Summer 2015 Quarterly Newsletter

More than 1,500 parents, students, alumni, faculty, staff and guests attended the 68th Annual School of Theater, Film and Television Commencement ceremony on Friday, June 12, as 180 students (95 undergraduates, 76 graduates and 9 Ph.D. candidates) walked across the stage at Royce Hall. Dean TERI SCHWARTZ presided over the ceremony.

Lionsgate Television Group Chairman KEVIN BEGGS was the ceremony's commencement speaker. Lionsgate Television is a leading supplier of premium scripted programming to broadcast, cable and digital platforms with more than 30 television series spanning more than 20 different networks including the multiple Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men, the award-winning series Nurse Jackie, the smash comedy Weeds, the critically-acclaimed worldwide hit Orange Is the New Black, the broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show and the recent breakout series The Royals.

Daytime Emmy Award-winning director and producer DONNA DEITCH (M.F.A. '76), whose landmark 1985 lesbian love story Desert Hearts was a hit at the Berlin, Sundance, Telluride and Toronto film festivals, received the Distinguished Alumni in Film, Television and Digital Media Award. Tony Award nominee SARAHBETH GROSSMAN (B.A. '83), a producer of the 2015 Tony Award Best Musical nominee An American in Paris, was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni in Theater Award.

For more than four decades, GARY GARDNER inspired, taught, made us laugh and touched the lives of countless students. The School of Theater, Film and Television is honored to be the recipient of $1 million in Gary's name to support the everyday needs of theater productions — elements that include costume, scenic and lighting design materials and elements required by individual shows; unique state-of-the-art equipment and technology for stage lighting, sound, props, choreography and specialized movement; support for unique student needs to enhance their skills required by an individual show.

This transformative gift was made by an anonymous Department of Theater alumna as a challenge to raise another $1 million in Gary's name. The School is pleased to launch this initiative designed to provide enhanced financial support for the myriad of physical production elements required to mount and deliver a world-class, year-long student theatrical repertory and musical theater season at UCLA TFT.

Give for Gary! Please contact Fred Bush, Executive Director of Development, for more information: fbush@tft.ucla.edu or (310) 206-5999.

Dean TERI SCHWARTZ was honored with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Film Producing at the 2015 Cayman International Film Festival in June along with PAUL SCHRADER (M.A. '70), who received the inaugural award for Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting.

At a worldwide press conference presided over by Dean TERI SCHWARTZ and benefactor Hani Farsi at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation (MSFF) and UCLA TFT announced three new four-year, full-ride graduate scholarships for the M.F.A. program in Directing/Production that are designed to "give voice to the unique perspective of Arab women." The Hani Farsi Graduate Scholarship recipients have been selected by FTVDM faculty and will attend UCLA TFT in Fall 2015. 

UCLA TFT has partnered with UCLA Film & Television Archive to present Alumni Night at the Archive. Upcoming Alumni Night screenings include:

Saturday, Aug. 8, 7:30 p.m. "Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York 1968-1986" — Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It and Joe's Bed Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads
Friday, Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m. The Archive and the UCLA TFT Department of Film, Television and Digital Media co-present "An Evening with Garrett Bradley" —screening the UCLA TFT alumna's films Below Dreams and Cover Me
Friday, Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m. "Dorothy Arzner: A Retrospective" — The former UCLA TFT professor's films Honor Among Lovers and Merrily We Go to Hell screen as part of this ongoing retrospective.

To attend any of the above screenings, mention “TFT Alumni” at the Billy Wilder Theater box office. 

New students will get fully acquainted with UCLA TFT during the School's 2015 Fall Orientation, which will take place on Monday, Sept. 21.

During Parents' Weekend at UCLA, taking place Oct. 30-Nov. 1, parents will have the opportunity to lunch with Dean TERI SCHWARTZ, attend Parent & Family Workshops, listen to faculty presentations, explore campus attractions and more.

On Wednesday, July 15, Turner Classic Movies screened several films restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive on the occasion of the Archive's 50th Anniversary. Archive Director JAN-CHRISTOPHER HORAK co-hosted the program with TCM's Ben Mankiewicz, and featured titles included Her Sister's Secret (1946), directed by Edgar G. Ulmer; the iconic gothic drama The Night of the Hunter (1955); and Wanda, a 1970 indie drama directed by and starring Barbara Loden.

For the seventh year in a row, The David C. Copley Center for Costume Design presented The David C. Copley Center Award for Most Innovative Costume during San Diego Comic Con's 41st Annual International Masquerade competition. Dorothy Thicket won the award for her "Victorian Leafeon" costume.  Each year, Comic Con enthusiasts participate in Masquerade, which is an on-stage, talent-style competition with a master of ceremonies, a panel of guest judges and awards in 19 categories. MADELEINE HOLLY-ROSING (M.F.A. '09) was also at Comic Con, promoting her award-winning Boston Metaphysical Society web comic series and ancillary products.

The 13th annual Design Showcase West took place at UCLA TFT's Freud Playhouse in early June. Students graduating from the nation's top university design programs showcased innovative costume, scenic, sound, lighting and production designs for producers, directors, professional designers and the general public at the only national entertainment design showcase on the West Coast. Emmy Award-nominated writer-producer Bill Prady (The Big Bang Theory) was the event's guest speaker.  

As part of Design Showcase West, The David C. Copley Center for Costume Design at UCLA TFT has established a unique partnership with Swarovski, the world's leading producer of precision-cut crystal, to confer its Swarovski Shooting Star Award upon a UCLA TFT M.F.A. costume design student who has shown exemplary strides in his/her work. The Swarovski Shooting Star Award for Excellence in Costume Design, which includes a cash prize and a crystal award, was presented this year to second-year M.F.A. candidate ADAM ALONSO.

For six days in early June, the 24th annual UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Film Festival, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Kanbar Entertainment and SAGindie, unveiled a week of screenings, panels and awards presentations. The festival took place in its entirety at UCLA TFT.

Acme Filmworks' founder and UCLA TFT alumnus RON DIAMOND (B.A. '80, M.F.A. '82) received the Crystal Anvil Award during the Festival of Animation. Academy Award-winning screenwriter Graham Moore (The Imitation Game) received the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award at Screenwriters Showcase. Three-time Academy Award-nominated producer Michael DeLuca (Captain Phillips) was honored with the Vision Award during Producers Marketplace. Cinematographer Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS (Jane Got a Gun), received the Champion Spirit Award at Directors Spotlight.

During Screenwriters Showcase, 13 student winners presented five-minute staged excerpts of their works. In the feature category, the winning graduate students included: WYATT CAIN, JESSICA DUBE, BO YEON KIM (M.F.A. '15), JANE MILLER, SHOSHANA SACHIDHANANDAM and DANIEL SANCHEZ (M.F.A. '15). In the TV Comedy category, they included: KYNAN DIAS (M.F.A. '15), NANCEE FARRAR and STEPHEN PELTIER (M.F.A. '15). EMILY BENSINGER, STEVEN CANALS (M.F.A. '15) and KILEY DONOVAN (M.F.A. '15) were winners in the TV Drama category. DANIELA MAYOCK was the first-place undergraduate winner.

At Producers Marketplace, graduate students BEN HAIGH (M.F.A. '15), BRIAN PATRICK RUNT (M.F.A. '15) and MELODY SANDOVAL (M.F.A. '15) pitched their feature film and TV projects to a panel of top-tier industry judges. Runt received both the Judges' and Audience awards.

Nine films chosen to receive a Spotlight Award by UCLA TFT students and a Blue Ribbon Jury of industry professionals were screened. The graduate student directors whose films were chosen include CHRIS BOREY, HEATHER COLLINS (M.F.A. '14), SAM GRINBERG, SARAH JEAN KRUCHOWSKI (M.F.A. '14), IYABO KWAYANA (M.F.A. '14), THANOS PAPASTERGIOU, JERELL ROSALES, YANGZI SHE (M.F.A. '14) and JOE STATOM (M.F.A. '14).

The 2015 Student Awards Ceremony took place in early June at UCLA's Faculty Center. Dean TERI SCHWARTZ presided over the afternoon luncheon in which $1.118 million in scholarships and grants were awarded. Donor and alumna FELICIA HENDERSON (M.F.A. '04) provided remarks about the importance of helping students while M.F.A. theater student ZURI ADELE and undergraduate Film, Television and Digital Media student RAFE BLOOD (B.A. '15) shared with the audience the impact the donations make in student lives.

UCLA TFT Alumni Affairs hosted The Film-Shakers Program at Hollywood's Arena Cinema in early June, which celebrated filmmakers who are collaborating with fellow artists, creating their own work and redefining their roles in the industry. Screenings of Jennifer Morrison's Warning Labels and Karen Gillan's Coward were followed by a Q&A session with Morrison, Gillan and composer CINDY O'CONNOR (B.A. '88). KIM ADELMAN (B.A. '86) moderated the session. 

In late May, a pre-graduation alumni party was hosted by UCLA TFT Alumni Affairs and held at Barney's Beanery in Westwood. UCLA TFT graduates from the Class of 2015 were invited as the newest members of the UCLA TFT Alumni Network.

During the Spring Quarter, the Department of Theater embarked on a unique venture, The Two Cities Project, in collaboration with London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Undergraduate students in the UCLA TFT Department of Theater and at LAMDA worked closely with two internationally recognized playwrights, Alice Tuan (Ajax (por nobody), Last of the Suns) in Los Angeles and British playwright Bola Agbaje (Detaining Justice, Gone Too Far!) in London, to create and perform theatrical pieces for their counterparts in real-time via broadband Internet connection. Both pieces centered on the theme of immigration. UCLA TFT Professors JOSEPH OLIVIERI and THOMAS O'CONNER co-directed the Los Angeles performance of the devised work, which took place in UCLA TFT's Theater Lab. British director Lisa Spirling (Cotton Wool, Hundreds and Thousands) directed the London production.

UCLA TFT was named one of the top three West Coast schools in The Hollywood Reporter's "25 Best Drama Schools for a Master of Fine Arts."

In late April, three UCLA TFT alumni were nominated for Tony Awards: Producer PAMELA COOPER (M.F.A. '76) in the category of Best Revival of a Musical for On the Town; producer SARAHBETH GROSSMAN (B.A. '83) in the category of Best Musical for An American in Paris, the new musical adaptation of the 1951 Gene Kelly film, which opened at Broadway's Palace Theater in April; and director JOHN RANDO (M.F.A. '88) in the category of Best Direction of a Musical for On the Town.

MARIELLE HELLER's (B.A. '01) The Diary of a Teenage Girl screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival in mid-June in the festival's Buzz section…LELAND FRANKEL (B.A. '15) saw his play, The Better Part of Forever, performed at the Fountain Theatre in July as part of The Fountain Theatre's Rapid Development Series…PAMELA HOLT (B.A. '92) recently performed the role of "Mrs. Caldwell" in the hit musical Cruel Intentions at the Rockwell Table & Stage in Hollywood… ALEKS MERILO's (B.A. '01, M.F.A. '03) play, The Widow of Tom's Hill, had a stage reading in mid-July during the Portland Shakespeare Project's summer reading series…In early April, Sesame Street actor ALAN MURAOKA (B.A. '85) participated in the White House's 2015 Easter Egg Roll. This year's theme, #GimmieFive, challenged Americans to make five healthy lifestyle changes… LEXIE NEWMAN (M.F.A. '14) has teamed up with Sync OnSet to create a Costume Design Resources board for Pinterest. Created for costume departments, it's complete with visual guides, info graphics and retailers… CHESTER SEE (B.A. '06) was a featured guest during "Chester See in Conversation With Drew Baldwin" at the Internet Week New York conference in mid-May…GEORGE TAKEI (B.A. ’60, M.A. ’64) makes an appearance in director David Thorpe's documentary Do I Sound Gay? The film opened in theaters on Friday, July 17 and is also available on VOD... ANTHONY TRAN (B.A. '10) designed the costumes for the Disney Channel movie Teen Beach 2, which premiered in June. His work is detailed in this YouTube clip…HAOSONG YANG (B.A. '14) portrayed Xiang Gao in the short film False Awakening, whichwas a finalist in the 10th Chinese American Film Festival.

Graduate costume design student CHARLOTTE BALLARD, winner of the Art of Fashion event in San Diego, was featured in this Daily Bruin article…Graduate acting student FRANK CERMAK won the Best Actor award at the Madrid International Film Festival for his lead role in the indie romantic thriller Wild in Blue and director Matt Berkowitz picked up the Best Director prize. The film was also nominated in the Best Feature and Best Screenplay categories. In May, Wild in Blue won the Best Feature award at the St. Tropez International Film Festival.

On Thursday, July 17, the Television Academy made alumnus LOUIS J. HORVITZ (B.A. '68) an 18-time nominee (with seven wins so far). He received a nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for his helming of CBS' The Kennedy Center Honors.

Additionally, alumnus ALEX GIBNEY has been nominated in three categories for his work on HBO's Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief: Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming, Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Additionally, Gibney and alumnus FRANK MARSHALL (B.A. '68) are among the executive producers nominated in the category of Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for HBO's Sinatra: All or Nothing at All. JAMES ANDERSON (B.A. '76) and JORMA TACCONE (B.A. '02) are each nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special on NBC. MICHAEL J. BENAVENTE (B.A. '78) is being recognized for his work on History Channel's Houdini in the category of Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie, or a Special. Another Houdini nominee is DAVID BEATTY (B.A. '83), in the category of Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or Movie. Additionally, AMC's Mad Men received its eighth nomination (with four previous wins) as Outstanding Drama Series. Alumna JANET LEAHY (B.A. '83) is an executive producer on the show.

The 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony takes place on Sunday, Sept. 20 at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles and will air live on Fox Television at 5 p.m. PT and 8 p.m. ET.

ANIMATION WORKSHOP RANKED: In Animation Career Review's annual rankings, UCLA TFT ranked No. 1 among public schools and colleges and No. 3 on the West Coast....MANDY WALKER'S TRACKS SCREENED: In late May, cinematographer Mandy Walker's 2013 film Tracks screened in the Darren Star Screening Room, commemorating her time as the Kodak Cinematographer in Residence at UCLA TFT...BRUINS VOTE FOR REMAP: UCLA TFT REMAP's Interpretive Media Laboratory (IMLab) was voted No. 12 in UCLA Newsroom's "23 Places Off Campus Where UCLA Rules"...LASHP TRAILS WINS AWARD: LASHP Trails, an experimental mobile website created by IMLab, which shares site-specific portraits about the past, present, and future of the neighborhoods around the Los Angeles State Historic Park (LASHP), received the California Trails and Greenways Conference's "Social Media, Websites and Technology Award" in April.

American Revolutionary, the documentary created by GRACE LEE (M.F.A. '02), earned a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, recognizing excellence in "stories that matter" in electronic media during the 74th annual ceremony in New York at Cipriani Wall Street in late May. The ceremony aired on Pivot on Sunday, June 21.

Produced by JEFF SCOTT (B.A. '13) and directed by Professional Programs alumnus CHRIS BAILEY, the short film Love Thyself was an Official Selection in the 2015 Pan African Film Festival earlier this year and a recipient of Special Jury Recognition in the Short Narrative category. ALLIE CUERDO (B.A. '11) was the film's first assistant director.

Miss Famous, written, directed, produced and lensed by TFT alumni ROXANNE BECK (M.F.A. '13), SHADAE LAMAR SMITH (M.F.A. '15), L.A. ROSS (M.F.A. '13) and PHIL CARTER (M.F.A. '14), had its world premiere at the Palm Springs International ShortFest in mid-June…SALONA BAINS JOSHI (M.F.A. '12) is a supervising producer on Disney's Bollywood 3D dance movie, ABCD2…JOSH LEHRMAN's (B.A. '08), sitcom Paige & Frankie was given a formal pilot order from Disney Channel in May…JOSEFINA LOPEZ (M.F.A. '00), screenwriter of the 2002 film Real Women Have Curves, received her honorary doctorate degree from Columbia College Chicago in mid-May…The award-winning film Uncertain Terms, produced by Industry Standard's JOSH MANDEL (M.F.A. '06), was named a critic's pick by the Village Voice…CARLOS MARQUES-MARCET's (M.F.A. '12) film 10.000 Km opened in theaters on Friday, July 10. Marques-Marcet was featured in this Los Angeles Times article timed with the film's opening...GABE MICHAEL's (M.F.A. '11) digital studio Forge Apollo and Breathless Resorts + Spas teamed up with Vine stars Amanda Cerny, Eric Dunn and The Gabbie Show for a branded content and social campaign. You can see the first video on forgeapollo.com…Pixar animator ERICK OH (M.F.A. ’10) recently spoke with Korean JoongAng Daily for a Q&A about his work on Pixar's most recent title, Inside Out...LORETTA RAMOS (M.F.A. '08) is an associate producer on NBC's Hannibal, which started its third and final season in early June...BEATRICE SPRINGBORN (M.F.A. '05), head of original programming at Hulu, was featured in a Fast Company article about how the company plans to lure new viewers…Raised Eyebrows, written by STEVE STOLIAR (B.A. '76), will be adapted into a feature film directed by Rob Zombie. The film will be based on Stoliar's experiences working with the legendary Groucho Marx…Unexpected, lensed by cinematographer DAGMAR WEAVER-MADSEN (M.F.A. '12), opens in theaters on Friday, July 24.

Graduate FTVDM student MERLIN CAMOZZI and new alumni GAIA VIOLO (M.F.A. '15), BETO SKUBS (M.F.A. '15), EMMA KRAGEN (M.F.A. '15) and LUCRETIA STINETTE (M.F.A. '15), were named to Variety's "110 Students to Watch" list in the entertainment news outlet's annual Entertainment Education Report in April.

The films of graduate student MELISSA FINELL (Disaster Preparedness) and alumni BRYNACH DAY (M.F.A. '14, Role Play) and RYAN MOODY (M.F.A. '14, Obituaries) were chosen as official selections to screen at the Social World Film Festival, which took place in early July in Vico Equense, Italy.

Graduate students MELISSA FINELL, TRAVIS MARSHALL and KELLY PIKE, and two new alumnae, KATE ISENBERG (M.F.A. '15) and DANA KENDLER (M.F.A. '15), were named scholarship recipients at the NATO of California/Nevada Annual Membership Meeting in late June.

M.F.A. filmmaker MERLIN CAMOZZI's first-year UCLA TFT film, Rabbits, has been chosen as an official selection at the HollyShorts Film Festival, taking place Aug. 13-22 in Hollywood. Also known as Coeur d'Alene, the film will additionally be seen in the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, taking place Aug. 28-30 in Birmingham, Alabama.

M.F.A. director candidates BALBINKA KORZENIOWSKA (Awaken) and MELISSA FINELL (Disaster Preparedness) have been selected as semi-finalists in the 42nd Student Academy Awards competition in the Alternative and Narrative categories, respectively. This distinction places their projects in the top 5% of all films submitted to the Academy. The Student Academy Awards presentation will be held on Friday, Sept. 18 at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

In early June, seniors in the undergraduate interpretive digital media concentration displayed six innovative digital projects funded by the Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment during UCLA TFT's "Engage L.A." project. Produced by UCLA TFT's Interpretive Media Laboratory (IMLab) as a result of a long-term collaboration between UCLA TFT and California State Parks, the projects were designed specifically for the interactive Welcome Pavilion at the Los Angeles State Historic Park (LASHP). The projects included DAVID GAUCH's Pedal LA: The city through the eyes of bicyclists; LUKE GRIGG's OneForAnother: Community self-expression by the children of the William Mead Housing Project; VESTA PARTOVI's GreenSpaces: A network of parks, the people that use them, the things they do; FAWAD ASSADULLAH's Explore the Los Angeles River: Reconnecting Angelenos to their River; ANDREW ROSENSTEIN's Dream Clouds: Inspiring future generations through collaborative work; and NERRIS NASSIRI's (B.A. '15) Enclaves: A multisensory collage about the immigrant cultures of Los Angeles.

TIFFANIE HSU has been named one of 30 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans recipients for 2015. She is the only graduate student from UCLA to receive the award, which includes up to $90,000 in funding towards her graduate degree, as well the opportunity to travel to New York City for a Fall Conference in October 2015 and October 2016. Hsu was chosen from a pool of 1,200 applicants.  

Undergraduate students ALEKSANDRA RASTOVIC (The Fatales) and SILVIA LARA (Impetus) were the grand prize and Audience Favorite Award winners, respectively, in late April at the second annual Sight of Sound Film Competition sponsored by the Dallas Chamber Symphony.

Administrative Assistant GWENDOLYN BROWN has retired from the UCLA TFT Business Office after 22 years at the School. She began her career at UCLA in April 1993 at the Hospital System.

JEFF BURKE, assistant dean of technology and innovation, is a principal investigator for the Named Data Networking project, taking place at UCLA. Funded by the National Science Foundation, NDN is dedicated to reimagining the Internet for the future, concentrating on using names rather than numbers to access information and focusing not on the locations of things but the things themselves. A recent article in Motherboard outlines the project in detail.

Professor DEBORAH NADOOLMAN LANDIS has been reelected to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Board of Governors for 2015-16. In late May, she received the Award of Excellence in Professional Costume Design/Technology at the Costume Society of America's 41st Annual Symposium and Meeting, "Alamo a la Mode: Defending the Importance of Dress" in San Antonio, Texas.

Lecturer HANS-MARTIN LIEBING recently welcomed Mark Hentemann, showrunner of Fox's Family Guy and co-creator of the upcoming animated Fox series Bordertown, in his undergraduate "Film & Television Development" class.

Professor and FTVDM Chair WILLIAM MCDONALD and his wife, filmmaker PAMELA BEERE BRIGGS (M.F.A. '90), captured the art of becoming an artist in their documentary Something Like a Sabbatical.  The UCLA Newsroom profiled the couple and their film.

Alongside Summerstorm Entertainment, Lecturer NAVID MCILHARGEY will produce the action-thriller The Feud, starring Kellan Lutz, through his Vandal Entertainment banner. Production starts this summer.

RICH MOUSHEGIAN is the Student Services Office's new academic counselor serving undergraduate students in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media. He was previously the undergraduate advisor at UCLA's Institute for Society and Genetics. Welcome, Rich!

MAREK PROBOSZ, who portrayed Captain Witold Pilecki in the 2006 film The Death of Captain Pilecki, revisited Chicago in early June, where the film was chosen to be a part of the International Film Festival Chicago's 2015 International Screenings Program and was co-presented by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago.

Screenwriting co-area head RICHARD WALTER recently penned "Film School: Haven or Hoax?" for the WGA's Written By magazine.

At the end of the 2014-15 academic year, Senior Lecturer and screenwriting co-area head HAL ACKERMAN retired after more than 30 years of service to the School; Professor GYULA GAZDAG retired after more than 22 years; and Lecturer FRED RUBIN retired after 15 years.

Interim Department of Theater Chair SUE-ELLEN CASE and alumna SHEILA CALLAGHAN (M.F.A. '97) spoke about women, ambition and culture at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in mid-April, as part of the Center Theatre Group's "Feral Drives, Fierce Women" conversation…Professor DEBORAH NADOOLMAN LANDIS was one of the panelists at the David C. Copley Center and Fashion Group International-hosted panel "Costume Design Meets the Fashion Business" at the Pacific Design Center in early June….In mid-April Producers Program Lecturer HANS-MARTIN LIEBING moderated a panel discussion with actors Jamie Bell and JJ Feild and executive producers Craig Silverstein, Barry Josephson and Michael Taylor following a special UCLA TFT screening of AMC's drama TURN: Washington's Spies.

Filmmaker STEPHEN MILBURN ANDERSON (M.F.A. '91) passed away on Friday, May 1. Anderson is best known for writing directing and producing (along with Oliver Stone) South Central (1992) and Ca$h (2010), starring Chris Hemsworth in one of his early roles. Anderson was a pioneer in the use of digital filmmaking and an advocate of the New Mexico Film Incentive Program.

Applications are now being accepted for the Professional Programs in Acting for the Camera, Screenwriting (in class and online) and Writing for Television. For more information, visit the Professional Programs page on the UCLA TFT website.

Professional Programs Video Game Writing instructor MARIANNE KRAWCZYK (God of War series, Star Trek) will be one of the panelists at the Wednesday, Aug. 5 Writers Guild Foundation discussion Words Into Pixels: Couches, Consoles and Creating Worlds, which will cover the topics of writing scripts for video games and breaking into the gaming industry. Moderated by Neil Druckmann (The Last of Us, Uncharted 4), panelists will also include Tom Bissell (Gears of War: Judgment, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter) and T.J. Fixman (Ratchet & Clank series). General Admission is $25. WGA members and students are $20, with proceeds benefitting the Writers Guild Foundation's library, archives and outreach programs. Writers Guild of America West headquarters, 7000 W. 3rd St., L.A., 7:30 p.m.-9 p.m.

Winners and honorable mentions in the Professional Programs' 2015 Advanced Feature Screenplay and Teleplay Competition, as well as the winner of the 12th annual Nate Wilson Joie de Vivre Award, were handed out during Professional Programs' Spring Quarter Certificate Presentation Ceremony in June. A.W. "TONY" SCOTT won the Advanced Feature Screenplay Award for his contained sci-fi psychological thriller script, The House Is Lonely. JASON H. PATES received the Screenplay Honorable Mention for his drama The Long Way Home. HANNAH MACPHERSON won the Advanced Teleplay Award for her original dramatic horror pilot script, The Chilling. STAMOS AKRIVOS received the Teleplay Honorable Mention for his original dramedy pilot MUMS (The Other Mrs. Turner). The  Nate Wilson Joie de Vivre Award, which includes a monetary prize of $4,500, was given to CARLOS MARULANDA for his psychological thriller screenplay Skin.

Archive programmer PAUL MALCOLM and UCLA TFT professor JANET BERGSTROM were quoted in this Los Angeles Times article profiling Hollywood director Frank Borzage. Borzage's films are the subject of the Archive series "7th Heaven: The Films of Frank Borzage," which opened Friday, July 10 at the Hammer Museum's Billy Wilder Theater and runs through Sept. 20. The series is presented in conjunction with the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program.

Comedian Kate Clinton's "coming out" remembrance, coverage of the watershed 1993 march on Washington and the story of murdered transgender teen Fred Martinez are just a few examples of what's contained in the new digital portal created by UCLA Film & Television Archive. The videos, and a wealth of other resources, are now publicly accessible online as part of a new lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender moving image research area featuring episodes of the Emmy-nominated LGBT public television series In the Life.

In early May, in advance of the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage, UCLA Film & Television Archive hosted a documentary event featuring Ruthie & Connie: Every Room in the House (2002) and Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement (2009). The landmark gathering of filmmakers and their respective documentary subjects made for lively post-film conversation in the Archive's ongoing LGBT screening series, "The Legacy Project."

In late June, UCLA Film & Television Archive Director JAN-CHRISTOPHER HORAK joined Madeline Brand on KCRW's "Press Play" for a special segment examining Germany's influence on Hollywood.

Actors Eva Marie Saint and Illeana Douglas helped UCLA Film & Television Archive kick off its "Archive Television Treasures" series at the Billy Wilder on Friday, May 29. The curated selection of television gems from the Archive's vaults was recently featured in the Los Angeles Times.
 

In June, FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA (M.F.A. '67) debuted his semi-autobiographical film Distant Vision, a live movie experiment (a hybrid of live theater, television and film) created in real time at Oklahoma City Community College…DONALD DE LINE is the executive producer of the summer Fox Television series Wayward Pines…The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed Mandalay Entertainment CEO PETER GUBER about sports, entertainment and the Sony hacking scandal…Jurassic World, produced by FRANK MARSHALL, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide after just 13 days in release…BRAD SILBERLING is the executive producer of the new NBC series Heartbreaker, premiering this fall.