Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, recognized as one of the premier film schools in the United States, announced today that acclaimed writer, producer and director of blockbuster films (“Independence Day,” “Godzilla”, “Independence Day: Resurgence”) and highly-rated television projects (“Stargate SG-1,” “Stargate: Atlantis”), Dean Devlin will join the faculty as the fall 2018 Women Of Chapman Distinguished Artist.
Dean Devlin
As an artist-in-residence, Devlin will share the creative thinking and processes behind creating, developing, writing, directing and producing some of the most memorable film and television content over the last 25 years. During that time Devlin has been a prolific provider of crowd-pleasing film and television fare, including producing and co-writing some of the most successful feature films of all time, “Godzilla,” “Independence Day,” and the “Stargate” TV series, which grossed more than $800 million worldwide. Devlin also produced the Mel Gibson period drama, “The Patriot,” which was nominated for three Academy Awards® and earned Gibson a People’s Choice Award for Best Actor.
Dean Devlin currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Electric Entertainment, the full-service film, television, worldwide sales & distribution company and studio he founded in May 2001, which also houses Electric Post, a state-of-the-art digital effects and post-production facility.
Every semester, Dodge College hosts expert filmmakers to meet with and counsel selected scholars, as part of its Distinguished Artist program. The popular program includes regular, bi-weekly meetings with filmmakers in a one-on-one setting to mentor scholars developing a work in progress, such as a screenplay, a concept in development, or footage suitable for an episodic form to work on during the semester. In addition, Devlin will interact with the larger Dodge community at weekly dinners open to students and in classroom discussions following weekly screenings of his work. This particular appointment is funded by the Women of Chapman, a philanthropic support group of Chapman University.
“Dean Devlin brings a diversity of experience as a writer, director, actor and producer that is invaluable as a model for students seeking to enter the entertainment business today,” says Dodge College Dean Bob Bassett. “Having worked in front of and behind the camera as well as in both film and television, he can offer tremendous insights to our students about the flexibility needed to build a career in a world of changing platforms and varying episodic formats.”
Past Filmmakers-in-Residence at Chapman have included Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs; Academy Award winning Visual Effects supervisor Richard Edlund (“Star Wars: A New Hope,” “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi”); award-winning director, writer and producer Michael Apted (“Up” series, “Gorillas in the Midst,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “The World is Not Enough”); Rob Cohen, the renowned filmmaker behind such blockbuster hits as “The Fast and the Furious,” “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” and “xXx”; Academy Award®-winning producer Cathy Schulman (“Crash,” “The Illusionist,” “Salvation Boulevard”); Academy Award®-nominated producer JoAnne Sellar (“There Will Be Blood,” “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia”), award-winning director Donald Petrie (“Miss Congeniality,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “Grumpy Old Men,” “Mystic Pizza”); Hollywood producer Cathleen Summers (“The Sandlot,” “Stakeout,” “Another Stakeout”); director and producer Betty Thomas (“Dr. Doolittle,” “Private Parts,” “Brady Bunch Movie,” “I Spy”); screenwriter and producer Leslie Dixon (“Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Hairspray,” “Limitless”); director and producer Jonathan Sanger (“Vanilla Sky,” “The Elephant Man,” “The Producers”); director Sheldon Epps (“Friends,” “Frasier”), producer Michael Phillips (“Taxi Driver,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”); director Martha Coolidge (“Real Genius,” “Rambling Rose,” “Valley Girl”); and film and TV producer Gary Foster (“Daredevil,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Ghost Rider”).
About Chapman University:
As an academically distinguished center of learning, Chapman University attracts extraordinary students and faculty from around the globe. Its ten schools and colleges foster a vibrant intellectual community, and provide extensive opportunities for students to learn, grow and discover alongside remarkable faculty. The University is home to some 8,000 students pursuing bachelor, master and doctoral degrees, and is alma mater to more than 40,000 alumni found throughout the United States and the world. Now celebrating its 157th year, Chapman is known for its distinguishing strengths in leadership and civic engagement, in the arts and entertainment disciplines, and in specialized sectors of technology and science. The University is comprised of its main campus in Orange, California, and the Rinker Health Science campus for graduate health science programs in Irvine, California. Visit us at www.chapman.edu.
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Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts:
Recognized as one of the top ten film schools in the world and ranked #6 by The Hollywood Reporter among American film schools, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University offers students an array of undergraduate, graduate, and joint-program degrees that address the rapidly changing entertainment business including what it takes to pitch, produce, finance, market and distribute content. Open to students 24/7, Dodge College is housed on the film school campus comprised of the Digital Media Arts Center, Chapman Studios West, and the heart of the film school, the 76,000-square-foot Marion Knott Studios built from the ground up to replicate a working studio. Dodge College students have garnered numerous awards including Student Academy and College Television Awards. Notable alumni include Matt and Ross Duffer ’07 (Netflix series Stranger Things) and Justin Simien (feature film/Netflix series Dear White People). With an award-winning full-time faculty with a combined filmography of more than 500 feature films, Dodge College is where students learn the entertainment business from the inside out.
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