Ashton Avila completed her MFA in 2017 and through a series of fortunate events was hired for the PlayStation Emerging Filmmakers program to direct a pilot show, Two Roads. Avila made sure to network at her previous employments and through a relationship was contacted for an opening for director. Over the next two weeks her
Sarah Wilson Thacker (MFA/DR ’13) and Jamie Clevenger (MFA/FTP ’12) directed and produced, respectively, The Many Lives of Ayn Winters pilot for PlayStation’s Emerging Filmmakers Program. The program called for original stories through a competition with creators, and once five ideas were selected, Sarah was hired on to develop the screenplay. Sarah was the first
The love and pursuit of video games landed Ovilee May (BFA/News and Doc ’18) her current role as the sole Broadcast Interviewer with one of the biggest eSports leagues in the world, League of Legends. “I’ve been playing video games since I could hold a controller at like 3 years old,” says May. She still
Ben Weiner (’17) and Logan Beerman (’16), came together to form Bazooka Entertainment, LLC a few years ago to film, edit and produce sports-related content. With their main clients being NFL Network and US Soccer, they became immersed in the sports world and decided they wanted to create a story of their own – an
In most senses, filmmaking and tabletop game design are worlds apart. Ben Kepner graduated from Chapman with a degree in film production in 2013, and at the time didn’t know that tabletop game design was a viable career path. But six years later, after a few lucky encounters and a lot of hard work, landed
Recently, Katie Page (BA/PRA ’18) was an intern as Brand Journalist/Blogger on the Storytelling Team at Kashi Co. Below she answers questions about her experience. How did you find your internship? I found my internship by chance, honestly. The office is walking distance from my house in San Diego and one day when I was
Former students of Harry Ufland step up to emulate what the late professor gave them every semester; the chance to network with industry professionals. Elise Laplante’s ’13 reason for helping, “was to honor Harry’s memory. Harry was my first mentor in the business and I wanted to celebrate his spirit by helping current students connect
As a proud alumni of the Dodge Film School Creative Producing class of 2015, I have become a member of the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy Foundation. I’ve sold feature films internationally and domestically, and my work online has reached over 80 million viewers. Through my work as a Producer, I began
I remember my very first film’s public show. It was in 2005 as part of the student thesis-festival at Cleveland State University. Together with my film school classmates – I organized a small film event, consisting of several thesis films from our final production class at CSU’s film program. Our goal was to get together
As a six-year-old sitting on a couch with cookies disguised as cereal, entranced by the adventures of a real American hero, I never would have dreamed the creator of the most seminal show of my childhood would one day become my mentor. Ron Friedman, the mastermind behind G.I Joe, A Real American Hero, not only
While I was on a shooting hiatus with my last film, In Football We Trust, I lived in Israel/Palestine for 7 months on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, which I had been awarded after graduating from Chapman University. While there, I taught film, mentored local filmmakers, assisted NGOs launch media advocacy projects, and continued my post-graduate
Melanie Duke (BFA/DA ’17) started a new role with 20th Century Fox as a Creative Content Coordinator. Erika Cohn’s (BFA/FP ’09) film will receive its LA theatrical release on April 20th at the Laemmle Monica Film Center. Erika will be around afterwards for a Q&A. JJ Englert (BFA/CRPR ’15) has started a company, Industry Jump,