USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS

The 'USC School of Cinematic Arts', formerly named the 'School of Cinema-Television' ('CNTV'), is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The school offers multiple undergraduate and graduate programs. For 2006-2007, the school had 728 undergraduates and 621 graduate students.^[1]
The School’s founding faculties include Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, William C. DeMille, Ernst Lubitsch, Irving Thalberg, and Darryl Zanuck. Notable professors include Drew Casper, the Alma and Alfred Hitchcock Professor of American Film; Tomlinson Holman, inventor of THX; David Bondelevitch, President of the Motion Picture Sound Editors; and Mark Jonathan Harris, documentary filmmaker.
The program is one of USC's most competitive specialty schools, for both undergraduate and graduate programs. The BA program in film production accepts 50 students per year,^[2] while the Critical Studies department accepts 75 for its BA program, 20-25 for its MA program, and 10-12 for the Ph.D.; the BFA program in Writing for Film and Television accepts only 24 students per year^[3]. The MFA program in film directing accepts 48 new students each year and the MFA for screenwriting accepts 32 students. Acceptance to any program is contingent upon review of a portfolio, which requires writing samples, creative resumes, autobiographies, and other written responses. The production portfolio does not require the submission of a director's reel or any film samples, allowing talented students who may have not had the opportunity or the means to create films to have the opportunity for admission.^[4]
In April 2006, the USC Board of Trustees voted to change the school's name to the USC School of Cinematic Arts.^[5]
On September 19, 2006, USC announced that alumnus George Lucas had donated US$175 million to expand the film school with a new 137,000-square-foot facility. This represented the largest single donation to USC and the largest to any film school in the world.^[6]
And recently, USC School of Cinematic Arts joined forces with the Royal Film Commission of Jordan, to create the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts (RSICA) in Aqaba, Jordan.^[7]

Contents

Facilities

Areas of study

Accomplished SCA alumni

Notable faculty members and instructors

Distinctions

Student winners

Trivia

References

External links

Facilities

Film industry companies, friends, and many of the school's famous alumni have joined forces to fund a world-class film and television complex at USC. Their gifts and ongoing support have enabled the School to build some of the top facilities and equipment of any film school anywhere, including:

★ the George Lucas Instructional Building

★ the Marcia Lucas Post Production Building

★ the Steven Spielberg Motion Picture Sound Scoring Stage

★ the Harold Lloyd Sound Stage

★ the Johnny Carson Sound Stage

★ the Robert Zemeckis Center, home of USC's number 1 ranked student television network, Trojan Vision.

★ the Eileen Norris Theater

★ the David L. Wolper Center

Areas of study

★ Business of Entertainment (offered in conjunction with the Marshall School of Business MBA Program)

★ Critical Studies

★ Division of Animation and Digital Arts (DADA)

★ Interactive Media

★ Producing under The Peter Stark Producing Program

★ Production

★ Screenwriting

Accomplished SCA alumni

''See also:'' List of University of Southern California people

★ Thom Andersen

★ Judd Apatow

★ Gregg Araki

★ Richard L. Bare

★ Ben Burtt

★ John Carpenter

★ Nick Castle

★ Caleb Deschanel

★ Brian Grazer

★ Bob Gale

★ Alfred Gough

★ Javier Grillo-Marxuach

★ Conrad Hall

★ Grant Heslov

★ Ron Howard

★ James Ivory

★ Jonathan Ke Quan

★ Richard Kelly

★ Ken Kwapis

★ Jon Landau

★ Doug Liman

★ George Lucas

★ John Milius

★ Miles Millar

★ Walter Murch

★ Don Murphy

★ Jay Roach

★ Shonda Rhimes

★ Gary Rydstrom

★ Josh Schwartz

★ Bryan Singer

★ John Singleton

★ Tim Story

★ Stephen Sommers

★ Steven Spielberg (Honorary Diploma)

★ Lee Unkrich

★ John Wells

★ Robert Zemeckis

★ Laura Ziskin

Notable faculty members and instructors

★ Todd Boyd

★ Drew Casper

★ Mark Jonathan Harris

★ Tomlinson Holman

★ Leonard Maltin

★ Paul Wolff

★ Robert Zemekis

Distinctions

★ Since 1973, not a year has passed without an alumnus having been nominated for an Academy Award.

★ Alumni have held key creative or production positions in 8 of the 10 highest grossing movies in history.

Student winners

★ Producer John Longenecker received an Academy Award for a film produced while attending USC Cinema classes -- ''The Resurrection of Broncho Billy'' (1970) - best live action short film.

★ In 2001, MFA student David Greenspan won the Palme d’Or for short film at the Cannes Film Festival for his student film ''Bean Cake''.^[9]

Trivia

★ Steven Spielberg was denied admission to the program twice. In spite of this, the iconic filmmaker now sits on the school's board of directors and is a trustee of the university.

References

1. Stastics at a Glance, USC School of Cinematic Arts, ''Accessed March 18, 2007.''
2. USC School of Cinematic Arts Production Application Requirements
3. USC School of Cinematic Arts, Writing for Film and Television Application Requirements
4. USC School of Cinematic Arts, Applications by Program and Deadlines
5. Stuart Silverstein, George Lucas Donates USC's Largest Single Gift, ''The Los Angeles Times'', September 19, 2006
6. John Zollinger, George Lucas Donates 5 Million to USC, USC Public Relations, September 20, 2006
7. Jordan Signs Cinema Pact With USC, USC Public Relations, September 20, 2006
8. venues/norris.html Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre, USC Event Venues, ''Accessed May 29, 2007.
9. Alumni Profile: Cannes Do Spirit, ''Trojan Family Magazine'', Spring 2002, ''Accessed Sept. 19, 2006''.

External links

★ USC School of Cinematic Arts website

★ SCA Community

★ CNTV Alumni Online

★ USC Moving Image Archive website

★ USC Cinema Copyright Policy