News | UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

Simpsons creator Matt Groening makes transformational gift to TFT

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Fri Feb 17, 2012 -- Matt Groening, multi-award-winning creator of "The Simpsons," has made a major gift to create The Matt Groening Chair in Animation at TFT, announced Teri Schwartz, dean of the School.

"The Simpsons'" twenty-three-year series reign makes it the longest running television comedy of all time. Groening's creative talents have resulted in his receiving 12 Emmy® Awards, 13 Emmy® nominations, the 2002 National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award and a 2004 British Comedy Award.

In 2007, he was ranked fourth (and highest American by birth) in Britain's Daily Telegraph list of "Top 100 Living Geniuses." Later this month Groening will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His iconic brand of satire and social commentary evident throughout dozens of "Simpsons" specials, spin-offs and feature films as well as the "Futurama" series, numerous books, merchandising and more.

"Matt Groening is recognized globally as a preeminent and pioneering animator, storyteller, cartoonist, writer and producer. His groundbreaking animated series have truly changed the landscape of television and have become a gold standard for animation and great storytelling throughout the entertainment industry," said Dean Schwartz.

"We are so inspired by Matt's vision, and truly honored by his remarkable generosity and support of our Animation Program. Our TFT animation program is known for its exceptional and diverse talent from across the globe who create outstanding, award-winning innovative works year in and year out," Dean Schwartz continues. "With this amazing gift, Matt has given our students enormous support and ensured that we will be able to take our program to even greater levels of excellence. Our animation students will benefit greatly from this endowment and it will reinforce TFT's continuing position as a premier professional school of entertainment and performing arts. Thank you Matt Groening."

The Matt Groening Chair in Animation endowment will allow visiting master artists to teach classes in TFT's animation program. The gift will enable the animation program to bring working professionals with wide ranging expertise to work with TFT students, some of which would not normally be available in the animation curriculum.

This is also the second year of The Matt Groening Initiative. Pioneered by Groening and Barbara Boyle, Chair of the School's Film, Television and Digital Media Department, Groening''s annual gift for this initiative supports animation students producing short animated films with social responsibility themes. The first year of The Matt Groening Initiative's support led TFT's Erick Oh to be named Student Academy Award® 2011 Finalist for his film "Heart." Oh graduated with distinction and is now an animator at Pixar Animation Studios.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/877-2012-matt-groening-major-gift/

Alums Black and Reiner write, direct star-studded Prop 8 play

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Wed Feb 15, 2012 -- "The Hollywood Reporter" is keeping track of the all-star casting news as Dustin Lance Black's "8," a new play about the court victory against California's Proposition 8, outlawing gay marriage, moves toward its benefit west coast premiere in March.

The cast of Prop 8 is officially complete with the addition of three more stars: Kevin Bacon, Chris Colfer and John C. Reilly, organizers announced Wednesday. The actors will join George Clooney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Martin Sheen and some of Hollywood's hottest young actors for a one-night-only showing in Los Angeles of the play that chronicles the historic court challenge to California's Proposition 8.

The play, directed by Rob Reiner, will debut at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Saturday, March 3, for an exclusive fundraiser to support marriage equality efforts across the country.

Other cast members include Matt Bomer, Campbell Brown, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cleve Jones, Christine Lahti, Matthew Morrison, Rory O'Malley, Yeardley Smith and [TFT alumnus] George Takei.

The story for "8" is based on the trial's closing arguments in June 2010. Some of the scenes also include flashbacks to other trial testimony, including a statement by the Prop. 8 supporters' star witness, David Blankenhorn, who told the court "we would be more American on the day we permitted same-sex marriage than we were on the day before."

Clooney and Sheen will play plaintiffs' lead co-counsel David Boies and Theodore B. Olson. Lahti and Curtis will play plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, a lesbian couple together for 11 years. Morrison and Bomer will play plaintiffs Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, a gay couple together for more than a decade.

Lynch will play prominent opponent of marriage equality Maggie Gallagher, co-founder and former chairman of the National Organization for Marriage. Reiner will play Blankenhorn, founder and president of the Institute for American Values.

Reilly will play United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who found Proposition 8 unconstitutional after presiding over the historic twelve-day public trial. Bacon will play Charles J. Cooper, the lead attorney for the anti-marriage proponents of Proposition 8. Colfer will play Ryan Kendall, who testified about his experience being sent by his parents to so-called "reparative therapy" as a teenager.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/876-2012-reiner-directs-black/

Professional Programs' Rob Long creates, runs new TBS show

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Tue Feb 14, 2012 -- Deadline Hollywood reports that TBS has picked up a series created by TV veteran Rob Long, currently teaching "The TV Business" for the UCLA Professional Programs.

Starring comedian Steve Byrne and executive produced by Vince Vaughn and Peter Billingsley, the show, which has received 10-episode order for a summer premiere, joins Men At Work, which received a series order last month. For the second series slot, TBS was to choose between two pilots - Sullivan and Son and the Conan O'Brien-produced BFF. The pilots were part of TBS' return to original half-hour comedies after flirting with hourlong shows for about a year.

Written by Byrne and Cheers veteran Rob Long, who serves as executive producer/showrunner, Sullivan And Son is in the vein of the classic NBC comedy and takes place in a legendary neighborhood bar in a working-class Pittsburgh neighborhood. It centers on Steve Sullivan (Byrne), the son of the bar's current owner (Dan Lauria) and the grandson of its founder who surprises his Irish-American father and Korean-American mother (Jodi Long) when he decides to leave his job as a successful corporate attorney in New York and return to the neighborhood to take over the bar.

"Sullivan And Son is a smart, funny workplace comedy from the distinct comedy voices of Steve Byrne and Rob Long," said TNT and TBS' head of programming Michael Wright. "The barstools at Sullivan's bar are filled with outrageous, unique characters, and Steve and Rob have created an outstanding world in which they can shine." Vaughn's Wild West Picture Show Prods is producing the series with Warner Horizon Television.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/875-2012-rob-long_sullivan-and-son/

Donald B. Crabs 1926--2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Tue Feb 7, 2012 -- TFT professor Emeritus Donald B. Crabs, beloved long time teacher of theater scenic design at TFT, has passed away. He died on January 26, at Marina Del Rey Hospital, after a long illness. He is survived by his wife, Jane, and their three children.

"On behalf of our entire faculty, staff, student and alumni," said Teri Schwartz, dean of the School, "our most heartfelt condolences go out to the entire Crabs family for their loss. The outpouring of love and beautiful thoughts about Don have been so moving and a true testament to his fine and inspirational spirit as an artist and teacher here at TFT. Clearly he had such a lasting and positive impact on so many faculty and students. He has left a special legacy at TFT for which his entire family should be so proud."

Crabs was born in Puyallup, Washington, and studied scenery and lighting design at the University of Puget Sound and at Northwestern University. He taught at Rutgers from 1951 to 1965 and at UCLA from 1965 through 1991.

As the configuration of the institution changed over the years, Crabs became head of what was then the Division of Theater in the Department of Theater Arts (later the Department of Theater, Film and Television) within the College of Fine Arts.

Crabs designed many productions in the Theater Department, including "No Place to Be Somebody," "The Physicists," "A Chorus Line," "Skin of Our Teeth," "Troilus and Cressida," "Sergeant Musgrave's Dance," "The Measures Taken," "Baal" and "Winterset."

In 1990, Crabs received a lecture and research grant for the UC Education Abroad Program in China.

A memorial service for Donald B. Crabs will be held on Saturday, February 11, at 2:00 p.m., at the Westchester United Methodist Church (8065 Emerson Avenue, Westchester. (90045-1435; north of Manchester, west of Sepulveda, east of Lincoln.)

Condolences can be sent to:

Jane Crabs
4365 Alla Road, #3
Marina del Rey, California 90292

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/obituary/872-2012-donald-crabs_obit/

Lisa Simpson Meets Michael Cera in Chuck Sheetz' Latest

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Tue Feb 7, 2012 -- TFT alumnus and animation professor Chuck Sheetz '83 has now directed thirteen "Simpsons" episodes and won an Emmy in 2008 for the all-time classic "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind."

Sheetz' contribution to the world's longest-running prime time comedy series, animated or otherwise, "The Daughter Also Rises," was broadcast on Fox on Sunday, February 12, at 8 p.m. In one of the episode's two storylines, Lisa falls in love with Nick (voiced by actor Michael Cera), an intellectual romantic. In the other, Bart and Milhouse team up with the cast of the TV series "MythCrackers" to debunk some schoolyard urban legends.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/873-2012_chuck-sheetz_the-daughter-also-rises/

Alums Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda at SXSW

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Tue Feb 7, 2012 -- A feature film co-directed by TFT alums Silas Howard MFA '08 and Ernesto Foronda '95 will have its world premiere in March at the 2012 South-By-Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Foronda co-wrote the screenplay for the first film directed by Justin Lin '95 "Better Luck Tomorrow" (2002) and has worked as a producer and music cosultant on films directed by TFT classmates Lin and Quentin Lee. Howard's debut feature, "By Hook or By Crook," was a Sundance premiere presentation and won the Grand Jury Prize at LA Outfest 2011 as well as the Audience Award at last year's SXSW.

"Sunset Stories" stars Monique Curnen and Sung Kang, along with "The Big Bang Theory's" Jim Parsons and "Lost's" Harold Perrineau in the story of a high-strung nurse who gets caught up in a search across LA for a missing cooler full of transplantable bone marrow.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/874-2012_sxsw_silas-howard/

UPDATE: "Rango" clear Oscar favorite after Annie, VES, ACE and BAFTA wins

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Mon Feb 6, 2012 -- UPDATE: The innovative animated western comedy "Rango," co-written and directed by TFT alumnus and Executive Board Member Gore Verbinski '87 ("Pirates of the Caribbean" 1- 3), was the top winner at the 2012 Annie Awards. According to the "Los Angeles Times:"

"Rango," the Oscar-nominated box-office hit about a pet chameleon who becomes sheriff of a small western town, won the Annie Award for animated feature from the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood.

The film, directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Johnny Depp as the voice of Rango, also won Annie Awards for character design for Mark "Crash" McCreery, writing for John Logan, Verbinski and James Byrkit, and editing for Craig Wood.
A recent major article by Tim Appelo of "The Hollywood Reporter" revealed the meticulous process that could take live-action blockbuster director and TFT alumnus Gore Verbinski '87 ("Pirates of the Caribbean" 1- 3) to his first Oscar -- for the change-of-pace animated production "Rango." The mock Spaghetti Western, featuring a cast of desert fauna and the voice of Johnny Depp, has also been nominated for multiple Annie, BAFTA and PGA awards.

Helping (Johhny) Depp to connect with his inner chameleon was the least of the risks Verbinski took to make this major departure in animated film. The daredevil director created "Rango" with Industrial Light & Magic, which handled the effects for the "Pirates" films but had never worked on a full animated feature before. ILM visual effects supervisor John Knoll was skeptical when Verbinski pitched the idea in August 2007, but he and ILM animation director Hal Hickel agreed to watch the first Rango story reel in 2008 to please their big client. "What intrigued me," says Knoll, "was when he said, 'There's Pixar and there's everybody who's imitating Pixar, doing me-too movies.' He didn't want to follow in their footsteps."

Conventional animation is, essentially, illustrations that move. "Rango's" roots are in live action. "We treated it like any of our previous live-action collaborations with Gore," says Knoll. Instead of reading lines to match animated characters, Depp and the cast were first filmed to give ILM animators reference points to inform the characters. "It's not just a drawing, it's a guy reacting as another guy gets thrown through the window," says Verbinski. The sensor motion-capture camera ILM developed in 2006 for "Avatar" enabled Verbinski to tour a virtual environment...and choose camera angles and change set elements. "He'd say, 'The clock tower is hidden, push that building back three feet and make the road six feet wider,'" says Knoll. "It played to his strengths with walking live-action sets."

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/871-2012-verbinski_rango/

Screenwriting alum Dan Pyne publishes second novel

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Thu Feb 2, 2012 -- Currently working as executive producer and showrunner on the new ABC series, "Alcatarz," TFT screenwriting alumnus Daniel Pyne MFA '91 ("The Manchurian Candidate") -- a Visiting Assistant Professor at the School and a past holder of The Lew and Pamela Hunter/Jonathan and Janice Zakin Chair in Screenwriting -- has published his second novel, "A Hole In The Ground Owned by a Liar" (Counterpoint), the misadventures of a high school shop teacher who buys a gold mine off the internet

Pyne will be reading and signing the new book on Tuesday, February 7, at 7:30 p.m., at Skylight Books in Los Feliz (1818 N. Vermont Avenue).

Pyne's screenwriting credits include "The Manchurian Candidate," "Fracture," "Any Given Sunday" and "Doc Hollywood." He was one of the original writers and producers on the seminal TV series "Miami Vice."

His first novel, the thriller "Twentynine Palms,"earned critical praise and endorsements from respected novelists such as Kem Nunn, who called it "classic California noir." Scott Phillips, author of national bestseller "The Ice Harvest," has described the new book as "a harrowingly funny story of brotherly strife, amorous misconduct, and small dreams blown disastrously out of proportion."

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/869-2012-daniel-pyne-hole/

Recent grad Matt Wheeler lands major studio writing gig

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Thu Feb 2, 2012 -- Deadline reports exclusively that recent TFT screenwriting graduate Matt Wheeler MFA '10 will adapt "The Informant," the third in a popular series by novelist Thomas Perry ("Vanishing Act") about an assassin known as Butcher's Boy.

Matt Tolmach will produce. Tolmach is also producer on this year's "The Amazing Spider-Man." "The Informant" revolves around a hit man avenging his father's death and a Department of Justice official who wants to dismantle the mafia. The two become involved in a cat-and- mouse game when they realize they're after the same people.

PHOTO: Matt Wheeler, second from left, with fellow winners and producer Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., at the 2010 Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards presentation. Todd Cheney/UCLA Photography.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/870-2012-matt-wheeler/

Deep Waters

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Thu Jan 26, 2012 -- TFT alumnus James Egan MFA '85, award-winning filmmaker and film scholar, has published a groundbreaking collection of pieces about America's leading punk satiriest, "John Waters Interviews" (University Press of Mississippi (2011).

The book includes conversations between Waters and Louis Postel, Todd Solondz, Dennis Cooper and others, as well as a scaberous 1981 piece from "Film Comment" by TFT staff member David Chute.

Waters liked the book well enough to hand out copies as Christmas presents in 2011.

Waters public image has evolved over the years from a terrifyingly transgressive and obsene punk satirist, as exemplified by shocking early films such as "Pink Flamingos" (1972) and "Female Trouble" (1974), to that of an the elegent if still edgy indie entertainer of hits such as "Hairspray" (1998).

Waters hosted the Independent Spirit Awards three trimes and appeared as himself in a memorable 2006 episode of "The Simpsons."

James Egan's film productions include "Jackpot" (2001), "Angels in the Dust" (2007) and "Kimjongilia" (2009). He serves as a National Trustee on the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation, which works with entertainment professionals to train wounded members of the military, aiding them in finding careers in the film and television industry.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/868-2011-james-egan_john-waters/

UPDATE: Alums Payne, Verbinski and Marshall are Oscar nominees

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Tue Jan 24, 2012 -- UPDATE: "The Wrap" reports that Alexander Payne, director of "The Descendants," has been named Filmmaker of the Year by the American Cinema Editors, the ACE Board of directors announced Monday.

The ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award will be presented to Payne at the 62nd annual ACE Eddie Awards ceremony on February 18, where "The Descendants" was also nominated in the Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) category along with "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "Moneyball" and "War Horse."blockquote>

TFT alum Alexander Payne's film "The Descendants" opened in September and is still in theaters five months later. It recently won the Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Feature Film conferred by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

"The Descendants" centers on a Hawaiian businessman (George Clooney) who tries to bond with his two daughters after his wife has a tragic boating accident and languishes on life-support.

"The Descendants" has now been nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

TFT Alum Gore Verbinski joins Payne at the Oscars with his film "Rango" nominated as Best Animated Film.

"Rango" opened in February and is getting a one-theater re-release in Los Angeles because of the nomination. Has recieved 9 Annie Award nominations and was named Best Animated Feature by a dozen critics' groups.

TFT Executive Board Member Frank Marshall '68 was a producer of Steven Speilberg's Best Picture Nominee "War Horse," a World War I drama, based on the acclaimed play, that centers on a the relationship between a British country boy a beloved horse. With more than 70 films to his credit, Marshall's epochal collaborations with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and his wife, Kathleen Kennedy, have resulted in dozens of classic films, including "Raiders of the Lost Arc" (1982), "The Color Purple" (1985) "The Sixth Sense" (1999), "Seabiscuit" (2003) and David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008).

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/867-2012-noms-verbinski_payne/

UPDATE II: Ponsoldt's "Smashed" Picked Up by Sony Pictures Classics

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Fri Jan 6, 2012 -- UPDATE II: According to IndieWire, "Sony Pictures Classics is reportedly in final talks to acquire James Ponsoldt's sophomore feature "Smashed," which premiered at Sundance. The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead ("The Thing," "Scott Pilgrim") and Aaron Paul ("Breaking Bad") as an alcoholic married couple, Kate and Charlie. ... Produced by Jonathan Schwartz and Andrea Sperling, who produced "Like Crazy" who were honored at Sundance this year for their work on "Smashed" as well as "Nobody Walks" (Magnolia). The film was also produced by Jennifer Cochis.

UPDATE: "Smashed" co-written and directed by James Ponsoldt '10, a graduate of the UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting, was awarded a Special Jury Prize: Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford's world famous showcase for independent film. On, Saturday, January 28, th Festival's final day, he award, for independent film producing was conferred on "Smashed" producers Andrea Sperling and Jonathan Schwartz.

The film, Ponsoldt's second feature after "Off the Black" (2006), stars Mary Elizbeth Winstead in a drama about an elementary school teacher struggling with alcoholism -- a struggle made more difficult by the continued boozing of her husband (Aaron Paul ).

"Variety" called "Smashed" "an affecting and immersive addiction drama about
the unforeseen pitfalls along the road to recovery."

Other UCLA-related films at this year's Festival included:

Kate and Charlie like to have a good time. Their marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter . . . and getting smashed. When Kate's partying spirals into hard-core asocial behavior, compromising her job as an elementary schoolteacher, something's got to give. But change isn't exactly a cakewalk. Sobriety means she will have to confront the lies she's been spinning at work, her troubling relationship with her mother, and the nature of her bond with Charlie.  Many films indulge the dramatic highs and lows of addiction. Refreshingly, Smashed is interested in the unglamorous middle path--what stumbling through recovery looks like. As Kate tests new boundaries and shoulders the consequences of her choices, this subtle story of imperfect transformation taps into truths about the challenges and losses intrinsic to living life honestly. Genuine performances and a grounded sense of place create an authentic, textured world where three-dimensional characters--neither all bad nor all good--occupy the uncomfortable grey zone of being human.

"The Other Dream Team" written and directed by Marius Markevicius MFA '02, Producers Program.

In 1992 the United States sent the Dream Team to the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Considered the greatest basketball team ever assembled, these players were expected to dominate and win the gold--and that's exactly what they did. Meanwhile, on another court, a basketball team from the newly independent nation of Lithuania was chasing a different kind of dream. A tiny country of three million people, Lithuania won the bronze medal, beating Russia, its former oppressor.   Filmmaker Marius Markevicius skillfully crafts an inspirational David-versus-Goliath story, bouncing from the personal struggles of players living behind the iron curtain to their astonishing journey out of the clutches of communism into their unlikely partnership with the Grateful Dead and the glory of the Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The Other Dream Team is a triumphant tale of freedom, guts, and pride--a rousing testament to the power of sports as a catalyst for cultural identity. - D.C.

Marius Markevicius graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and received his MFA from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. He has produced several feature films and coproduced Like Crazy, the dramatic Grand Jury Prize winner at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Markevicius also produced the 2010 feature Douchebag, which premiered at that year's Festival and had a theatrical release. The Other Dream Team, a documentary about Lithuania, his family's homeland, and basketball, one of his life's passions, is his directorial debut.

Short: "Playtime" written and directed by Lucas Mireles '12, produced by Ryan Slattery '11

Inspired by Billy Wilder's "People on Sunday (1930)", "Playtime" is a seamless journey of German youth and innocence on a Sunday afternoon.

JULIE DASH AND HER RESTORED "DAUGHTERS"

Daughters of the Dust, written and directed by Julie Dash MFA '85, is a milestone of African-American cinema, a revelation when it was screened as part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive's "L.A. Rebellion" series in the same gorgeous new fully timed answer print that will be shown at Sundance. "Daughter's" is Dash's vibrant tribute to her Gullah ancestors, a celebration of their unique traditions and lifestyle, which these descendants of African slaves struggled to preserve on the seacoast islands off the Carolina and Georgia coasts. The first feature film by an African-American woman to receive a general theatrical release in the United States, the 1991 film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2004.

BANANAS D.P.

Gabriel Noguez '08 was a cinematographer on the Swedish documentary Big Boys Gone Bananas! , and will travel to Sundance with the film. The personal documentary by Fredrik Gertten and Margarete Jangård is a record of their prolonged legal battle with the Dole Food Company, which filed a lawsuit over allegations raised in their earlier film, "Bananas." Even before the film has been screened, Gertten and Jangård found themselves painted as villains due to Dole's shrewd PR moves. "Big Boys Gone Bananas" is a case study of the power of individuals to fight back against corporate bullying.

HEATHER

Ray Bolger Musical Theater alumna Heather Lindell '04 has a featured role in Carrie Preston's That's What She Said. A successful working actor, Lindell landed the role of Jan Spears on the soap "Days of Our Lives" on the day she graduated from TFT - and was late for the audition due to traffic coming from the ceremony. She also has extensive Broadway experience, from her debut in "Hairsray," with Harvey Fierstein, to Gary Marshall's "Happy Days: The Musical." Most recently she appeared in the Tony-winning 2010 revival of "La Cage aux Folles," again with Fiersten.

SHONALI BOSE

Alumna Shonali Bose MFA '97 was a recpient of one of the first awards in the new "Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institutie Screenwriters Lab " initiative. The Lab will provide an opportunity for eight screenwriters from India to develop their works under the guidance of accomplished international screenwriters. Bose's project, "Margarita. With a Straw," centers on Laila, who falls repeatedly in love, yearns to have sex and wants to be a Bollywood songwriter. Bose wrote and directed the 2007 feature "Amu," filmed on location in Northern India.

FROM JAKARTA WITH LOVE

TFT alumnus Kyle Franke MA '05, a graduate of the UCLA Producers Program (and now a teacher there) is Head of Development at XYZ Films of Marina Del Ray. Franke will be in Park City representing the company's pan-Asian co-production "The Raid" ("Serbuan Maut"), a smash last year at Toronto in the Midnight Madness sidebar.

The film is a martial arts thriller, directed by Gareth Evans and starring Iko Uwais, that showcases the Indonesian traditional martial art of Pencak Silat. Story follows an elite tactical team that invades an impenetrable derelict apartment building in Jakarta's slums, hoping to take down a notorious drug lord. Stranded on the 6th floor, with no way out, the unit must fight their way through the city's worst criminals to survive.

ZYZ Films was founded by three Producers Program alumni, Nate Bolotin MFA '07, Nick Spicer MFA '06 and Aram Tertzakian MFA '07.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

Supported by the nonprofit Sundance Institute, the Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades, including "sex, lies, and videotape," "Maria Full of Grace," "The Cove," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "An Inconvenient Truth," "Precious," "Trouble the Water," "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Winter's Bone," and, through its New Frontier initiative, has brought the cinematic works of media artists including Isaac Julian, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp and Matthew Barney.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/866-2012-sundance/

Alum Tim Shechmeister makes feature deal for "Viral" TFT thesis film

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:00:00 -0800

Wed Dec 14, 2011 -- "The Hollywood Reporter's" Borys Kit reports that recent Production/Directing alumnus Tim Shechmeister MA '11 has closed a deal with Screen Gems to expand his TFT thesis project film "Viral" into a feature:

The pickup is a coup for Tim Shechmeister, a recent UCLA film school grad who directed the short and co-wrote it with his brother, Matt, as part of a thesis project. The Shechmeisters will co-write the feature and Tim would direct the big-screen version.

The roughly 11-minute short is set in the world of cyberbullying and eventually includes supernatural elements. In fact, the story could be described as being reminiscent of "The Grudge" or "The Ring," but primed for the current generation that uses smart phones and Facebook as extensions of themselves.

The Grudge reference is apt because that [feature's] writer, Stephen Susco, discovered the short at a screenwriting event this past summer. Tim Shechmeister, who is also a fan of Japanese horror (AKA J-Horror), gave Susco his business card with a link to the short, which the scribe checked out and loved.

"I see a lot of student films and like to see what's going on," says Susco. "I rarely see something as polished as this one."

Susco brought it to "Grudge" producer Roy Lee who, along with Lawrence Grey, took it to Screen Gems. The trio will now produce. John Middleton will exec produce.

"It strikes at the modern social media anxiety that really hits a hot nerve in this country," says Susco. "How young people communicate is changing and technology is altering the tenor of that communication--in many cases for the worse. And this is an opportunity to do something scary and really potent at the same time."

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/865-2001-shechmeister-viral/

Keshni Kashyap MFA '07 explores prep school angst in new graphic novel

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:00:00 -0800

Mon Dec 12, 2011 -- TFT Production/Directing alumna Keshni Kashyap MFA '07 is branching out: Her first book, "Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary," will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on January 13.

Illustrated by Mari Araki, the book is a graphic novel about a Southern California teenager, Tina M., from an intellectual Indian family in Palos Verdes, suffering though her sophomore year at snooty prep school Yarborough Academy. ("The name makes it sound fancier than all the public schools in the area," Kashyap writes. "You'd really think the Prince of Wales attended.") Turning points include Tina's getting dumped by her smart-girl ally to a momentous kiss from a cute skateboarder.

Raised in Los Angeles, Kashyap attended UC Berkeley, where she studied Literature and started making experimental videos and documentaries. After spending a year working for veteran Bay Area indie director Wayne Wang, Keshni enrolled in TFT MFA Preoduction/Directing program. Her short films "Hole"" (2002) and Good Thing" (2004) were Director's Spotlight winners at the Festival of New Creative Work. Her films for both UCLA and Berkeley have screened in more than thirty international festivals.

Kashyap has traveled all over the world, especially in South East Asia, where much of her extended family still lives. She credits her high school photography teacher for showing her, early in life, how to frame a shot, and wants to make "story driven films that explore people's internal and imaginary lives."

Kashyap is a contributer on Asian American issues for the website The Daily Beast. She is currently working on two feature length projects, both darkly comic in nature.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/863-2011-kashyap-tinas-mouth/

Geoffrey P. Cooper - 1946-2011

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:00:00 -0800

Mon Dec 12, 2011 -- TFT alumnus Geoffrey P. Cooper '69 passed away on November 28 at his home in Burbank, after a brief illness. Cooper was a Hollywood sound engineer and avid record collector who from 1992 to 2004 owned DB Cooper's Wholesale Music Exchange in Burbank, "Burbank's Most Necessary Record Shop."

Born on October 19, 1946, in Los Angeles, Cooper was a proud member of the UCLA marching band while a student at TFT in the late 1960s. Known as "Engineer Geoff," he was the head cheerleader at UCLA during the 1968-69 season.

After several years in New York City working as a recording engineer, Cooper returned to Southern California and with several former UCLA bandmates formed the Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band, in which he performed under the stage name Dr. Mabuse.

The band specialized in bouncy satiric novelty songs with titles such as "The Martian March," "Martha My Deer" and "The Buick LaSabre Dance." The band became a fixture on the radio show of personality and DJ Dr Demento, who was a customer at the Burbank store.

After Cooper arranged an introduction for Demento with singer Napoleon XIV (Jerry Samuels), creator of the all-time novelty hit "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-haaa!," the DJ began playing Roto Rooter numbers on his show, beginning in 1973 with what he calls their "brilliant rendition of 'March of the Cuckoos,' the Laurel & Hardy theme."

The RRGTCB recorded an album for Vanguard Records in 1974 that included their version of the 1947 novelty song "Pico and Sepulveda," the recording that became Dr. Demento's theme song. At the peak of its popularity the band shared the stage at the Hollywood Palladium with Danny Elfman's Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.

Cooper worked a day job for NBC in the sound effects department for 13 years, ringing the buzzers and bells on the great game shows. He amassed a huge collection of vinyl LPs, CDs and videos, which he loved sharing with his friends and family. Cooper was an avid fan of reggae music and all things Jamaican and attended the Sunsplash Music Festival seven years in a row in the 1980's.

Geoffrey Cooper is survived by his sisters Virginia Cooper Latham of Culver City (class of '73) and Susan Cooper Clobucker of Reno (class of '76).

The Cooper family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Theater Department Scholarship Fund. Gifts can be made online at https://giving.ucla.edu/Standard/NetDonate.aspx?SiteNum=20 (choose Theater Scholarship Fund) or by sending a check made out to UCLA Foundation, with "In memory of Geoffrey Cooper" in the memo section, to:

Office of Development and Industry Relations
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Box 951622
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1622

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/obituary/864-2011-obit_geoffrey-cooper/