Cecil Awards 2012 Showcase Book

1CECIL AWARDS 2012

32 CECIL AWARDS 2012

To truly know the origins of the Cecil Awards, it is inherent to know the origins of our film

program. The Cecil Awards started as a small awards ceremony in Chapman University’s land-

mark, Memorial Hall. At the time, Chapman’s film program was housed on main campus in

DeMille Hall, named after our patron inspirator, Cecil B. DeMille. The program, along with

the ceremony, has since grown dramatically. With the patronage of the Pankey family, the

Sodaro family, and Lawrence and Kristina Dodge, the film program has blossomed into one of

the United States’ top 5 film schools. A crown jewel to the program is Marion Knotts Studios,

where today’s festivities will take place. Complete with private editing suites, a motion capture

studio, four professional sound stages, and an arsenal of top line production equipment and

industry-standard software, this state-of-the-art building is home to hundreds of student short

films, animations, and other creative material every year. Its masterpiece; however, is Folino

Theater, where the Cecil Awards moved in 2006 after Marion Knotts Studios was built. What

was once a small awards show and dinner reception has now become the closing ceremony of

a year of film making at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Tonight, the awards will be

presented live in front of a full audience, screened in overflow rooms as well as broadcast to live

television (Local Channel 6 Garden Grove). The night will be accompanied by entertainment,

faculty speakers, cocktails, appetizers, and all the glitz and glamor that comes with celebrating

our undergraduate and graduate students’ efforts. These are the visual storytellers that truly...

Imagine The Romance of Invention.

ABOUT THE SHOW


To the Class of 2012,

Just a few weeks ago, we hosted our annual Women in Focus conference, featuring some of the most prominent filmmakers in the business. Among the many critical pieces of advice offered that day were two observations I hope you will all carry with you as you leave Dodge College.

One: Just do it. Get in the game. If you want to be a director, direct. If you want to be a writer, write. The barriers to production have largely disappeared. Make your own films, don’t wait for someone to hire you. As Nina Jacobson, producer of The Hunger Games, said, “If it’s good, someone will notice.”

Second, be sure the stories you want to tell have, as Stacey Snider, CEO of DreamWorks, said, “araison d’etre, an urgency to be told.” If you’re a writer, focus on these wise words from screenwriter Leslie Dixon, “There’s only one rule of screenwriting; does the reader want to turn to the next page?”

If you truly want to pursue the career for which you have been studying, these are among the most important lessons you can carry forward as you leave Dodge College. If you believe in yourself, if you are still passionate about what brought you here, find a way to go out and move forward.

We have done everything we can to help prepare you and now the game is in your hands. Whether you want to be a news anchor, a creative producer, an advertising executive or a director, we have offered you the foundation of knowledge and skill on which you can build your career. Nobody imagines it’s going to be easy, but if you’ve embraced the lessons of collaboration, sharpened your skills and broadened your knowledge while you’ve been here, you are ready.

And remember, you’re not alone. You have the support of the ever-widening circle of Dodge alumni, as well as the ongoing support of your professors and every member of the Dodge College family.

We look forward to hearing about where your career takes you and wish you godspeed. Please keep in touch.

Best,

Bob BassettTwyla Reed Martin Dean’s Chair in Film and Media Arts

Best Production Design (Undergraduate)Best Production Design (Graduate)Best Sound Design (Undergraduate)

Best Sound Design (Graduate)Best Editor (Undergraduate)

Best Editor (Graduate)Best Cinematography (Undergraduate)

Best Cinematography (Graduate)

PR Campaign of the YearAdvertising Campaign of the Year

Best CommercialEntertainment Marketing Plan of the YearExcellence in Producing (Undergraduate)

Excellence in Producing (Graduate)

Accomplishments in Screen ActingOutstanding Film Scholar

Best TV ScriptBest Film Screenplay

Best Achievement in AnimationBest Achievement in Visual Effects

Mir Tukhi AwardRon Thronson Alumni Award

Dean’s Award of MeritNSAC Recognition/Bateman Recognition

Bob Einstein Award (Undergraduate)Bob Einstein Award (Graduate)

Best Director (Undergraduate)Best Director (Graduate)

Best DocumentaryBest Narrative Television Show

Best Non-Narrative Television ShowBest Picture (Undergraduate)

Best Picture (Graduate)

TONIGHT’S AWARDSFROM THE DEAN


Roscoe Brandon grew up in urban Seattle and moved to California to pursue his career as an actor. After making it into the BFA program for Theater Performance at Chapman Univer-sity, he was cast in many productions at the Waltmar Theater, including Trojan Women, Bus Stop, Godspell, Under Milkwood, The Tragedy of Macbeth, and most recently, Urinetown the Musical. He received an Irene Ryan nomination for his performance as “Bo” in Bus Stop. Brandon made his debut performance at the OC Centric New Play Festival in Myth of the Cubicle. With a passion for film, Ro-scoe can be seen in 16-Bit Sunrise (Dir. Vinnie Pompo), Boom Box Kids (Dir. Taylor Gledhill), The Speakeasy (Dir. Paul Michael Cooper), and a commercial for mynextgig.com among other projects.

Roscoe Brandon

HIGHLIGHTS 2011TONIGHT’S HOST

• 6 Chapman short documentaries screen at the Topanga Film Festival in a special “Community Voices” showcase: Among Giants, A Salton Soul, Hold My Hand, Mountain Man, The Modern Man, and Worlds Apart.

• Chapman films sweep the Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s student film awards: Incest! The Musical (Grant Reed) wins 1st place ($1000) and Election Day (Zach Wechter) wins Honorable Mention ($250).

• Adnan Ahmad’s film Heal wins Best Fantasy/SciFi film at Comic Con.

• Zach Petrillo’s film Between the Shadows wins the Jury Prize at the Provincetown Int’l Film Festival.

August 2011

• Alexander Gaeta’s film Shoot the Moon wins the Director’s Choice award ($500) at the Angelus Awards.

• Brian Faye’s film Jeremy wins the Rising Star Best Student Film award at the Rhode Island Int’l Film Festival (Academy-accredited) and Best Drama Short film at the Reno Film Festival.

• Daniel D’Alimonte’s film The Haymaker wins Audience Awards for Best Student Film at the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and the Temecula Valley Film & Music Festival and Best Cinematography at the Action on Film Int’l Film Festival.

• Michael Moore’s film Bait wins the Audience Award for Best Short Animation at the Woods Hole Film Festival and screens at the prestigious Port Townsend Film Festival and Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

September 2011

• Dawn Taubin and Johnny Jensen join the faculty.

• Director/Producer Betty Thomas (28 Days, I Spy) joins the Dodge College for the Fall Semester as the O.L. Halsell Filmmaker-in-Residence.

• Prime Time TV Club hosts Dan Williams, creator of the web series Asylum, to talk about selling web content to cable networks.

• PRSSA hosts Brian Keenan, representative from Ketchum P.R. via skype to talk about the Mindfire PR challenge program.

• Actress Stefanie Powers (Hart to Hart, The Girl from UNCLE) visits Prof. Andrew Erish’s narrative film class to discuss her acting career.

• Chris Marrs Piliero (BFA/Film Prod. ’01) is nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for his music video “Howlin’ For You” for the group the Black Keys. (Last year he won the MTV Breakthrough music video award for the Black Keys video “Tighten Up”. This year he directed two Britney Spears music videos, “Criminal” and “I Wanna Go.”

June 2011

• 21 students travelled to Ghana through the Destination Africa class with Prof. Jeff Swimmer to make short documentaries on local NGO’s (Non-governmental organizations).

• James Sweeney’s film, The First, screens at the (Academy-accredited) Palm Springs Int’l Short Film Festival.

• Justin Lutsky’s (BFA/Film Prod. ’05) film The Action Hero’s Guide to Saving Lives wins Best Indie Short ($18,000 prize value) at the CineGear Expo.

July 2011

• 16 students travel to Korea to produce short films with students at Dongseo University in the city of Busan and at the Seoul Institute of the Arts in the capitol city of Seoul. The Korean students then travel to Los Angeles to make short films with their American counterparts.

• 8 students travel to Taiwan to produce short films with students at the Taiwan National University of the Arts.

HIGHLIGHTS 2011


HIGHLIGHTS 2011

• Andrew Knauer’s (MFA/Screenwriting ’06) screenplay entitled The Last Stand goes into production starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

• Lucien Knotter (MFA/Screenwriting ‘11) wins 1st place in the Scriptapalooza TV Writing competition in the Sitcom Category for his 30 Rock script entitled Social Network Revolution.

• Grant Reed’s film Incest! The Musical screens Opening Night and wins Audience Award at the Williamstown Film Festival.

• The Chapman Singapore student film Dying Faith (by Jer Liang Goh) wins the People’s Choice Award ($5000) in ScreenSingapore’s Starhub online contest.

• Zach Wechter’s film Election Day screens at the prestigious Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, WA.

• Amanda Starrantino (BFA/TBJ ‘14) and Kimberly Yuen (BFA/TBJ ‘12) are winners of 2011 Orange County Press Club Journalism Scholarships.

October 2011

• Dodge College hosts “First Cut” Industry Showcase at the DGA Theatre in Hollywood featuring Shoot the Moon (by Alexander Gaeta), Homecoming (by Gursimran Sandhu), Incest! The Musical (by Grant Reed), and Manifesto (by Michael Aronson).

• Professor Nam Lee’s Asian Cinema class attends the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. Chapman Singapore student Eysham Ali’s film Thieves screens in the festival’s short film program.

• Dodge College hosts 6th annual Warlocks & Witches Ball along with screenings of Paranormal Activity 1 & 2.

• Dodge College screens the 13th annual Show of Shows, featuring a sampling of the year’s best animated short films from around the world.

• Club Doc screens Deaf Jam with director Judy Lieff.

• Prime Time TV Club hosts actress Mira Furlan from the hit series Lost.

• PRSSA hosts alum Kathleen Remington to talk about her job as a literary agent for ICM.

• Chapman Ad Club hosts Nick Bishop, CEO of DDB.

• Academy Film Archive’s Director Michael Pogorzelski presents a special screening of F.W. Murnau’s classic film Sunrise.

• Dreamworks Animation executive producer Tim Johnson visits Bill Kroyer’s class to discuss the creative process they call “cloud-seeding for brainstorms”.

• Hollywood editor Mark Goldblatt visits Dodge College to speak about special effects filmmaking and the changes occuring in the age of digital filmmaking.

• Award-winning Hollywood Make-up Artist Leonard Engleman gives a seminar on make-up techniques.

• Oscar-nominated Disney Producer Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) presents a lecture entitled “Why We Create.”

• Patrick Dawn wins the Future Filmmaker Award for his film Allegiance at the Bend Film Festival.

• Positive to Positive (Matt Diamond, James M. Parker, Vivi Thomasi Paiva, Amber Hurley, Trisho Vo), the short documentary from the “Destination Africa” class wins Best Social Awareness Film at the I’ve Seen Films Int’l Festival Film Festival in Milan, Italy presented by actor Rutger Hauer.

• Among Giants (Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Waldman) wins Best Cinematography at the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival and Best Environmental Documentary at the Silicon Valley Film Festival.

• Alexander Gaeta’s film Shoot the Moon screens at the (Academy-accredited) Austin Film Festival.

November 2011

• Dodge College hosts the Busan West Film Festival featuring a master-class with director Bong Joon-ho, the recipient of the Busan West Icon Award, and a screening of his film The Host for the first time in 3D.

• Dodge College hosts the Sikh Arts & Film Festival featuring the movie Breakaway and appearances by actors Vinay Virmani, Camilla Belle, Noureen DeWulf, and Guru Singh.

• Actor Peter Weller is a special guest in Michael Phillips class.

• Prime Time TV Club hosts writer/producer Mike Tollin (Smallville, One Tree Hill) and director Beth Rooney (Desperate Housewives, Private Practice).

• PRSSA hosts P.R. director Alli Swanson to talk about how her philanthropic company 31 Bits works with displaced women in Uganda to create jewelry from recycled paper.

• Chapman Society of Cinematographers (CSOC) hosts Steven Fracol from the Society of Camera Operators to give career advice about this specialized field in cinematography.

• Editor Lori Jane Coleman, A.C.E. (The Practice, The Shield) visits Prof. Scott Arundale’s editing class to talk about her new book entitled Make the Cut- A Guide to Becoming a Successful Assistant Editor in Film and TV.

• The Chapman Singapore documentary Transit (Regina Tan, Emily Manheim, Haley Quartarone, Juvia Chua, Dan Duran) is nominated for the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award in the IDA Awards.


HIGHLIGHTS 2011-2012• Among Giants (Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Waldman) screens at the prestigious Doc NYC Film Festival in New York.

• James Sweeney’s film The First screens at the prestigious Cork Film Festival in Ireland.

• Alex Gaeta’s film Shoot the Moon screens at the (Academy-accredited) Encounters Int’l Film Festival in Bristol, England and the prestigious Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, N.C.

• 3 Chapman films receive awards from the Fort Lauderdale Int’l Film Festival: A Salton Soul (Greg Balkin, Mike Agnew, Tim Kressin) won 1st place and Among Giants (Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Waldman) won 3rd place in the documentary competition. Made in China (Kellen Moore) won 3rd place in the short narrative competition.

December 2011

• Dodge College hosts a reception and screening of the four documentaries produced in Ghana by students as part of the “Destination: Africa” international documentary program.

• Club Doc hosts a screening of We Still Live Here – Âs Nutayuneân followed by a Q&A with director Anne Makepeace.

• Dodge College hosts special pre-release holiday screenings of Tin Tin and War Horse.

• Gursimran Sandhu’s film Homecoming wins Best Short Film at the Bahamas International Film Festival.

• Warner Brothers purchases the feature-length script Hidden by alumni Matt and Ross Duffer (BFA/Film Prod. ’07) and retains the twin brothers to direct the film.

January 2012

• 20 students travel to the Sundance Film Festival as part of the interterm Film Festival class. They all attend the screening of alumnus Michael Mohan’s feature film Save the Date, which was featured in the Sundance Dramatic Competition. The students are treated to an exclusive Chapman luncheon with veteran Sundance filmmakers Mark Duplass (who acted in, wrote, and directed three of the films at Sundance this year) and producer Mary Jane Skalski (who produced the opening night film Hello, I Must Be Going).

• 16 students travel to New Zealand with Prof. Jeff Swimmer as part of the “Expedition Documentary” class to make films about mountain climbing and learn about adventure filmmaking while working with world- renowned cinematographer Bob Poole.

• 16 students participate in the Cross-Cultural Documentary class in which American students traveled to Asia to join forces with Singaporean students, creating short documentaries about Singaporean culture. Then in the Trans-Cultural Documentary class, American students team up with Singaporean students here in the States to produce documentaries about San Franciscan culture.

• 13 broadcast journalism students travel to New York and Washington with Prof. Pete Weitzner to produce a TV show titled “Networking in New York” about the people they met, the places they visited and the pastrami sandwich they couldn’t finish at Carnegie Deli.

• Students participate in a brand new directing class focused on stunts and special effects with legendary stunt performers Buddy Joe Hooker (Meet Joe Black) and Gayle Sherman (The 40-Year-Old-Virgin), director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2) and cinematographer Steven Bernstein (Underworld).

• Among Giants (Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Waldman) screens at the (Academy-accredited) Santa Barbara Int’l Film Festival in California.

• Alexander Gaeta’s film Shoot the Moon screens at the (Academy-accredited) Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France. The film was 1 of 4 U.S. films selected out of 10,000 submissions for the international competition lineup.

• Alumnus Justin Folk (BFA/FTP. ’01) wins the $1 million grand prize in the “Crash the Superbowl” contest for his Doritos commercial “Sling Baby” which airs during the 46th annual Super Bowl.

February 2012

• Producer JoAnne Sellar (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood) joins the Dodge College for the Spring Semester as our Knott Filmmaker-in-Residence.

• Actresses Stacey Travis (Hardware) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Anniversary Party) visit the Industry Insiders classes for Q&A sessions with JoAnne Sellar, the producer of their films.

• Prof. Martha Coolidge hosts a Meisner acting technique seminar with D.W. Brown, director of the Showtime film On the Inside and author of “You Can Act”.

• Prime Time TV Club hosts Discovery Channel Exec Producer Eddie Barbini (Dirty Jobs) to talk about producing reality television.

• Clay Kaytis, Senior Animation Supervisor for Disney Feature Animation, visits Bill Kroyer’s class to discuss the creative and technical development of the characters in the feature animated film Tangled.

• Dodge College screens this year’s Oscar-nominated live action and animated short films followed by a Q&A session with the directors Andrew Bohler (Time Freak) and Hallvar Witze (Tuba Atlantic).

• Gursimran Sandhu’s film Homecoming wins Audience Award for Best Student Short Film at the Sedona Int’l Film Festival and Best Short Film at the Durango Independent Film Festival.

• Grant Reed’s film Incest! The Musical wins Best Student Film at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, NV.

• Alexander Gaeta’s film Shoot the Moon screens at the (Academy-accredited) Bermuda Int’l Film Festival


HIGHLIGHTS 2011-2012• 2 Chapman films screen at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, MT.: A Salton Soul (Greg Balkin, Mike Agnew, Tim Kressin) and Among Giants (Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Waldman).

• 2 Dodge Alumni are nominated for Independent Spirit Awards: Nicholas Ozeki (MFA/Film Prod. ’08) is nominated for the “Someone to Watch Award” for his independent feature film Mamitas. The feature film Drive (co-produced by alum James Smith ’01) was nominated for Best Feature Film.

March 2012

• Dodge College hosts special pre-release screening of Jeff Who Lives At Home.

• Club Doc hosts a screening of My America followed by a Q&A with director Peter Hegedus.

• Disney Viz-Dev artist Paul Felix speaks in Prof. Jim Schlenker’s Design Theory class.

• Emmy award-winning Lighting Director Mike Thornburgh (General Hospital, Good Morning America) conducts a Studio Lighting workshop.

• Andreas Deja, animation supervisor at Walt Disney Feature Animation, visits Bill Kroyer’s class to discuss the process of creating character performance.

• Steven Bernstein, ASC, previews his feature film Decoding Annie Parker followed by a Q&A.

• Tiffany Feeney, Outreach Supervisor for Dreamworks Animation, gives a guest lecture on the production workflow in the CG animation field.

• PRSSA hosts Chapman PR Director Mary Platt.

• The Prime Time TV Club hosts Jim Vescera, Senior VP of Marketing for NBC.

• Zach Wechter’s film Election Day wins Best Film at the Sierra Canyon Film Festival in Los Angeles, Calif. and screens at the prestigious Vail Film Festival.

• 2 Chapman films screen at the (Academy-accredited) Cleveland Int’l Film Festival: Shoot the Moon (Alexander Gaeta) and The First (James Sweeney).

• 3 Chapman films screen at the (Academy-accredited) Atlanta Film Festival: Among Giants, Homecoming, and Incest! The Musical.

April 2012

• Dodge College hosts 13th annual “Women In Focus” Conference featuring a panel of film producers and directors including Debra Martin Chase, Dede Gardner, Nina Jacobson, Jessica Yuh Nelson, and Stacey Snider. The panel moderated by Prof. Dawn Taubin discussed the intersection of art and commerce.

• Dodge College hosts an encore of the “First Cut” Industry Showcase at the DGA Theatre in New York City.

• Rob Legato, Oscar-winning VFX supervisor (Titanic, Hugo), visits Bill Kroyer’s class to talke about creating stereoscopic 3D effects for Hugo.

• PRSSA hosts speaker Ashley Sioson, P.R. coordinator for Taco Bell.

• The Chapman Society of Cinematographers hosts a lighting workshop featuring David A. Geddes, ASC, CSC, (Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil, Fringe, Lie To Me).

• Jenny Hou wins a College Television Award for producing the student film Sirk! (directed by David Applebee). The film won in the Alternative Programming category.

• Grant Reed’s film Incest! The Musical wins Best Comedy Short at the Arizona Int’l Film Festival and Best SoCal Short at the Riverside Int’l Film Festival. It also screened at the Sarasota Film Festival and the Sonoma Int’l Film Festival.

• Alexander Gaeta’s film Shoot the Moon wins Best Student Film at the Greenville Int’l Film Festival and Best U.S. Short Film and Best of the Fest at the Kansas City Film Fest.

• Among Giants (Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Waldman) wins Best Short Documentary at the Kansas City Film Fest.

• Nick Erickson’s film Palm County wins Best Student Film at ActionFest.

• Tyler Zelinksy’s film European Son wins Best Student Film at the Tiburon Int’l Film Festival.

• 2 Chapman films screen at the prestigious Palm Beach Int’l Film Festival in Florida: The Big Bris (Oren Peleg) and Election Day (Zach Wechter).

• 3 Chapman films screen at the prestigious Charleston Int’l film Festival in South Carolina: Homecoming (Gursimran Sandhu), Incest! The Musical (Grant Reed), and Shoot the Moon (Alexander Gaeta).

• 2 Chapman films screen at the (Academy-accredited) Athens Int’l Film + Video festival in Ohio Burmese Refugee (Michael Tacca) and Homecoming (Gursimran Sandhu).

• 6 Chapman films screen and win awards at Worldfest-Houston in Texas: Shoot the Moon (Alexander Gaeta) won the Grand Prize Award for Best Student Film; The Big Bris (Oren Peleg) and Homecoming (Gursimran Sandhu) won Platinum Awards; Election Day (Zach Wechter) and Domestic (Chris Bryant) won Gold Awards; and Incest! The Musical (Grant Reed) won a Silver Award.

• Jocelyn R.C.’s film Pocket Elephant screens at the (Academy-accredited) Nashville Film Festival in Tenn.

• Alumnus Nicholas Ozeki’s (’08) independent feature film Mamitas (based on his short Chapman thesis film Mamitas) has limited theatrical release, opening up at the AMC Orange Theater at the nearby Outlets at Orange.


HIGHLIGHTS 2012• Chapman’s PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition team, Allegra Batista, Becky Ogden, Jessica Phelps, Justin Staton and Kendall Vallenstein, receives national recognition for its campaign fighting childhood obesity.

• Chapman’s NSAC team places third in Region 15 for its campaign for Nissan.

May 2012

• Dodge College screens the “First Cut” showcase of thesis films in the Cannes Film Market’s Short Film Corner.

• The Prime Time TV Club hosts director Steve Zuckerman (Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond).

• Dodge College hosts a reception and screening of five documentaries on local Orange County non-prof its produced by students as part of the “Community Voices” workshop.

• Among Giants (Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Waldman) screens at the prestigious Silver Docs Film Festival and the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in Colorado.

• Alexander Gaeta’s film Shoot the Moon screens at the Hamburg Int’l Short Film Festival in Germany and the Krakow Film Festival (Academy-accredited) in Poland.

• Grant Reed’s film Incest! The Musical screens at the (Academy-accredited) Palm Springs Int’l Short Film Festival.

BOB EINSTEIN

Bob Einstein Born in Los Angeles, California, Bob Einstein is the son of actress Thelma Leeds and radio comedian Harry “Parkyakarkus” Einstein. Bob’s older brother Clifford is an advertising executive, and his younger brother Albert is better known as Albert Brooks. One of Einstein’s earliest jobs was writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy, for which he and the other writers (including Rob Reiner and Steve Martin) earned an Emmy. After CBS cancelled the show, Einstein continued to make guest appearances on television, and was seen regularly on The Steve Allen Show, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and Late Night with David Letterman, among many others. By the early 1970s, Einstein’s career as a writer and producer was in full swing with credits including The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour, and Van Dyke and Company, for which he won his second Emmy. Just for fun, he would occasionally appear on these shows as a performer. His success in television continued into the

1980s with Bizarre and Super Dave, for which he won a CableACE award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. Einstein’s film appearances have been as eclectic as the rest of his career. In 1972, he had a small role in Get to Know Your Rabbit and made his film debut as a writer/director with Another Nice Mess. In 1981, he was seen in Albert Brooks’ film Modern Romance. He also acted in Harry Shearer’s film Teddy Bears’ Picnic and was seen in the documentary Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Most recently, he appeared as FBI agent Robert Caldwell in Ocean’s 13. Einstein has a busy career as a character actor as well, with a list of TV credits including Curb Your Enthusi-asm, Arrested Development, and Crank Yankers. The Einstein Award continues to recognize a talented student who also helps others realize their projects – a person who embodies the kind of collaboration we encourage, a person who unselfishly commits his or her time to helping others realize their dreams.


ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR

Chris Marrs Piliero When Chris Marrs Piliero was born he was a baby. He later grew up to be a teenager. Soon thereafter, he blossomed into the strapping young man he is today. Born in the Bronx, NY, Chris was raised in Orange County, California. Originally intending on becoming an actor, fate and the video/media department at Canyon High School saw to it that he take his right-ful place behind the camera. When it came time to apply to college, Chris applied solely to Chapman University, intent on attending the film school. Not to say that the path was as straight and narrow as initially expected. The largest fork in the road was a music career. Five years of playing clubs and touring the country did not move his directing career forward in the way he had planned. However, it laid the groundwork for the first real stop in his directing journey. While his time as lead singer for the band Up Syndrome had come to an end, the experience and people he met along the way were about to pay their dividends. A contact he had made through the band reached out to Chris and offered the chance to be one of the camera operators for a huge arena concert featuring The Used and My Chemical Romance coming through town. His success on that shoot led to a Behind-The-Scenes gig on the set of a music video for The Used where Chris quickly established a lasting working relationship with Warner Brothers Records. Chris went on to spend the next 5 years directing, shooting and editing docu-style videos for musicians includ-ing Green Day, Linkin Park, The White Stripes, Madonna, Blake Shelton, My Chemical Romance, AlanisMorissette, Goo Goo Dolls, and many more. In 2010, Chris made a move that would lay the groundwork for his work as a featured music video director. He floated the idea of a simple one-shot video of a Dinosaur puppet dancing and lip-syncing to The Black Keys track Tighten Up as an introduction to fans of the new single to raise awareness online of the new album. The gamble worked. The video went viral and Chris was asked to direct the official video for the track. When all was said and done, his collaboration with the Black Keys lead to two MTV Video Music Awards nominations two years in a row (Tighten Up and Howlin’ For You), with Tighten Up winning Breakout Video of the Year. His work garnered the attention of established artists such as alternative pop singer, Ke$ha. Chris directed Ke$ha’s video for Blow, casting James Van Der Beek as her onscreen foe. It wasn’t long before pop icon Britney Spears came knocking on Chris’s door to direct 2 consecutive music videos for her. I Wanna Go and Criminal were released to massive acclaim by critics and fans alike with I Wanna Go claiming FUSE’s spot for #1 Music Video of 2011. With an impressive repertoire of music videos under his belt, Chris is turning back to his love as a filmmaker. He is currently focused on getting his first feature film off the ground. While there is no doubt that the passion and tenacity that Chris puts into his work is at the forefront of his success as a director, he is always quick to credit the education and support he has received from Chapman University as a major asset in navigating the ins and outs of his career and looks forward to many years of collaboration with the film school’s students and staff.

Director Betty ThomasFilmmaker-in-Residence Fall 2011

Director Betty Thomas (Dr. Doolittle, John Tucker Must Die, Brady Bunch Movie and I Spy) will be mentoring students and screening her work as the O. L. Halsell Filmmaker-in-Residence for the fall semester. “We are thrilled to have one of the most commercially success-ful women directors in the world here to work with our students,” says Dean Bob Bassett. “Her incredible filmography, which in-cludes acting, directing and producing, gives her depth of experi-ence that our students will find fascinating.” Like many, Thomas entry into the business was indirect. Although she studied painting in college, a dare led her to attend improve workshops that eventually led her to Chicago’s Second City improv troup, where she performed with other then unknown actors such as Bill Murray and John Candy. Moving to LA to open a Second City theater there, she did a five-line audition for Hill Street Blues, five lines, she says, “That changed my life.” Her breakthrough role as police officer Lucy Bates earned her six Emmy nominations and one win for best supporting actress in a drama. When the show ended in 1987, Thomas returned to The Second City in Chicago where she directed the next show, starring Bonnie Hunt and Mike Meyers, eventually leading to her first TV directing job on Hooperman, starring the late John Ritter. After a few years of directing TV and winning an Emmy for a Dream On episode, she directed her first movie, Only You, an indie film starring Andrew McCarthy, Kelly Preston and Helen Hunt. Thomas’ impressive filmography also includes directing Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, The Late Shift, Private Parts, 28 Days and many TV shows and pilots as well as producing Can’t Hardly Wait, both Charlie’s Angels, and Surviving Christmas.

FILMMAKERS-IN-RESIDENCE


Producer JoAnne Sellar Filmmaker-in-Residence Fall 2011

Producer JoAnne Sellar is currently working on her sixth col-laboration with writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson on his latest film starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. Previous pairings with PT Anderson include: Boogie Nights (nominated for 3 Oscars), Magnolia (nominated for 3 Oscars), Punch-Drunk Love, and There Will Be Blood, which was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Film and won Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit). In addition, Sellar produced Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming’s critically acclaimed The Anniversary Party. Her repertoire of feature film producing credits began with the sci-fi thriller Hardware. She went on to produce such films as Richard Stanley’s Dust Devil, George Sluizer’s Dark Blood, and Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions. Prior to turning her talent over to the film, Sellar had a successful career producing music videos for the likes of U2, Elvis Costello and Iggy Pop. Her diverse experience also extends into television, where she co-produced “Red, Hot, & Blue,” a worldwide tribute to Cole Porter benefiting AIDS research. Her career began in the early 80’s programming a repertory cinema in London called The Scala, which won acclaim for its diverse, original and alternative film selections.

FILMMAKERS-IN-RESIDENCE

StaffRichard Boehm, Post Production ManagerLiz French, Financial Administrative AssistantAlana Fritsch, Academic Affairs CoordinatorSorrel Geddes, Events and Outreach CoordinatorDavid Goedhart, TV Studio EngineerJulie Gorzik, Events SpecialistBrian Hamilton, Assistant to the Media Arts Division ChairDerek Horne, Film Festival CoordinatorLauren Kacura, Admissions CoordinatorEunyoung Kim, Equipment Operations AssistantSora Kim, Department AssistantTravis Knox, Director of Feature Film DevelopmentJustin Lutsky, Digital Post Production Engineer

Meagan O’Shea, Communications CoordinatorJared Parmenter, Interactive Media SpecialistNick Peterson, Equipment (Gold Room) ManagerSean Riddle, Undergraduate Production ManagerBen Russell, Post Production Systems SpecialistJim Smith, Theater ManagerRhiannon Smith, Senior Development AssistantJohn Snyder, Video Systems EngineerPete Vander Pluym, Stage ManagerSunny Voong, Information Systems SpecialistSuzanne Wachman, Assistant to the Film Division ChairKc Wayland, Post Production AssistantTod Withey, Digital Systems Engineer

Dezso Magyar ProfessorJeff McCracken, Associate ProfessorCory O’Connor, Assistant ProfessorLarry Paull, ProfessorDan Pavelin, Assistant ProfessorAdam Rote, Assistant ProfessorVeston Rowe, Associate ProfessorSally Rubin, Assistant ProfessorPaul Seydor, ProfessorJoe Slowensky, ProfessorJeff Swimmer, Associate Professor

Dawn Taubin, ProfessorJürg Walther, InstructorDavid Ward, ProfessorPete Weitzner, Associate ProfessorPaul Wolansky, Associate ProfessorScott Arundale, Assistant ProfessorJohn Badham, ProfessorGil Bettman, ProfessorRoss Brown, Assistant ProfessorEmily Carman, Assistant ProfessorHarry Cheney, Professor

Martha Coolidge, ProfessorBill Dill, ProfessorRick Ferncase, Associate ProfessorJames Gardner, Associate ProfessorPaul Gulino, Associate ProfessorJohnny Jensen, ProfessorDave Kost, Assistant ProfessorJudy Kriger, Assistant ProfessorBill Kroyer, ProfessorAndy Lane, Assistant ProfessorNam Lee, Assistant Professor

AdministrationBob Bassett, DeanBarbara Doyle, Film Division ChairTina Graves, Director, Administrative OperationsMichele Kennedy, Production ManagerMichael Kowalski, Associate Dean, Academic AffairsDan Leonard, Associate Dean and Chief Technology OfficerKareem Marashi, Technical Services ManagerSheri Nazaroff, Director of DevelopmentAlexandra Rose, Chair of Special Projects and Industry InitiativesJanell Shearer, Media Arts Division Chair

Staff - Singapore Ros Binte Abdul Latif, Technical Support

OfficerEric Tan, Administrative Manager

FACULTY AND STAFF

Faculty


SPECIAL THANKS TO...

STEAMPUNK PROPS & ARTIFACTS provided by:

SCOTT BRAKE ANTIQUES (714)273-8333

All items seen and more are for sale at:

Country Roads Antiques204 West Chapman, Orange CA 92866

SHOW CREDITS

Executive Producer:

Kendall Taubin

Show:

Co-Show Producer and Entertaiment Coordinator: Daniel Brennan Co-Show Producer and Show Writer: Melanie Kocher Technical Director: Bryce Sherman Broadcast Director: Jackie HudspethPost-Production Director: Zach Mason Production Design: Julie Russo Stage Management: Hanna Williams Theatrical Director: Brenda Haug

Publicity/Promotions:

Director of Publicity & Promotions: Tina KazanSocial Media & Web Management: Breanna Fleckenstein, Amy Logan Graphic Designers: Jessica Goldman, Cale Skagan, and Rachel Volbert Sponsor Coordinators: Katie Barnum, Ann Schulte, and Lexi Trauber Media Relations Coordinators: Brenna Cleary, Sean Reed Promotions & Advertising Coordinator: Livier Enriquez

Event:

Event Director: Tess Taylor Production Coordinators: Sommer Figone, Amita Malani, and Shannon Wagner Site Coordinator: Taylor UnderwoodStaffing/Photography Coordinator: Chloe Warner-MoyerParty Coordinators: Kendhal Gottes, Sabrina Stanely – Katz, and Maria Rydder VIP Coordinators: Mandy Love, Alexis Della Ripa, and Kaitlyn Bracken Ticketing Coordinators: Shaun Hayward, Justine Volkman, and Marissa Chiechi Food/Beverage Coordinators: Lauren Meyer, James Leslie


Congratulations, Emily Unruh! We are so proud of you, and your 17 years of hard work. May you

always have faith to inspire you, hope to sustain you, and love to bless you. Remember to do what you love & success will follow.

Nous vous aimons (we love you), Dad, Mom, Hannah & James

“If you can dream it, you can do it” - Walt Disney

You have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoes.You can steer yourself in any

direction you choose.You’re on your own.

And you know what you know.You are the guy who’ll decide

where to go.~ Dr. Seuss

CongratulationsAndrew Miller

Love always, Mom & Dad

!

PHOEBE ELIZABETH

HENDRIX !

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU

AND YOUR

ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!

HOW ABOUT THOSE TIGERS!!

!FROM ALL OF YOUR FAMILY

Garrett & Chase,We remember a day almost 13 years ago when our twin 10-year-olds picked up a

movie camera for the first time. From that moment a passion was born. We are so

proud of you both for following your dream.

With all our love,Mom & Dad

“Thanks Chapman Universityfor 4 Wonderful Years!”

- the family of Majo Mansilla ’12

SENIOR TRIBUTES


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Documents

Cecil Awards 2012 Showcase Book