ideas and strategy, right and above.

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

ACADEMY PRESIDENT

Offers Grads Ad vice

on Falling Off t he Cliff

GRADS AT THIS YEAR’S DODGE COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY SHARED THE STAGE WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS SHARED OTHER STAGES WITH THE BIGGEST STARS IN THE WORLD. CHERYL BOONE ISAACS, PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES, OFFERED BLUNT BUT ALSO REASSURING WORDS OF WISDOM, INVOKING LAUGHTER AS THE TRUTH OF HER WORDS SANK IN.

Boone Isaacs began by citing as boring the often used cliché that

connect with people who support you, love you and can guide you.” Another key ingredient for their futures: “WYAO: work your asses off,” she added, saying that any one of them had potential to be the next Kathryn Bigelow or James Cameron…or even Justin Simien, the Dodge alum who created the hit film Dear White People. “Dodge has given you the foundation on which to build amazing careers,” she said. “You are the future leaders of the entertainment industry.” With even more good news, she pointed out that there have never been better career options in Hollywood. “Many of the creative and business models of the entertainment business are breaking or broken. What a great opportunity for you. You’re not invested in the old ways. Someone’s going to share the new ways. Why not you?” To build those amazing careers, Boone Isaacs offered this advice: “Keep learning, keep striving, engage with everyone and everything you come in contact with,” along with three rules to begin building their careers:

First: “Stop stressing,” she said. “So what if you make a mistake, so what if you fail? We all do, every single day. The key is to get over it and keep going…. A dream deferred is not a dream denied. Don’t give up your dream. Never lose your passion. Stay determined.” Second: Don’t do it with

the goal of perfection. Perfection is an illusion. Happiness is a goal. Third: Follow the golden rule and know that “as graduates you have a

responsibility to contribute to your community and to help those who may not have had same opportunities you have.” Investing in others, she said, gets paid back many times over and in ways you never expected. Boone Isaacs left her audience with one final quote from her favorite philosopher, her mother:

“Get a job.”

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Following Boone Isaacs’ remarks, 261 undergraduates and 71 graduates received their degrees. The night ended with “One Last Splash,” a commencement party in Marion Knott Studios. The beach theme saw Stage A turned into a drive-in theater, Stage B into a oceanside bar, and the parking lot filled with boardwalk games.

“Today is not the last day of your college journey, today is the beginning of your adult life.” Her “rewrite?” “You’re about to fall off the cliff. “But don’t worry, you will be fine,” she said. “You’re gonna land safely, especially if you enjoy the fall.” The Academy President and Dodge College adjunct reminded the graduates that they were prepared — for two key reasons. First, “because for your generation adversity has been a pretty constant neighbor and you’ve handled it all well,” she said, referring to today’s college students having grown up in the aftermath of 9/11 and through years of wars overseas. In addition, she said, the graduates and their parents faced one of the worst economic recessions in history “right at the time you and your parents were starting to think about paying for college, and yet you’re here, not just alive, but thriving.” Second? “No group of graduates has ever had the tools and technology that you have to create your own structure,” she said, reminding them that the smartphone in their pocket gives them “instant access to the world and the ability to

17 Dean Bassett addresses the class of 2016.

TEACHING FILMMAKING IN CHINA

lthough companies the world over seek a foothold in China, in many ways it’s easier said than done. Cultural and language differences are just the starting point of challenges to be surmounted for Americans working in China.

For Dodge College faculty, the launch of the first Summer Film Academy in Shenzhen, China, was not without these challenges, and some new ones, such as students rescheduling their shoots around a typhoon. But the outcomes were terrific— satisfied students, good films and a great foundation for future forays into the country where box office receipts will soon surpass those in the U.S. The program attracted media attention from major Chinese online, newspaper and television media, and brought film industry and local government officials to the final screening. Several of the student participants now plan to apply to Chapman,

says Kim Zheng, president of Artention Films, a film financing and production company that hosted the program in Shenzhen. Fifteen students—from Beijing, Shenzhen, and even one from Mongolia—joined Chapman faculty Harry Cheney and Tom Ptansinski and two graduate students for the first Chapman program in China. Modeled on Chapman’s highly successful Summer Film Academy, now in its 6th year, the two-week program took students through the entire filmmaking process as they created three films during the session. Although none of the students had previous filmmaking experience, Cheney found them prepared in other important ways. “They were not only familiar with classic Western literature and music in addition to stories from their own culture, they attempted to use this knowledge in their films,” he says. “In fact, out of the three final films, the most successful one was based on a Chinese folk tale.” Cheney also found the students in some ways more independent and more disciplined that their American high school counterparts. He even brought back a shot list prepared by one of his Chinese students to use as an example in his classes in Orange. “I don’t think even our senior filmmakers are so detailed with their paperwork,” he says.

“Most of them didn’t have any film experience but caught on instantly to the intricacies of filming and editing,” Cheney continues. “They don’t seem to have extensive film education in their schools but they do teach them philosophy, literature, music which gives them a better background for being good storytellers than their American counterparts who are immersed in media.” Yet, just like students in the U.S., when given notes on their projects, “if they didn’t agree, they would simply ignore us and do it their own way!” The classes were conducted in English, as the students were pretty fluent, with the occasional assist by two Chinese Chapman students who went as graduate assistants: Dingxuan

Huang, ’18, a cinematographer, who is from Shenzhen himself, and Bingjie Huang, an editor, is from Wuhan, China. Both found the students eager to learn. “Most important,” says Dingxuan, “they will know whether they like filmmaking for not and which crew positions they like the most.” The program concluded with a final screening, greeted enthusiastically by family and friends, including a well-known film critic and famous Chinese director, Lu Xiaoya. Bottom line? Cheney characterizes the students as “utterly charming and intelligent and capable of working on their own.” Virtually any of them, he reports, “would excel in our film program here.” For Ptasinski, the experience validated the premise that has driven the Summer Film Academy in Orange. “In the past,” he says, “when Harry or I would discuss the success we’ve had teaching a story-centric program and how it seemed like a universal way to teach film we’d get a polite chuckle since there was no way to prove our program’s premise outside of America... until now. “If anything, my time in China reaffirmed to me that cinema is, now more than ever, a universal art form.”

Fifteen students—from Beijing, Shenzhen, and even one from Mongolia—joined Chapman faculty Harry Cheney and Tom Ptansinski and two graduate students for the first Chapman program in China.

The two-week program took students through the entire filmmaking process as they created three films during the session.

DODGE COLLEGE

NEWS BRIEFS

Professor Selected for Global Directors Initiative

Professor Rachel Goldberg has been chosen as one of seven fellows to participate in the Drama Apprenticeship Program as part of the Fox Global Directors Initiative (FDI). She was selected to shadow the director on Fox 21’s Emmy Award-winning Homeland. The program is designed to cultivate emerging and established directors with diverse voices, backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives spanning a variety of media forms and, Goldberg says, “to address the low number of women and minority directors working in television (at last count it was 3% minority females) with the intent of changing those numbers. “I have invited many of my fellow participants to speak to my students at Chapman,” she reports, “and have referred students to collaborate on their film sets.” The first phase of the program started in July with the Fox Directors Lab, an intensive three-week experience led by rotating Fox programming mentors from the Fox’s entertainment businesses as well as affiliated directors and showrunners. Goldberg will have opportunities to ultimately direct an episode of one of the participating Fox, FX or Fox 21 shows. Goldberg also has a project in development with Triangle Road Entertainment and IS attached to direct the feature film Waiting for Camelot, produced by Sundance and Cannes veteran Todd Remis (Magic Magic) and TIFF alumna, Julie Snyder (Tanner Hall).

Goldberg with DP Richard Vialet on the set of Muted.

Actor Kelly Garner and Goldberg on the set of Neighbors.

Goldberg with actors Chandra Wilson and Malcolm-Jamal Warner on the set of her short film Muted. Photos by Cooper Bates.

Two Dodge Docs Screen in Cannes Two Chapman films were selected for the Cannes Emerging Filmmaker Showcase screened in May at the American Pavilion in Cannes, France. Alzheimer’s: A Love Story produced by Gabe Schimmel (BFA/Film Production ’18), Monica Petruzzelli (BFA/News and Documentary ’17) and Riani Astuti (BFA/Film Production ’19) was named Best Student Documentary and also winner in the LGBQT showcase. The film was produced through the Community Voices program that tells the stories of local non-profits. Ceylan Carhoglu and Nicole Jordan-Webber’s Gardeners of the Forest, a film shot through a travel course in Laos, was also screened. “From meeting countless talented filmmakers to being inspired by dozens of films of all kinds, this was truly the trip of a lifetime and I will take the experiences I’ve gained with me into the future,” says Petruzzelli. “Attending Cannes was an incredible privilege I won’t soon forget,” adds Schimmel. “Watching a room full of extraordinarily talented filmmakers tear up at and applaud something I’d contributed to making was absolutely incredible.”

DMAC recognized for innovative design/ restoration

Gabe Schimmel, Riani Astuti and Monica Petruzzelli presenting their documentary at the Cannes Emerging Filmmaker Showcase.

Chapman’s Digital Media Arts Center (DMAC) is a student favorite — an inviting space to hang out, work on an animation project, grab a sandwich, even doodle on the walls. Designed to mimic the creative collaboration spaces of industry leaders such as Pixar and Dreamworks, the DMAC was created through the transformation of a historic building into a vibrant teaching/student gathering space. And now it has been honored by a 2016 California Preservation Foundation award in the restoration category. This is the third architectural honor for the DMAC and AC Martin Partners. The American Institute of Architects Long Beach/South Bay Chapter honored the building with a Citation Award in the Historic Preservation Category. The institute’s Orange County Chapter awarded a Citation Award in the Commercial Built Category. A former manufacturing plant for California Wire and Cable Co., the DMAC underwent a complete renewal in 2014 under the direction of AC Martin Partners. Among the distinct elements of the design was the restoration of the original brick façade, and the renovation of both the clerestory windows and the interior cross-strut beams. 21

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

WOMEN IN FOCUS

Conference Women in the industry ask: What’s changed? For 17 years, Dodge College has convened some of the top women in the industry to explore the challenges facing women in the business. In all that time, has anything really changed?

From left: Sanaa Hamri, Hannah Minghella, Denise Di Novi, Dean Bassett, Professor Alex Rose, Nicole Rocklin and Molly Smith. Photo by Michael Munson.

The 17th annual conference as made possible through the support of Twyla Martin, Laurie Rodnick, Eve Kornyei Ruffatto, Harriet Sandhu, Bonny Schumacher, and Joyce Tucker.

Professor Alex Rose opened the conference, aptly titled “Challenging the Status Quo,” with some discouraging statistics about women hired in the business (only 3.4% of film directors last year were women). Yet the picture overall has a new color — the progress of women is a constant and high profile topic of conversation in the business and in the media. Consciousness, at least, has been raised. So what factors contribute to the slow pace of progress? One element, she suggested, is what’s been called “the bravery deficit”— that we raise boys to play rough and reward them for taking risks and we teach girls to please, to play safely, and to get good grades. “Is society, intentionally or unintentionally, raising our girls to be perfect and our boys to be brave?” she asked.

What other elements are at play? “There is no great conspiracy by the studios to not hire women,” said Minghella. “It’s not conscious or deliberate,” she explained, noting that, in general, the studios react to the audience. When a story with a female lead does well, the studios are more open to stories about women or casting women in key roles. “Audiences make movies bankable,” said Hamri. Both women and men have to support films with female leads. “Women go with men to male movies,” she said, “but men don’t go to ‘female movies.’ We need a paradigm shift.” Things have gotten better, said Di Novi, recalling days when a bond company wouldn’t issue a bond for a film with a woman line producer. Twenty-five years ago the production had to double up on the position: hire a man to work with the woman in order to get the bond. “That wouldn’t happen today,” she said. Too often, said Hamri, “a female director allows the men in the room to overtake a meeting and talk about how things should be done. Just say, ‘that’s great, but that’s not what I’m doing,’” she advised women in that situation.” “Powerful men and women do not detract from one another,” Minghella added.

the panelists >>>

Academy Award®winning producer (Spotlight, The Perfect Guy, Middle of Nowhere) >>>

Sanaa Hamri Acclaimed film and TV producer/director (Empire, Shameless, Nashville, Glee, Just Wright)

>>>

Hannah Minghella president of TriStar Productions and former president of production for Columbia Pictures, (Baby Driver, Trainspotting 2, Money Monster, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Zero Dark Thirty)

What’s changing? Television is making a difference today. Flawed, complex women characters on television “tell us we can create better female characters in features,” said Hamri, noting the character of Cookie on Empire as just one such example. Female stars willing to take on unconventional roles like that show that “there’s an appetite for it,” she added. TV broke the mold to show that women can be crazy and/or intense, Di Novi said, naming Robin Wright’s character on House of Cards as another example. “We don’t all have to be Suffragette,” she said, referring to the Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan film about early feminists. “We are the majority of the population. We want to see diverse experiences, to see things that really happen to us.’

Nicole Rocklin

>>>

Molly Smith Academy Award®nominated producer (Sicario, The Blind Side, Something Borrowed, P.S. I Love You)

>>>

Denise Di Novi Panel moderator and producing veteran (Little Women, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Message In A Bottle)

BY BRIAN H AMILTON

How women hurt themselves Professor Rose gave two other disturbing examples of how women undercut themselves, drawing on the book The Confidence Code by journalists Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. Interviewing some of the most powerful women in the nation, the authors found that men apply for jobs if they meet only 50% of the qualifications. Women will apply only if they feel they meet 100% of the qualifications. And, when something goes wrong, women are more likely to blame themselves. When something goes right, they credit circumstance – or other people – for their success. Men do the opposite.

You gotta find the money

Entertainment Partners (EP) representatives Melissa Van Meter Noren and Maury Leitner present the EP Excellence in Producing Awards to Natalie Welch (BFA/CP'17) and Amadi Pate (MFA/FTP'17).

What can be done?

“Women need to lead with , be prepared and speak intelligently.”

passion NICOLE ROCKLIN

For women starting out as producers, or in independent film, raising money for a project can also be critical to success. Asked how to approach this particularly daunting task, the panelists offered this advice:

Smith: Know what box or budget your project fits in. You have to do a risk assessment. Pre-production planning is everything. There has to be a plan. This is not an experiment.

“Create

role models

by how you conduct yourself.” HANNAH MINGHELLA

The panelists all cited the need for women to help and mentor each other. “Give women opportunities,” said Hamri, “hire women behind the scenes.” Know that “it’s okay to work on things that are not female driven.” “Pick women to direct action movies,” said Di Novi, “and not just Wonder Woman.” “Create role models by how you conduct yourself,” advised Minghella, who said she regularly nursed her baby in meetings. “Don’t expect people to do things for you,” said Rocklin, and “push hard,” she said, talking about the seven years it took to make Spotlight, which was turned down “all over town.” “Don’t have a chip on your shoulder if the person above you is male,” advised Hamri. “A lot of my mentors were male. Look at what they have and be direct about what you want. You don’t need to ask permission.” And that, of course, comes back to the bravery deficit, the panelists agreed. Women need to “lead with passion, be prepared and speak intelligently,” said Rocklin. “Don’t spend your energy worrying about what other people think,” said Minghella. “Excellence triumphs. When opportunity meets preparation, there’s no such thing as luck.”

Minghella: Ask yourself — what would I need to know to give to this. Know where your movie fits. Do comps on the size, genre, actors. Understand what you have and where it fits, who the audience would be. Rocklin: Remember you have to put skin in the game. 24 betting on yourself. You’re

From left: Recipients of the Zonta Club of Newport Harbor Award Kendall Goldberg (BFA/Film Production'17), Taylor Reynolds (BFA/DA'17) and Ashton Avila (MFA/FP'17) with award presenter Cris Peterson.

Lyle Lane (BFA/Film Production'17), recipient of the Meredith MacRae Memorial Award with presenters Heather MacRae and Allison Mullavey.

hey ran into things. They got mugged. At least one person fell over a cliff. In some cases, the benefits of augmented reality don’t seem so wonderful. While the crazy things that have happened to people chasing virtual monsters with their smart phones playing Pokemon Go has captured national media attention, an exploration of the possibilities of virtual and augmented reality has been steadily underway at Dodge College. Students and faculty in film, digital arts, production design, producing and gaming are working together to see what the future might hold. From a 360-degree video of the Digital Media Arts Center on the web to a 360-degree live broadcast of the Dodge College commencement ceremony, students in the new Virtual Reality Club are experimenting with what’s possible. Meanwhile, the faculty have joined together in a Virtual Reality Task Force to create the Institute for Creative Reality, an incubator program dedicated to testing new and emerging technology in virtual and augmented reality. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm around virtual and augmented reality right now,” says Associate Dean and Chief Technology Officer Dan Leonard. “We thought there was an opportunity for Chapman to be a thought leader in the area, not only to capitalize on the enthusiasm of today, but to set up an entity for all technologies that come tomorrow. That’s why we’re not focusing on augmented or virtual reality. Creative reality encompasses whatever comes down the turnpike in how we experience entertainment.”

Well Told Entertainment CEO Matt Rebong (BFA/CP'15) demonstrates the augmented reality applications of his company.

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

Virtual Milestones Why the “sudden” interest in virtual and augmented reality? The technology is nothing new — it’s been around since the ’60s — but it’s beginning to get a whole lot better. Even a brief surge of commercial success for virtual reality in the 1980s and 90s didn’t generate much more than lukewarm interest. Some landmark developments include:

2012 Startup company Oculus VR announces a Kickstarter campaign to raise $9,522 to develop the world’s first commercially viable virtual reality headset. The campaign raised more than $2.4 million.

2013 Google releases Google Glass.

2015 Samsung releases Samsung Gear VR for Galaxy smart phones.

March, 2016 Microsoft releases Hololens, an augmented reality headset.

July, 2016 Niantic sets the world on fire with Pokemon Go, which reportedly has 9.5 million daily users, according to technology news site Recode.

By the end of the year Virtual and augmented reality hardware is expected to bring in $2.3 billion.

By 2020 The market for virtual and augmented reality is forecast to hit $120 billion.

Chapman isn’t alone in pushing into this new industry. Investors are pouring millions of dollars into research and development. In 2014, Facebook purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion. In 2015, Google invested $827 million in Magic Leap, an upstart dedicated to researching and creating virtual and augmented reality applications. By the end of the year, Apple, Google, and Facebook are expected to spend nearly $30 billion on research and development related to augmented and virtual reality. “That was the kick start that the industry needed to push forward,” says alumnus Matthew Rebong (BFA/Creative Producing, ’15). “That allowed a lot of the tech developers to create amazing machines that wouldn’t have even been able to get funded even in the ’90s.” And Rebong should know. His company, Well Told Entertainment, is developing creative reality applications for story books, comic books, and various virtual reality devices. Since the company’s inception, it has benefitted enormously from this surge of investment from industry professionals. “We are part of the Intel Developer Mesh program, which takes on developers and teams that are working on groundbreaking technology,” he says. “Through them, companies have been supplying us with equipment and hardware to develop software for devices like the HTC Vive and the Occulus Rift. Our vision is to be launch title creators on the AR technology that comes out in three to five years.” Even with the recent investment and excitement surrounding creative reality, the industry still faces some serious challenges. One of the biggest is overcoming the limitations of the technology itself. With the Samsung Galaxy, for example, there are screen resolution issues — images can appear pixelated. It’s a challenge to change the sound that a virtual object makes depending on the viewer’s distance from it. Finally, there’s the vertigo and motion sickness some

users experience when interacting with a virtual environment. “When people get sick,” says Sho Schrock (BFA/Creative Producing ’19), “it’s because the apparent motion on the headset is different than what is happening in the physical environment. When you accelerate or tilt the horizon line and it’s not doing that in real life, your brain experiences a disassociation between what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling.” As Schrock knows full well in his role as producer of The Harvest, an immersive horror experience that Chapman students and alumni are creating, hardware and software limitations are just part of the problem. No one knows exactly how to tell stories in this new medium, where the director doesn’t totally control the narrative. “In a lot of ways, it’s bridging different mediums,” says Harvest producer Bryce Cyrier (BFA/Creative Producing, ’18). “In some ways, it’s theatrical in that you have to be very rehearsed and it engages people in the same way as watching a staged show. In other ways, it’s still a cinematic environment, because everything is controlled. The technology, the video, the sound, it’s all new. There is no one way that people do things, because people haven’t done it for years. Trying

WATCH OUT FOR THAT

When a team of creative, hard-working, adventurous Dodge College students join forces — watch out! The results can be horrifying. The Harvest set. Or at least that’s the hope of the student team designing The Harvest, an immersive virtual reality horror experience. Producers Sho Schrock, Bryce Cyrier, and Karoline Ribak (BFA/Creative Producing ’19) are working with director Sam Wickert (BFA/Digital Arts ’19) to debut their production through a live event at Chapman in late October. The Harvest will place viewers to balance all of that and get the story in the role of a kidnap victim watching a homicidal farmer battle an animated scarecrow. right is a challenge.” The students are planning to add tactile elements to the user’s experience. For example, Sam Warner (BFA/Digital Arts ’15), actually tying the participant to a chair, as the story directs, or splattering the viewer with CCO of Well Told Entertainment, agrees. water as “blood” splatters that person in the VR experience. “I was reading an article the other day talking But beyond that, The Harvest team has created a full-on real-time event on social about how the Solitaire game in Microsoft media, including live streaming on Facebook, Snapchat geofilters for students to brand Windows was created to teach people how to and share their photos, and a website release of stereo and mono versions on Wickert’s use a mouse. We’re in a place right now where SoKrispyMedia YouTube channel (340,000 subscribers). something like Pokemon Go is teaching people Having found that much existing VR content to be designed to serve commercial that augmented reality is fun, but it’s very simple purposes yet lacking in story, Schrock is interested in pioneering storytelling in in its implementation, because people are still the VR realm. “Perhaps the biggest challenge of The Harvest VR was coming learning how to use the technology. As things get up with the language to tell its story,” he says.

more integrated and people adopt more and more complex pieces of augmented reality hardware — hardware that even has the potential to make screens and computers irrelevant — people are going to have to know how to interface with those devices. What we’re working on is primarily user experience: how do we give people literacy in augmented reality?” “It’s a rare moment when you get to be part of building the language and experiment,” says Roy Finch, one of the professors on Dodge College’s Virtual Reality Task Force. “The language of cinema is 80 to 90 years old. Things haven’t changed much. Editing is faster, but most of it was figured out very early on. “Now there’s this new thing and nobody knows anything,”he says. “How cool is that? How rare is that? It’s a rare opportunity to be part of something that’s just beginning. I’m interested in experimenting with these new storytelling mediums and helping students figure out how they work.”

Industry Connections

Professor Madeline Warren got interested in VR after she met Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a leading manufacturer of microprocessors and graphics processors, at a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) party. She invited him to Chapman where he joined a VR panel including Bill Kroyer, director of Chapman’s digital arts program, and director Randal Kleiser, who has become increasingly involved in exploring the world of VT and AR. That day, Taylor saw films by Sho Schrock and Sam Wickert and was so enthusiastic about their work that he committed hardware, software and funding to support The Harvest. He also accepted an invitation to join Dean Bassett’s Dodge College Industry Advisory Board. Professor Warrant also talked about what Chapman is doing at a two-day industry VR showcase in mid-October that included the major studios, gaming companies, VR and AR hardware manufacturers such as HTC Vive and Oculus, and many more. The event 27 was sponsored by the newly formed VR Society.

NEW DOCUMENTARY TO EXPLORE THE EFFECTS OF

Gender

Bias

IN HOLLYWOOD

ometimes the art of a pitch depends on the art of the pivot.

A new documentary currently in production on the timely topic of gender bias in Hollywood was born when Jennie Peters (BA/Com/PR ’04) changed direction in the middle of a pitch. “It wasn’t long ago that I was sitting in a small restaurant on Melrose Ave., pitching my services to a couple of documentary filmmakers that I’d just met for the first time,” Peters says. “Mid-way through that meeting, I decided to stop pitching myself and start pitching an idea I had to make a documentary that would explore the gender bias happening in the entertainment industry.” Peters was pitching her marketing services to production company CreativeChaos vmg. When she asked what types of films the company was interested in making, the conversation turned into a brainstorming session for film ideas when the topic of gender inequality in Hollywood came up. “This is something that has been on my mind for a long time,” she says, “but it took meeting over breakfast to discuss press to realize we should all do this project together.”

From left Director Tom Donahue with writer Glen Mazzara, executive producer and financier Kerianne Flynn, and Jennie Peters.

Following that moment of serendipity, the group formalized the concept into a quick elevator pitch. From there it was packaged, a production team was formed and pitching to producers commenced, including to Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis, founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and the Institute’s CEO Madeline Di Nonno. Both agreed to sign on as executive producers, along with Peters. “We knew we wanted to use the Institute’s research and involve Geena in a bigger way,” says Peters. In addition to Davis, the filmmakers are in conversation with top women in Hollywood, including director Catherine

Hardwicke (Twilight), producer Nina Jacobson (The Hunger Games), actress Rose McGowan (Charmed), producer Wendy Calhoun (Empire), writer Callie Khouri (Nashville), actress Ashley Hammon (Raising Arizona), producer Dana Cook (My Strange Addiction), writer Maria Giese (When Saturday Comes), director Stacy Title (The Last Supper), producer Marcia Nasatir (Vertical Limit), Google’s Julie Anne Crommett and California State Senator Hannah Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) . The project is shooting for a 2018 premier at Sundance and has a theatrical release commitment from ArcLight Cinemas, another client with whom Peters worked. Of the 14 producers, 10 are female, a percentage on one project that is a rarity in Hollywood. Another rarity for the subject matter, and one that caused a fair bit of controversy, was the decision to go with a male director: Emmy-nominated Tom Donahue (Casting By, Thank You For Your Service). While the concept of a male directing a film about the struggle of females in Hollywood didn’t seem odd to Peters or the project’s male supporters (including producers Glen Mazzara (The Walking Dead), Jon Avnet (Black Swan), Rodrigo Garcia (Blue), and Ross Putman (The Young Kieslowski), not everyone shared her sentiment. “Why wouldn’t you want more males championing for change and supporting this cause?” she asks. “It was Tom and Ilan (Arboleda of CreativeChaos vmg) and their team who really put the production team together stacked with powerful women and got female financiers.” “I don’t discount the way people feel about it at all but that at the end of the day we’re just trying to make a documentary that will enact change in some way,” says Peters. And that is the major goal of this project. “Change is the number one thing. It is a huge motto for CreativeChaos, they don’t just make docs to make them; they choose concepts that will help drive policy change. It’s not enough just to say there is a problem and shine a light on it, you actually have to do something to fix it.” For more information on Creative Chaos vmg, visit http://www.creativechaosvmg.com/

ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE AT CHAPMAN Following her graduation from Chapman, Peters held a variety of marketing, publicity and PR positions for companies including Leader Enterprises, Rogers & Cowan, and Allison & Partners, where she spent five years as vice president before becoming a consultant. Later she consulted for Relativity Ventures and then struck out on her own, when she met with CreativeChaos. “Everything is totally transferrable,” says Peters of her studies in public relations. “The people skills necessary for PR are applicable and everything is easily transferred over to the physical production aspect. There is a learning curve regarding how production is handled form start to finish and what that all looks like, but my experience repping Sony camera and my agency/consultation experience - booking talent, liaising with publicists, pitching press – contributed to the creative process necessary to make this project a reality.”

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

MATT AND ROSS DUFFER HELM BREAK-OUT NETFLIX HIT LAUNCHES CHAPMAN ALUMNI TO NATIONAL MEDIA ACCLAIM BY JANELL SHEARER

From left, Ross and Matt Duffer'07 relax in the secluded writers’ room for Stranger Things. Photo by Victor Lee'10.

“

Matt and Ross set the scene. Photo by Curtis Baker/Netflix.

That theme also describes the careers of the Duffer Brothers, as they are known in the industry, who, at age 32, have seen their show create a firestorm of national media attention and Internet excitement, from the New York Times to Rotten Tomatoes. With just one feature film under their

ORDINARY PEOPLE FACING EXTRAORDINARY CHALLENGES AND DOING EXTRAORDINARY THINGS IS A CENTRAL THEME OF THE HIT NETFLIX SERIES, STRANGER THINGS, CREATED BY CHAPMAN ALUMNI MATT AND ROSS DUFFER ’07. FACING THE UNKNOWN, THE CHARACTERS WORK TOGETHER, CREATIVELY SOLVING PROBLEMS AS THEY ARISE, TO REACH THEIR GOALS.

For the Duffers, writing was the way in, although the path they took often included two steps forward and one step back. “The best way to break into the business,” says Ross, “is to create something people want. “Our dream scenario is to be handed a script that’s great.”

Later, they wrote the spec script Hidden, “out of desperation that in a month we’d have to go to work at Starbucks,” Ross says. The script sparked a bidding war and eventually landed at Warner Bros. in 2011 with the Duffers attached to direct. Starring True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgard, principle photography began in 2012, but the completed film did not see the light of day until 2015, and then only on video on demand. After Hidden, “we got offered tiny little horror movies we weren’t interested in,” says Ross. “We wanted to write something we wanted to do.” Yet the Hidden script opened the door to a new opportunity: an offer to write some episodes of M. Night Shyamalan’s series Wayward Pines, which they did staying at Shyamalan’s Pennsylvania compound for seven months. Shyamalan became a mentor and, although they’d never done TV, as Ross told Rolling Stone, “That became our training ground. By the time we came out of that show, we were like, ‘OK, we know how to put together a show.’”

”

The brothers encourage young writers to just write and not worry about making a script perfect. “Just write ‘til it works,” says Matt. “Don’t just go on Final Draft and start writing,” says Ross. “Plan it. The hidden outline is the movie; dialogue is just a formality. It’s easier to see the big picture when you’re zoomed back out to see the big beats.”

belts, the brothers have reached a level of success that perhaps they could only dream about in film school, overcoming the extraordinary hurdles for new young writer/directors in the highly competitive entertainment business. Over dinner on campus a little over a year ago — just a month after Netflix announced its order for the new series, originally titled Montauk — Matt and Ross talked about their dreams and the steps they took to achieve extraordinary things.

“But,” Matt adds, “with a great script, there are 20 great directors ready to do it.” They first caught industry attention for their thesis film Eater, which was screened as part of Dodge College’s First Cut in 2007. After the screening, Tony Sella, then Chief Creative Officer for 20th Century Fox, ran up to them and eventually set up a meeting at Fox Atomic, its genre production label. “You get beat up so much, that was a big moment of validation,” Matt remembers. Yet nothing ultimately happened.

And the result was Stranger Things. The Duffers are brutally honest about the challenges and the opportunities of both the writing process and the business today. “Ninety-nine percent of what we do is just terrible,” Ross says, “and we throw it out.” “Even Spielberg has bad ideas,” Matt adds. “But Spielberg has tons of ideas,” Ross says, and “maybe one out of 10 or out of 20 is a gem.” The brothers encourage young writers to just write and not worry about making

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

a script perfect. “Just write ‘til it works,” says Matt. “Don’t just go on Final Draft and start writing,” says Ross. “Plan it. The hidden outline is the movie; dialogue is just a formality. It’s easier to see the big picture when you’re zoomed back out to see the big beats.” Indeed, only one script was written when Stranger Things began production, yet the story concept was so clear that Netflix bought it within 24 hours of hearing their pitch. The brothers are particularly enthusiastic about what’s happening in television today. “TV now is more novelistic,” says Ross. “It allows you to ask, ‘how many hours do we need to tell this story?’” As showrunners, writers/directors, and executive producers of Stranger Things, the brothers are very cognizant of the trust and the opportunity Netflix gave them. Not only were they able to decide how many episodes the story should take, but individual episodes even vary in length. As Ross told the New York Times, Netflix has had so much success with the likes of producer/ director David Fincher (House of Cards) and writer/producer Jenji Kohan (Orange is the New Black), ”that they’re able to roll the dice on some younger voices.” Finding and pursuing their vision — and working in an environment where it wasn’t homogenized by committees and studio notes — was a key ingredient in the success of Stranger Things. That, and an emphasis on character.

“Marvel films are based on a corporate vision, not a director’s vision,” says Matt. “In TV, you can be more consistently surprised. With Marvel, there’s a predictable third act.” And so, predictably, the brothers advise aspiring filmmakers to stay away from “executives who are in it for the business and find those who are passionate about film,” says Matt. He also discourages writers from “looking at the market to figure out what you think the market wants. Ignore all the noise,” he says, “and write what you want. If you truly love something, 32

filmmakers riding the crest of the wave of excitement have discovered, it’s not impossible for passion and commitment to following your dreams to lead to a deal at Netflix, or a being offered a feature to direct or finding yourself interviewed by Rolling Stone. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.

“

FROM THE REVIEWS

While a Rotten Tomatoes score of nearly 5,000 ratings showing 96% of the audience liked the film and scored it 4.75 out of 5, perhaps the most

someone else out there will love it too.” Looking back at their days at Chapman, the brothers find that a well-run student crew is “95% like a real production.” “Film school was well worth it. We walked on set really prepared,” says Matt. “Film school is the easiest, fastest way to surround yourself with people who love film,” adds Ross. The most valuable thing they learned at film school? “Just going out and doing it,” says Ross. Matt, not surprisingly agrees. “The experience of making Eater was invaluable.” As these two young

able, and that having ‘answers’ doesn’t necessarily prevent the arrival of pain and confusion.” The Wall Street Journal: “This show is a delight to watch, comforting and compelling and pitched in just the right tone…. these eight episodes are as assured, inventive, satisfying, and compulsively watchable as anything Netflix has produced to date. The show’s dexterous mixing of horror and heart is blissfully sincere and uncynical, sporting no pointy irony that might obnoxiously jolt us out of its beautifully rendered world.”

”

predictably, the brothers advise aspiring filmmakers to stay away from “executives who are in it for the business and find those who are passionate about film. – MATT

important review of all, at least to the Duffers, came from just one fan — Stephen King. The brothers grew up devouring his novels and watching film adaptations. King tweeted: “Stranger Things is pure fun. A+. Don’t miss it. Winona Ryder shines.” Horror director Guillermo del Toro also chimed in on Twitter: “Stranger Things may be a lot of thngs (sic): King, Spielberg, 80’s, myself (Duffers pointed that to me) but what it is, above all, is good!!” Rolling Stone: “Stranger Things has become a buzzed-about breakout hit.” Newsweek: “On paper…Stranger Things was a risk. The fact that it, and the Duffers, have defied expectations, can perhaps be rooted back to just over a decade ago when Matt and Ross Duffer first began exhibiting the flashed of brilliance that have made them Netflix’s hottest new commodity.” Variety: “Stranger Things is the kind of genre entertainment that doesn’t forget the second word of that phrase, but it is primarily interested in watching believably flawed people wrestle with the idea that some things are unknow-

The New Yorker: “Stranger Things… has a rare respect for both adult grief and childhood suffering. It’s an original... this is astoundingly efficient storytelling, eight hours pass in a blink, with even minor characters getting sharp dialogue, dark humor or moments of pathos.” ON BEING CO-DIRECTORS

Another mark of distinction for the Duffer Brothers is that they won approval from the DGA to be listed as co-directors, a credit rarely granted.

The Duffers have recounted more than once the terrifying experience of being grilled in front of a panel of legendary directors as to how they truly share the job. As Ross tells the story, even the Duplass brothers (Mark and Jay) didn’t get DGA approval, having been asked what they would do if one got sick. The answer that they would go ahead with production was “the wrong answer,” Ross says. The Duffers’ answer demonstrated how completely they work as a team. If one of them got sick? “We’d shut down production.” As Matt added in an interview with the New York Times, “We’re pretty much dysfunctional apart.” ON THE DUFFERS Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix: Matt and Ross are young visionaries, with deep knowledge of the creative and business challenges are getting movies and TV shows made and I attribute much of that to their studies at Chapman. Stranger Things producer Shawn Levy in an interview with Steve Weintraub on Collider.com remarks on how the Duffers pitched their idea with “genuine humility and complete self-assurance… actually seeking partnership and collaboration….They’re filmmakers,” he says. “They will go on to direct many, many movies.”

Winona Ryder stars as Joyce Byers. Photo by Curtis Baker/Netflix. On the set of Stranger Things. Copyright Netflix.

SUMMER

TRAVEL >>>

Italy

COURSES

also toured the company’s lab to see just how much meticulous work goes into restoring a movie. “Being able to see how they handle these delicate, hundred-year-old films was an amazing opportunity,” says Kaylin George (BFA/Film Production ’19). “Just watching them take the time to slowly do each step of the restoration process gave me a new appreciation for what they do.” In addition, the students were treated to lectures by industry professionals, who talked about the future

of film, discussing the pros and cons of shooting a movie digitally versus on film, and new technological advancements that will be available for future generations of filmmakers. Of course, the class also watched many hours of movies, including The Band Wagon (on 35mm film), and Ugestu, a Mizoguchi film that was recently restored by the Film Foundation. “I really enjoyed excavating some of the lost cinematic classics of world film history during this class,” George says. “If you get the chance to go with Professor Carman to Italy, or on any other study abroad retreat through Dodge, you’ll have one of the most memorable experiences of your life. I can’t advocate for it enough.” Piazza Maggiore, Bologna.

Malawi

Coming face-to-face with challenging stories of NGOs

Students watch restored films under Italian skies itting under the night sky in a thousand-seat outdoor theater in the 15th century Piazza Maggiore in Bologna this summer, Dodge students watched Charlie Chaplin struggle to tighten bolts on an assembly line while a live orchestra accompanied Modern Times, a classic silent film. Each year, film studies professor Dr. Emily Carman takes a select group of students to visit Il Cinema Ritrovato, the annual outdoor film festival in Italy dedicated to the rediscovery of rare films, with a focus on cinema origins and the silent movie period. Cineteca di Bologna, the company that puts on the festival, is an internationally recognized for its expertise in film restoration. Dr. Carmen’s class

>>>

Students demonstrate drone production to a captive audience for the Smile Malawi documentary.

tudents traveling to Malawi this summer as part of Dodge College’s Destination: Africa documentary program experienced basic challenges — such as learning how to conduct an interview through a translator — and deeper, more significant challenges such as trying to understand why superstition drives some people to murder others to collect their body parts for “good luck.” Their experiences were unique in another way — they are the last group to travel to Africa through this donor funded program. Since 2009, the interdisciplinary program has sent students to countries all over the African continent, from Bostwana to Uganda,

thanks to a $1-million donation from an anonymous donor. The purpose of the program has been to share the work of NGOs operating in various countries across Africa. “I think all of us are pretty saddened to hear that the program is going away,” says Caroline Roffe (BFA/ News and Documentary ’17). “I’ve been hearing about it since my freshmen year from all of the people who have gone before. I hope there is a way to continue the program in some capacity, because it’s such a wonderful experience.” For example, Roffe “learned how to communicate with people across continents,” she says, “many of whom don’t have

the technology we have. I also learned how to conduct interviews through a translator, which is interesting, because we often only understood the gist of what was being said. It was a challenge, but we still managed to get what we need for the film.” In Malawi, a small country nestled in the heart of South Africa, the students worked with the NGOs to create documentaries about the communities those organizations serve. One tells the story of a hip-hop dance troupe from a refugee camp that went on to become champions of Malawi’s Got Talent. Another documents the lives of children living in an orphanage in the southern part of the country, called Smile Malawi. But most

horrific is the documentary exposing the plight faced by people with albinism, who are often sold off and murdered by people who believe their body parts will bring them good fortune. “There’s nothing that can prepare you for hearing a story like that,” says Leon Dominguez-Lukic (BFA/ News and Documentary ’17), who interviewed the parents of David Fletcher, a young man with albinism who was butchered and found dead in Mozambique. “When you read the news, you hear about death and violence and you assume it doesn’t affect you. It’s very different, though, hearing about it from someone’s parents. They haven’t even been able to get his body back, because they can’t afford to travel to Mozambique. They did a memorial service, but never buried their son. “Hearing those words coming from a mother and father made it really hard to continue with the interview, because these people are still in mourning and in pain. I thought reading about it would make it easier, but it wasn’t. When it’s not just a number or a name on a list, when it’s real people, it changes how you feel.” Students produce a short documentary about an orphanage called Smile Malawi.

>>>

Korea

Producing across the Pacific on the Korea Exchange

ith a 16-hour time difference — not to mention language and cultural differences — Michael Stanziale (BFA/ Creative Producing ’17) faced some real challenges during pre-production on a film created for the Dodge

“It was a challenge to move ahead with preproduction in Orange since decision-makers such as the director and cinematographer were in Korea,” Stanziale says, “but in the end we were able to handle the distance and time difference.”

Kunlin Wang (MFA/FP '17) directs SeoulArts actress Haisol Choi while they eat a traditional Korean meal. Phill Vernon (BFA/Film Production'17) lines up the next shot with the help of SeoulArts DP Jun-Woo.

College summer exchange with students from the Seoul Institute of the Arts in Korea. Stanziale had to get approvals for script edits, casting, locations, and more from across the Pacific Ocean.

This summer, eight Dodge College students joined the student team in Korea, and then the Korean students traveled to the U.S. Over 23 days together, the students shot two short films, negotiated language

barriers, and shared their native culture with their visiting teammates. As part of the exchange, shooting the two short films was combined with opportunities to visiting local sites, beginning with the trip to Korea. Elle Shim (BFA/ Creative Producing ’17), a native of Korea, was excited to introduce Dodge College students to the beauty of Korea that she had grown up with such as royal palaces, mountain views of the Seoul skyline, and impressive antique markets. “Korea has beautiful culture and arts,” she says. “I wish we had more time for tours so I could introduce everyone to more places.” Returning from Korea, Shim was excited to share a bit of America, the place she has called home for four years now, with the students from SeoulArts director Park Ki-Bum oversees a martial arts stunt.

Korea. The group visited Santa Monica beach, attended a Dodger game, and toured Warner Bros. Studios, Panavision, Fotokem, and Sunset Boulevard, among other adventures. Shim acted as an interpreter in social situations between the students from Seoul Institute and Dodge College. After the trip to Korea, Stanziale noticed that “When the Koreans came to visit the U.S., we had all gotten close to each other so Elle didn’t need to interpret as much.” The two films, Sujin and Memory Motel, are set to premiere near December at Dodge College.

alking along the shores of Mumbai with his CrossCultural Filmmaking class this summer, Professor Roy Finch pulled out his camera and shot a short video at double speed, giving the viewer brief glimpses of women in saris and burkas, men in kurtas and kufi prayer caps, a street vendor selling balloon animals, and hundreds of men and women in secular garb sitting on the grey, granite break walls overlooking the ocean. Only 25 seconds long, the video manages to capture the frantic energy and religious diversity of the city — the tension between old and new. With a city like this as the backdrop, it seems fitting that the students chose to focus their films on spirituality in the modern era. The Chapman students paired up with students from Whistling Woods International, a film

>>>

The students from Chapman wrote about a woman struggling to maintain focus while meditating. The students from Whistling Woods wrote about a young woman who feels pressured by her family to participate in a spiritual coming-of-age dance ceremony. “It was interesting to see how the same work is done in India,” says Oliver Kompst (BFA/Film Production, ’19). “The Indian students are very technical in their education and it was cool to work with them and focus on those aspects of filmmaking, like quantifying light. “It was also interesting to see how different things are culturally. There’s still a caste system that’s very prevalent in India. We had these workers, called Dadas, on our production. They’re like day laborers and some of the students were of a higher caste. If the students

India

Exploring a world of film in Mumbai’s Film City school located in Mumbai’s Film City. “Film City is like a backlot and nature preserve or a national park,” says Professor Finch. “A majority of India’s movies are made there and you have to have special permission to enter. Inside, there are all of these standing sets that they redress for different movies. Everything is far enough apart that you can shoot and not worry about other productions. Even the students from Whistling Woods were excited to tour the city, remembering different sets from movies they saw as children.” Students from both schools wrote stories then traded scripts and flew to each other’s countries to shoot them.

saw the Dadas screwing around, they would go over and chastise them. Seeing the students chastise people who were twice their age was very strange.” The students also took in some of the sights in both countries. In California, they visited the prop house of Warner Bros., Studios, stood on the set of Dr. Phil at Paramount Studios, and walked the boardwalk of Southern California’s famous Venice Beach.

Alheli Lopez (BFAFilm Production'17) and Ariana Victor (BFAFilm Production'17) at Haji Ali Dargah Mosque in Mumbai.

In Mumbai, they visited Haji Ali Dargah, a well-known mosque and tomb known for legends of doomed lovers. And they visited Mumbai’s Minerva Cinema, where they saw Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, the longest running film in Indian history — still running in theaters 20 years after its release. But in many cases, it was the everyday lives of Mumbai’s residents that interested Chapman students the most. “There’s a lot about the city that feels ancient,” says Matt Marlin (MFA/ Film Production, ’16). He was fascinated by the teeming, open air laundry, where people washed clothes in stone channels filled with soapy water and by “the system of delivering packed lunches, where housewives will send them to a distribution center and they’ll deliver lunches everywhere in the city. The movie, The Lunch Box, was based on this system of delivery,” he explains. “It was curious to me that these crazy, ancient systems that have been in place for hundreds of years and they still work miraculously.”

37 Dhobi Ghat, the largest open air laundromat.

>>>

Ireland

An Irish adventure — through the lens of filmmaking

his summer professor Sally Rubin took twelve students across the pond to Ireland and taught them how to capture the spirit of a foreign culture through documentary. From the historical hub of Dublin to the picturesque countryside of Clifton, students were given the opportunity to explore unfamiliar environments while improving as filmmakers and growing as people. Some students had never been out of the United States and Rubin delighted in watching them navigate a foreign climate for the first time through the lens of filmmaking.

Dodge students captured the spirit of Ireland through the creation of four documentary films.

Hailey Millar (BFA/News and Documentary ’17) produced her first documentary on the trip and reveled in experiencing the entire process of documentary filmmaking from its conception to its end

ZOMBIE DRAMA LAUNCHES CAREER FOR ALUM BY JEFF HEIMBUCH

product. Although Millar did not know any of the students on the trip prior to taking the course, she bonded with the group quickly and relishes the relationships she formed with both her peers and her professor overseas. “The combination of education and exploration in the course resulted in a rare and memorable experience,” she says. The four films the students made include a portrait of a fourth generation sheepdog trainer and farmer, a reflexive film about the cultural differences between Americans and the Irish, a portrait of a female outdoor adventure trip leader, and a film about a volunteer off-shore rescue organization. “These travel courses truly exemplify Dodge College’s devotion to creating storytellers,” Rubin says.

fter creating 143 episodes of his series We’re Alive and averaging a million downloads a month, Kc Wayland (BFA/ Film and TV Prod. ’08) has built both a successful career and following in audio drama. In fact, Wayland sees “audio theater” as the primary work of his company, Wayland Productions. Unlike the old radio serials of the ’30s and ’40s shows like The Shadow and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar – today’s programs have evolved to include more special effects and sound design than ever before. Thanks to shows like Welcome to Night Vale, The Black Tapes, and Wayland’s We’re Alive, audio drama is making a huge comeback. Wayland, who most recently worked as Dodge College’s Digital Applications Specialist, started We’re Alive in May 2009. It chronicles the story of Army Reserve Soldier Michael Cross, whose life is turned upside down when people begin to change into something else and walk the Earth. Wayland initially developed the idea for television, well before The Walking Dead

was on the air. However, since the show he envisioned would need a large budget, Wayland began to brainstorm other ways to approach the production. At the time, he was listening to Jim Dale narrate the Harry Potter audio books, and creating the sound design on his senior thesis film. He thought that an audio drama might be the perfect fit for his idea. He enjoyed the idea of audio forcing the listener to use their imagination, and fill in the gaps for themselves. Despite the show being framed around a zombie outbreak, Wayland isn’t a huge fan of the genre. He changed the things he always hated about zombies to compensate, and to make the world his own. Some are smarter. Some have their own agendas. At the end of the day, this isn’t your typical zombie apocalypse. At the end of its run in 2014, the show came in at just under 50 hours’ worth of audio. It even spawned a spinoff, Lockdown, which premiered earlier this year on iTunes. Each episode goes through an intense process, from start to finish. Wayland, who learned how to write quickly and efficiently during his time at Dodge College, would take about a week to write an entire chapter’s arc. Then, he and his team would record two chapters at a time (which

consists of 6 episodes total) during a long, 12-hour day. “A good audio drama needs good editors and good writers. Film allows you to actually see what is happening, but with an audio drama, an editor needs to be able to paint a picture in someone’s

Tate’s TateMen Entertaiment. The 10-episode audio drama was written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Josh Olson (A History of Violence), and chronicles the lives of the players in Chicago’s “policy” numbers games of the 1940s and illuminates the self-sustaining

mind using only sounds. It’s not as easy as it looks,” Wayland said. Over the years, the show has gained quite the following, with fans anxiously awaiting each episode, and some even began producing their own podcast, dedicated to discussing the story of the show. The recognition paid off for Wayland and his team as Wayland Productions will be handling the production of a series tentatively titled Policy Kings, from Laurence Fishburne’s Cinema Gypsy Entertainment and Larenz

African-American community of Bronzeville. Wayland will receive both directing and a produced by credit. Despite his success, Wayland isn’t finished with the We’re Alive universe yet. The show is nearing 50 million downloads, and Wayland has some ideas on where to take it next. He’s working on a new series that will take place in that world to debut next year, and in the meantime, he’s writing a book on audio drama and will be offering a class on the subject in 39 Interterm 2017.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS 40

AMANDA RENEE KNOX (MFA/FP ’17)

RAJAM Nashville Film Festival – NOMINATION Best Student Film, Melbourne Indie Film Festival – WINNER Best Short Drama NOMINATION Best Director, Soho International Film Festival – NOMINATION Best Showcase Film FINALIST Audience Award, HollyShorts Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION Rajam

TOM TELLER (BFA/FP ’16)

HUM

CHAPMAN STUDENTS TAKE HOME SILVER AND BRONZE AT 2016 STUDENT ACADEMY AWARDS

Winners of the 43rd Student Academy Awards were officially recognized during the ceremony held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on September 22, where Dodge College students Brian Robau and Brenna Malloy earned silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the narrative category. Brian Robau (MFA/Film Production’17) took home the silver for his short film It’s Just a Gun and Brenna Malloy (MFA/ Film Production’16) won the bronze for her short film Rocket. Both films are eligible to compete for 2016 Oscars® in the Live Action Short Film category. “This is a landmark moment for our film school and reflects tremendous credit on the talent of our students and the commitment of our faculty and staff to mentoring them as they develop their creative visions,” says Dean Bob Bassett. “These two films in particular effectively tap topics very much in the zeitgeist — how women define themselves and how the prevalence of guns is shaping our society.” Robau and Malloy’s wins come one year after Daniel Drummond (BFA/DA’14) became the first Chapman student to win a Student Academy Award, taking the top prize in the Alternative Film category for his inventive film Chiaroscuro.

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TOM TELLER (BFA/FP ’16)

ICARUS

Icarus

GARDENERS OF THE FOREST

From left: Brian Robau (left), Brenna Malloy, presenter Joel Edgerton, and fellow medal recipient Jimmy Keyrouz of Columbia University in New York. (Photo by Chris Pizzello. Invision. Associated Press).

Gardeners of the Forest

GABE SCHIMMEL (BFA/FP ’17), RIANI ASTUTI (BFA/FP ’18), MONICA PETRUZZELLI (BFA/TBJ ’16), & AMANDA LE (BFA/ESP ’15)

Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Student Academy Awards – FINALIST Best Documentary, College Television Awards – WINNER 2nd Place Best Documentary, DocuWest International Film Festival – WINNER Best Short Documentary, Napa Valley Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, International Wildlife Film Festival – WINNER Best Editing, American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Ekofilm – OFFICIAL SELECTION, San Pedro International Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Carmel International Film Festival – SHOWCASE

ALZHEIMER’S: A LOVE STORY

NANCY LIU (MFA/FP’16)

Geneva Film Festival – WINNER Best Student Short, American Pavilion Emerging Filmmakers Showcase – WINNER Best Emerging Filmmaker Documentary Short and Best LGTBQ Short, Palm Springs Int’l ShortFest – WINNER Best Short Documentary Runner-Up Audience, Outfest – WINNER Best Short Documentary Audience, Frameline – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Burbank Int’l Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION

ANGELTOWN Angeltown

ROCKET

IT’S JUST A GUN Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Student Academy Awards – WINNER Narrative, Carmel International Film Festival — SHOWCASE

Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut – OFFICIAL SELECTION, LA Shorts Fest – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Denver Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, ASC Student Heritage Award – FINALIST, Carmel International Film Festival – SHOWCASE BRENNA MALLOY (MFA/FP’16)

BRIAN ROBAU (MFA/FP’17)

It’s Just a Gun

Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Heartland Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Show Me Shorts Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, BendFilm Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Carmel International Film Festival – SHOWCASE CEYLAN CARHOGLU (BFA/FP’16) & NICOLE JORDAN-WEBBER (BFA/FP’16)

Congratulations, Brian and Brenna!

Alzheimer’s: A Love Story

Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, North Hollywood CineFest – NOMINATION Best Student Film, NFFTY – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Global Chinese Universities Student Film & Television Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, deadCENTER Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Athens ANIMFEST – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Woods Hole Film Festival – WINNER 2nd Runner-Up Audience Best Short Animation, Breckenridge Film Festival – WINNER Best Animation, Animation Block Party – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Wild Rose Independent Film Festival – WINNER Best Animation, Short of the Week – OFFICIAL SELECTION

Rocket

Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Student Academy Awards – WINNER Narrative, LA Shorts Fest – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Catalina Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, London Motor Film Festival – WINNER Best Drama Film Best Student Film, International Student Film & Video Festival of BFA – OFFICIAL SELECTION 41

DODGE COLLEGE Rahul Bansal (BFA/CP ’15) was hired as an assistant at Anonymous Content. Lana Barandse (BFA/PRA ’15) is working in project management at Paycom in Beverly Hills. Nate Bell (MA/FS ’13) recently recorded a commentary track with David Del Valle for a new HD transfer of Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) produced by Kino Lorber. Bell wrote his masters thesis on the director of the film, Curtis Harrington. Evette Betancourt (BA/Screenwriting ’09) produced Between Bullets with Gemini Pictures, which won the award for “Best Web Series” at the 2016 San Diego Film Awards in April. Matthew Benz (BFA/CP ’15) is an executive assistant at 20th Century Fox’s Global Live and Location Based Entertainment department. 1

Gregory Bordelon (BFA/TWP ’16) was hired as a production assistant for Netflix’s animated show, F is For Family. The show is led by the creative minds of comedians Bill Burr and Michael Price. Collin Brazie (MFA/Film Prod. ’09) shot and produced the feature film, Retake, written and directed by Nick Corporon (MFA/Film Prod. ’09). The film premiered at Frameline Film Festival and Outfest Los Angeles. 2 Brenda Brkusic (BFA/Film Prod. ’04) won her 5th and 6th Emmy Awards at the Television Academy’s Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards in July as executive producer of the programs “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors” and “China’s

ALUMNI NOTES

Challenges: Can China Be Harmonious.” She was also nominated for two additional Emmys as producer of “Buried History with Mark Walberg” and executive producer of “The 49th Annual California Student Media Festival.”

Kelly Galuska (BA/Screenwriting ’06) has been added to the writing team for the new Netflix animated show Big Mouth which was co-created by Nick Kroll. Galuska was most recently a staff writer on the Netflix series Bojack Horseman which won Best Animated Series at the Critic’s Choice Awards.

June Tan Cheng (BFA/CP ’10) is a digital content analyst for brands such as Canon Singapore, 7-Eleven Singapore, Millennium Hotels and Unicharm Japan.

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Marie Cheng (BFA/DA ’15) is now production coordinator at DreamWorks Animation TV on the Netflix series, Puss in Boots. Cheng’s thesis Volcano! was an official selection at the RiverRun International Film Festival. DJ Dodd (MFA/Film Prod. ’12) wrapped his most recent feature film Warning Shot starring David Spade, Bruce Dern, James Earl Jones, Dwight Henry, and Tammy Blanchard, as executive producer. His next films set for production are The Finger starring Harvey Keitel and Amy Smart and The Harbor, which he’s producing alongside Chapman alumnus Andrew Kappel (MFA/FP ’13). 4 Burke Doeren (BFA/TBJ ’10) worked as a director of photography on Battlebots for ABC with fellow alumni, Tyson Call (BFA/TBJ ’12). Doeren and Call focused on promo shots, hero shots, and slow motion cinematography. 5

Dan Duran (BFA/TBJ ’13) co-produced and edited the HBO documentary Abortion: Stories Women Tell. The film will be released in theaters August 12.

Rachel Lim (BFA/CP ’14) worked at Pantheon Media for a year as a producer and is now working with Vertigo Pictures as an assistant producer.

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Adam Herbets (BFA/TBJ ’14), two-time Golden Mike Award winner and three-time Emmy Award nominee, secured a reporting job in Las Vegas, Nevada, after reporting at KBAK-KBFX Eyewitness News in Bakersfield for two years. 7 Kyle Higgins (BA/Film Prod. ’08) is a #1 New York Times best-selling writer whose past work includes Nightwing, Batman Eternal, Gates of Gotham, Batman Beyond 2.0, and C.O.W.L. His next creator-owned book, Hadrian’s Wall, will debut in September from Image Comics.

Houston Hooker (BFA/CP ’15) is currently finishing up season six of Hawaii 5-0 on the Paramount lot as a post-production assistant. Kanan Hooker (BFA/CP ’15) is assisting stunt coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker on an experimental project directed by Francis Coppola. 8

Morgan Jul (BFA/TBJ ’16) is working for NBCUniversal in the Page Program (Los Angeles). 9 Carly Lambert (BFA/Film Prod. ’15) is currently an assistant editor for Cry Havoc Productions where she is working on a show for Discovery Channel titled Supercar Super Build.

10 Missy Laney (BFA/Film Prod. ’11) joined BitTorrent Inc. as the new director of creative initiatives. Laney is the former manager of Sundance Institute’s Artist Services Program. 11 Justin Leo (MFA/Screenwriting ’06) has been named senior research coordinator at National Research Group in Hollywood. 12 Kate Lilly (BFA/Film Prod. ’12) wrapped production on an 8-episode baseball series called Brockmire for IFC. Lilly worked as one of the producers on the series, starring Hank Azaria and Amanda Peet. Brockmire airs January 2017.

Caitlin Manocchio (BA/FS ’16) joined the programming staff at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Zunaid Mansoor (MFA/Screenwriting ’09) is entering his sixth year as the head of department and instructor in screenwriting at AFDA, The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance. 13 Julie Martorano (BFA/TBJ ’16)

recently started as a news producer at KVVU FOX5 Local in Las Vegas. 14 Cassie Massa (BA/FS ’16) was promoted to Mel Nowak’s (HR) assistant at Verve Talent and Literary Agency after working as a part-time intern and mailroom floater.

Katie Mathewson (BA/Screenwriting ’11) is a staff writer on Pitch, a drama series premiering on FOX in September. Ashley Mayse (BFA/CP ’12) received an Emmy nomination for her work as a VFX producer on 11.22.63 in the category Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role.

ALUMNI NOTES DODGE COLLEGE 44

Mitchell McIntire (BFA/Film Prod. ’08) was recently made head of production at DLP Media Group in Boston. In his previous position at FOX, McIntire served as a segment producer and technical supervisor for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 broadcast which won a 2016 Emmy for Outstanding Technical Team Studio. 15 Mark Alan Miller (BFA/Film

Prod. ’05) and his wife Stefanie welcomed their first child, future Panther Zoe Elizabeth Miller (6lbs, 15oz) on July 30th, 2016. On August 8th, Mark and Stefanie celebrated 16 years together sleeping in shifts on their couch. Miller is the Vice President of Clive Barker’s company Seraphim and produced 2014’s Nightbreed The Director’s Cut, for which he took home a Saturn Award.

focusing on promoting diversity and multiculturalism in the advertising industry. Michele Optiz’s (BFA/FTV ’03) Between the Miles screened at the California Women’s Film Festival and the Big Island Film Festival. Sarah Paciocco (BFA/CP ’15) was recently promoted to Associate Video Project Manager at PopSugar. Cory Parker (BFA/FTV ’05) works as originals distribution specialist at Netflix and is currently overseeing Chelsea.

16 Maci Peterson’s (BA/PRA ’09) company, On Second Thought, was featured on Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” list. OST is a messaging app that lets you take back text messages before they get to the other person.

Kevin Slee (BFA/Film Prod. ’12) helped start a branded content division at Thruline Entertainment, adding fellow alumni Zach Wechter (BFA/ Film Prod. ’12) and Jack Seidman (BFA/Film Prod. ’14) to the roster. Slee recently accepted a job at Untitled Entertainment.

Jackson Reynolds (BFA/DA ’11) was promoted to Coordinator, Television Production, at Lionsgate.

Morgan Steele (BA/Screenwriting ’06) is the script coordinator for the new animated series Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh on Netflix. Steele is writing a secondseason episode that will air in 2017.

17 Danny Roew (BFA/FTV ’02)

had a feature film, Dead 7, premiere in April on the SyFy channel. Dead 7 is a post-apocalyptic/western/zombie film that stars 90’s boybands and pop idols.

Trevor Stevens (BFA/Film Prod. ’15) will direct his first feature length film Rock Steady Row which is being produced by Supergravity Pictures.

Samantha Militante (BFA/TBJ, BA/PRA ’14) is working as a current series assistant at FX Networks. Jennifer Mueller (BFA/Film Prod. ’06) received her second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour or Less) as the set decorator on Silicon Valley. Russ Nickel (MFA/Screenwriting ’14) wrote and produced Bear with Us, a feature film directed by fellow alumnus William Stribling (MFA/Screenwriting ’14). The film won the audience award for best narrative feature at Gasparilla International Film Festival.

’09) completed post-production on his second feature film, Lux in Tenebris, starring Oscar nominee Eric Roberts. Stacy Thornton (MFA/Screenwriting ’05) has received the honor of “An Official Selection for the NOVA Film Fest 2016” for her latest screenplay, “Erkermer.” Thornton’s screenplay was nominated in three screenwriting award categories: Best Comedy, Best Drama, and Best Action Adventure. Nelson Tracey (BFA/Film Prod. ’15) premiered his independent short, Out of Focus, at the Sierra Canyon Film Festival. The film was created while studying at Chapman with a crew completely comprised of Chapman students. Tracey’s senior thesis Don’t Tell My Mom played at the Sedona Film Festival in February. ’08) and her writing partner won the Grand Prize for Script Pipeline’s TV writing contest for their script, 40 Elephants.

Jeremy Svenson (BFA/Film Prod. ’06) penned his first script as a cowriter on the TNT series, Rizzolli and Isles. Svenson has been a writer’s assistant on the show since January of 2015.

Ben Ng (BA/PRA ’16) was named one of the Most Promising Multicultural Students Class of 2016 by the American Advertising Federation, which sent him to New York City in the spring for a four-day program

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.

19 Bruno Tatalovic (MFA/Producing

20 Kay Tuxford (MFA/Screenwriting

weekend had a higher attendance than Angry Birds, Captain America and the Jungle Book. The film was a USA/Costa Rica co-production.

18 Laura Avila Tascan (MFA/ 18

FTP ’1) premiered the film she produced, Entonces Nosotros, in all Costa Rican theaters. It screened for seven weeks and during its opening

Pete Villani (BFA/FTV ’02) had a film in competition at the LA Film Festival called Like Cotton Twines. Villani also recently wrapped the feature length film I’m Not Here starring Sebastian Stan, Mandy Moore and Max Greenfield. Nicholas Wiesnet (BFA/Film Prod. ’11) recently signed with Artistry Agency (US) and In.Trin.Sic. Agency (UK) as a director of photography and recently finished principal photography on a feature film called Love, & Other Indoor Sports.

Students Pitch for Film Funds With nearly $45,000 up for grabs, the five student filmmakers presenting for the Women of Chapman Student Filmmaker Award knew that the amount awarded to their thesis film was dependent on the quality and merit of their pitch. The week prior to the Pitch Lunch, Andrew Primavera (BFA/Film Production ’17) was told by the Thesis Committee that his script needed changes to address producing issues. So Primavera and his producer, Natalie Welch (BFA/Creative Producing ’17), worked tirelessly through the week to make the needed edits to their script to ensure that they would present the best quality work to the selection committee. After the individual pitches and a friendly lunch with the selection committee, Lane Lyle (BFA/Film Production ’17) was awarded the top prize of $16,000. After lunch, she immediately called her parents, who were anxiously awaiting news of the outcome. In a thank you note, Kendall Goldberg (BFA Film Production ’17), who received $12,000 in support of her film focusing on a struggling female voice over artist, wrote, “I am thrilled to say that with your help, not only will we be able to bring awareness to the gender discrimination issue that Hollywood currently faces, we will also be able to be a part of the change.” Robby Bracker (BFA/Film Production ’17) received $10,000 for his film on border patrol agents set in his Arizona hometown. And Wyatt Lake (BFA/Film Production ’17) and Primavera each received $3,500. The filmmakers were officially presented their awards at the Women of Chapman Annual Luncheon on Wednesday, June 15 at the Balboa Bay Resort, where nearly 150 members of the Women of Chapman welcomed the students.

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Coming Soon

Chapman Studios West “The addition of Chapman Studios West will allow us to build sets inside the scene shop,” says Associate Dean and Chief Technology Officer Dan Leonard, “which will provide a great leap forward in supporting production. Previously we had to build on stage and students couldn’t begin construction until the previous show had wrapped. Now this can happen concurrently which will allow students to build more intricate sets and utilize the stage more efficiently. The result will be a smoother, more relaxed building and shooting schedule for everyone.”

The latest addition to Dodge College is Chapman Studios West, located across the railroad tracks from Marion Knott Studios. Opening in late October, this 38,000-square-foot building will support Dodge College’s burgeoning documentary filmmaking program in the Dhont Documentary Center, and include the following additional spaces:

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900-sq.ft. screening room with seating for 50 7,000-sq. ft. sound stage 2,000-sq.ft. cinematography stage 1 Sound Mixing/Color Correction Finishing Suite 7 Faculty Offices

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6,000-sq.ft. scene shop New equipment includes a Computer Numerical Control or CNC Machine that cuts material through computer input 7,000-sq.ft. props/set warehouse. Includes 18,000 individual props inherited from Laguna Playhouse available for check-out for student productions 2 Editing Suites Conference Room Student lounge

WOMEN IN FOCUS SAVE THE DATE 18TH ANNUAL WOMEN IN FOCUS CONFERENCE FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2017 1:30 P.M FOLINO THEATER, MARION KNOTT STUDIOS CHAPMAN.EDU/WOMENINFOCUS