News | UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

George Takei crowdfunds Old Globe show about Japanese-American internment

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Tue Mar 13, 2012 -- One of TFT's most popular alumni, "Star Trek" space-navigator George Takei '60, MA '64 is also known for his activism in the areas of gay rights and gay marriage.

Recently he took up another cause that's close to his heart, appearing on the website IndieGoGo.com to launch a Kickstarter-style crowd-sourcing campaign to fund a new Broadway bound musical, "Alliegance," about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The issue is autobiographical for Takei, who grew up in a camp in Arkansas.

When the fundraising campaign surged over the $150,000 mark recently, Takei made good on his pledge to fans that he would post a video of his legendary "happy dance" on the Internet.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/884-2012-george-takei_allegiance/

Richard Parkin's Spotlight-winning "Contra el Mar" takes LACMA prize

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Mon Mar 12, 2012 -- Indiewire reports that "Contra el Mar," a Spotlight-winning short by TFT student Richard Parkin, took the top prize at the 2012 LACMA Muse Young Directors Night event over the March 11 weekend. TFT alumnus Topher Osborn MFA '08 ("An African Election") was the film's director of photography.

LACMA hosted its eleventh annual Young Directors Night on Satuday, showcasing seven short films from student filmmakers around Los Angeles. Presented by Muse, the event's mission statement is to "not only be a film exhibition, but also to create an educational experience highlighting the intricacies of the filmmaking process." Following the screening, LACMA curator Elvis Mitchell, Film Independent's Josh Welsh and Maggie Mackay led a fun and succinct panel.

...

Richard Parkin, who directed the Mexican subtitled film "Contra El Mar," talked about the importance of tight narrative screenwriting, and that he had to resist "falling victim to [the tendancy of] a new piece of story information means a new scene."

The exhibition doubled as a competition, with the host panel and audience voting for the best in show. Parkin's deserving "Contra El Mar" took home the prize, and he also received an all-access pass to Film Independent's upcoming L.A. Film Festival 2012.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/accolade/882-2012_contra-el-mar_lacma/

From Koln to "South By" with Lucas Mireles and Ryan Slattery

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Thu Mar 8, 2012 -- Writer-director Lucas Mireles, a student at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT), and producer Ryan Slattery, who graduated from TFT last year, haven't had much time to sit down recently. This month, they'll be on the move again.

The filmmakers will travel to Austin, Texas, the latest festival stop for their light-footed and humane short film "Playtime" (Spielzeit), which was made over the summer of 2010 in Köln, Germany, as part of an innovative collaboration between students from TFT and Köln's Internationale Filmschule. "Playtime" will screen three times between March 11 and 17 at Austin's mammoth South By Southwest Conferences and Festivals (SXSW), a sprawling media showcase that engulfs the entire city. The experience is guaranteed to be a memorable one, especially because, for native Texan Mireles, the event marks a significant homecoming.

So far, Slattery and Mireles have traveled from TFT to Europe and back again. In January, they were in Park City, Utah, where "Playtime" had its first public showings, in competition, at the Sundance Film Festival, the world famous Mecca for independent cinema, where it played in the Shorts Competition. It received standing ovations at all three of its screenings.

"It's been a pretty amazing year," Mireles said. In addition to the success of "Playtime," his short film "Hijo de mi Madre" (A Mother's Son) screened at Park City's other festival, Slamdance, while his short "Love Analysis" went to last year's SXSW. "And after that, the German film" -- as Mireles refers to "Playtime" -- "got into Sundance."

"For our category alone," said producer Slattery, "Sundance had over 7,600 submissions this year, of which only 64 films were selected. Ours was one of the 64."

The film, which follows the lives of several German youths on a Sunday afternoon, was made under highly unusual circumstances that could serve as a model for the new emphasis placed by TFT dean Teri Schwartz on interdisciplinary collaboration and global diversity. Mireles and Slattery were among five students selected to represent the school as part of a groundbreaking cooperative venture worked out between Barbara Boyle, chair of the school's department of film, television and digital media, and the Internationale Filmschule Köln (IFS).

As part of this program, the TFT filmmakers collaborated with each other on various projects and with five IFS filmmakers, as well as four directors, four cinematographers and two producers. "Playtime" was one of four films that resulted from the collaboration.

Mireles and Slattery were naturally thrilled when "Playtime" was officially selected for Sundance. And the festival, Mireles said, was a revelation.

"Whatever you think it is, it's like 200 percent more than that," he said. "Everybody there is either skiing or a celebrity or a very important person in the industry or just really into movies. You can strike up a conversation with just about anybody. To go there and be a part of Sundance, it's like nothing else. It was crazy-pants."

Finally seeing "Playtime" projected in a crowded theater for a sell-out crowd of passionate film lovers was a peak experience for both men.

"It was so vindicating to finally see it with an audience," Mireles said. "The film played four times in Park City, and for me, sitting there, hearing people laugh, it was like, 'Everybody likes it!' You shed a tear or two when you see your film at Park City. Every moment feels really good."

The Sundance visit included a reunion of sorts with their German collaborators Christopher Becker, one of the film's producers, and photographer Paul Pieck, who flew in for the occasion. And to cap it all off, at Sundance's exclusive annual Director's Lunch, Mireles had a brief but close encounter with screen icon and festival founder Robert Redford.

"I used my moments with him to talk about an amazing environmental documentary I had seen in Austin that he executive produced, 'The Unforeseen.' It's about the unexpected impacts of a development on a beautiful natural feature in the area, Barton Springs Pool, a swimming hole that's fed by a spring. And he said, 'Did you know, I learned to swim there when I was 6?' It was great to have that kind of a personal encounter with a man of his stature," Mireles said. "He'll never remember it, but I always will."

When Mireles, Slattery and their fellow TFT students -- production/directing candidate Iliana Sosa and cinematography students Jeanne Tyson and Leigh Underwood -- left the U.S. for Köln's IFS in the summer of 2010, they had little idea of how things would turn out.

"It was a leap into the unknown," Slattery said.

They'd been told only that they would be making films inspired by the classic 1930 German silent feature "People on Sunday" (Menschen am Sonntag). But they couldn't find a copy of the film in the States to study before leaving for Europe.

Their initial anxiety was soon replaced by exhilaration.

"The first time they screened 'People on Sunday' for us in Germany," Mireles recalled, "it was intoxicating. The people who made it are now major names in film history -- Billy Wilder, who was one of the writers, Curt Siodmak, Fred Zinneman, gifted people who later emigrated to the U.S. when the Nazis took over. But at the time they made this film, they were a bunch of twentysomethings, just like us, and the film was made in an experimental, loose way, with a crew of eight and no professional actors, so a lot of it feels like a documentary. The people from IFS told us, 'This is what we want to do and this is what we have the budget for.'"

Mireles wrote the "Playtime" script in English and had it translated for the German cast and crew, a group of 20, including three well-established working actors and an award-winning director of photography named Jens Nolte. With their help, Mireles and Slattery managed to shoot the 13-minute "Playtime" in only four days at the end of July 2010.

"Jens did a great job of shooting it," Mireles said. "It looks beautiful, and everybody did a great job." Indicating Slattery, he added, "Actually, I caught this guy holding a boom mic a few times."

"I was the untrained sound man, the illegal driver, the inefficient translator and the irresponsible child-actor wrangler," Slattery joked.

On a more serious note, Slattery said the producing training he received at TFT was invaluable to his work with Mireles on "Playtime."

"UCLA teaches creative producing," he said, "more than probably any other film school, And it was really great to work with a director who is also a friend and who was open to creative collaboration."

Of their film's loose, companionable style, Mireles said: "We wanted to do something in Kön similar to what 'People on Sunday' did in Berlin. They showed everything that was happening around the action. They would show people making out in a forest, and then the camera would pan to the left to show that the lovers were near a dumpsite. In our first shot, it's a man sitting on some stone stairs in a park, and it all looks green and beautiful, but change angles and you can see that in the background behind him, there's a nuclear plant."

"For me," Slattery said, "the movie is about all of the seemingly unimportant things in life that are absolutely wonderful. The simple moments. For me that's 'Playtime.'"

"Ryan coined the expression 'point of view relay' to describe the structure of it, " Mireles said, "which I think is perfect. We start off with one character, and he meets two others, and that situation gets awkward and one of them leaves, and a group of kids comes into it at the end. It's life unfolding. If I was going to describe 'Playtime,' I would say it's like recess, which was on of my favorite things growing up. That's what I feel like when I'm watching it."

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/879-sundance-playtime/

"Anvil" alum Sacha Gervasi films 'The Making of 'Psycho'"

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Mon Mar 5, 2012 -- According to "The Hollywood Reporter," TFT alum Sacha Gervasi is set to direct "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho," which tells the story of the legendary filmmaker in production on one of his most famous films.

At the height of his fame as the "Master of Suspense," both as a director of feature films and as the host of TV's "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," the ex-pat Brit decided to make an intense horror film that no major studio wanted to touch. Hitchcock stubbornly pieced together financing for a low budget production.

"Psycho," of course, became a huge hit and perhaps the most influential horror film of all time.

Gervasi is a TFT screenwriting alumnus who wrote Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal" and Malcolm Venville's "Henry's Crime." He directed the popular documentary "Anvil: The Story of Anvil," which won the top music film prize from the International Documentary Association in 2008. He held the Lew and Pamela Hunter/Jonathan and Janice Zakin Chair in Screenwriting at TFT during the 2009-2010 academic year.

Oscar® winner and TFT friend Anthony Hopkins will play the legendary Hitchcock. Co-staring are Golden Globe® nominee Scarlett Johannson as Janet Leigh, lookalike James D'Arcy as Anthony Perkins and Academy Award® winner Helen Mirren as the filmmaker's wife, Alma Reville.

Producing Gervasi's film are Ivan Reitman ("Ghostbusters"), Tom Thayer ("Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"), Alun Bollinger ("Lord of the Rings") and Alan Barnette ("Alfred Hitchcock Presents," 1985-'86).

Respected journalist Stephen Rebello and screenwriter John J. McLaughlin ("Black Swan") based their script on Rebello's non-fiction book. The Montecito Picture Company and Fox Searchlight Pictures will shoot the film in Los Angeles.

Gervasi has also been linked to an adaptation of Jo Nesbø's Nordic noir bestseller "Headhunters."

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/881-sacha-gervasi-psycho/

"Stein: Stung" New book by TFT Professor Hal Ackerman

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Fri Mar 2, 2012 -- Hal Ackerman, TFT screenwriting professor and co-chair of the School's screenwriting program, has published a second novel featuring perpetually toasted gumshoe, Harry Stein, a follow up to his 2010 debut thriller "Stein Stoned."

Last time, it was stolen weed and knockoff designer shampoo. This time, it is the seemingly trivial occurrence of a few pilfered honeybee colonies that propels former hippie and merry prankster Harry Stein into the multitrillion dollar world of the honey industry.

In the presence of six trillion bees to pollinate millions of acres of almond trees, Stein, who is deathly allergic to bee stings, discovers the natural catastrophe of colony collapse, and a corrupt grab by organized AGROBIZ for all of the available water in Southern California.

In his absence, Harry's daughter Angie and his woman-friend Lila's very attractive seventeen-year old stepson find an elephant tusk that has been carried into Lila's pool on an underground seepage from the nearby La Brea Tar Pits. When the rest of the skeleton emerges, it turns out not to be the prehistoric mammoth they'd hoped it would be, but a human being who just might have been murdered in the 1920s. The perpetrator of the eighty-year-old murder is still alive and the most powerful man in Los Angeles and will do anything to keep the secret hidden.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/880-stein-stung/

Payne and Verbinski are 2012 Oscar winners

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Mon Feb 27, 2012 -- TFT alumni Gore Verbinski '87 and Alexander Payne MFA '90 won Oscars in major categories at the 84th Annual Academy Awards on February 26.

Executive Board Member Verbinski accepted the Best Animated feature Oscar for "Rango," his innovative first venture into the medium of animation after a highly successful career making live action blockbusters.

"This film," Verbinski declared from the podium, "was made by a bunch of grownups acting like children."

Payne was the director as well as the co-writer (with Nat Faxon & Jim Rash) of "The Descendants," the film that won this year's Best Adapted Screenplay trophy -- Payne's second after his 2005 win for "Sideways" in the same category.

Backstage at the event, Payne praised his co-writers: "They paved a path for me because they'd been through the book quite a few times. They gave me the luxury to pick and choose what I responded to."

Nominated along with Payne and Verbinski was TFT Executive Board Member Frank Marshall '68, the producer of Best Picture nominee "War Horse," directed by Steven Spielberg.

Two friends of TFT also won Oscars, "The Artist" costume designer Mark Bridges, a guest recently at the School's second annual Oscar-themed costume design panel, "From Sketch to Screen," and visual effects wizard Rob Legato, who attended a special 3-D screening of his winning project "Hugo" in the Bridges Theater, as part of the Dean's Special Artists series.

Both "The Descendants" and "Rango" were heavily favored in their categories, in which they had won multiple precursor prizes and critics group awards.

"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.

"Rango" is a mock spaghetti western populated by a cast of goggle-eyed desert critters led by Johnny Depp, who voiced the title character, a chameleon suffering an identity crisis.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/accolade/878-2012-oscars/

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" reported 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 was officially complete with the addition of three more stars: Kevin Bacon, Chris Colfer and John C. Reilly, organizers announced Wednesday. The actors joined 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, debuted at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Saturday, March 3, 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/