News
Jane Ainbinder '94
Nail Polish, her independent feature film, has been invited to screen at the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Denver International Film Festival. Nail Polish is a bittersweet coming-of-age comic drama set in the 1980s.
Judd Apatow
Will write and produce Walk Hard, a comedy pitch that Columbia has acquired, with Jake Kasdan.
Doug Atchison '88
Has signed a three-picture, first-look deal with the independent Weinstein Co. in which he will direct his next two pictures.
Kelley Baker '82
Independent filmmaker, is about to go on a self-distributing tour for his lastest movie, Kicking Bird, the story of Martin "Bird" Johnson, a 17-year-old white trash high school kid who runs.
Malik Booth '03
And his team, Team Voltron, won Best Narrative Film at the Elevate Film Festival for their movie My Letter to Hip-Hop.
Sheldon Candis '02
Directs Young Cesar for CodeBlack Entertainment/Universal Home Video.
Corey Scholibo '01
Has been named arts and entertainment editor at the Advocate. He was formally, a senior account executive at ID-PR.
Robert Borden '91
Will team with Brian Grazer and David Nevins to develop a half-hour comedy for Imagine Television. George Lopez, of which he is executive producer, has a significant commitment from ABC.
Julian Breece '05
Garnered 3rd place honors in the 2006 Slamdance Screenplay Competition for his original screenplay Ball, making him the youngest writer to receive this honor. Breece was honored in a ceremony hosted by the Writer's Guild of America, and will further be honored during the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Dina Chapman '92
Co-wrote the teen comedy The Prom for the Weinstein Company's Dimension Films. She also is currently working on the screenplay adaptation of John O'Farrell's novel The Best a Man Can Get for Little Bird Productions of London and director Peter Cattaneo. Chapman has also had her first book of humor, I Love You, Man...But Not Like That, published by Andrews-McMeel Publishing and due to stores in September 2006.
Pete Chiarelli '99
Is executive producing a DreamWorks Pictures adaptation of the studio's book property Nightlife, about a female serial killer who changes identification every time she commits a murder.
Jon Chu '00
Will directing the teen comedy The Prom for the Weinstein Company's Dimension Films.
J.D. Crowley '03
Won three local EMMY awards producing on the air promos while working at KCBS. He also works for Paramount Executive Producer Linda Bell Blue, and Mary Hart of PM Magazine.
Luigi De Laurentiis '03
Is producing the new Filmauro feature, Christmas In New York.
Trevor Engelson '98
Of L.A.- based Underground Films signed a one-year, first-look deal with The Weinstein Company.
Christopher Fedak '98
Is teaming with Josh Schwartz to write and executive produce pilot Grosse Pointe Blank, a hourlong high concept action drama.
will Ferrell
Plays Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
James Gray '91
Has been set to rewrite and direct Alphabet City, based on a novel by Steven Knight, who originally wrote the first draft.
Brian Grazer '74
Will be producing the Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment thriller The Changeling by J. Michael Straczynski; is working with the FBI to develop an hourlong drama focusing on the agency's post-9/11 role within the government; with Imagine TV prexy/partner David Nevins, Grazer will team with Robert Borden, executive producer of George Lopez, to develop a half-hour comedy for Imagine Television.
Kevin Greutert
Is editing Saw 3, his third in the horror franchise.
Grant Heslov '86
Will launch and run Smoke House, a Warners-based production shingle, with longtime colleague George Clooney in August 2006; will produce Universal's Leatherheads, which will star George Clooney, and possibly Renee Zellweger.
Ron Howard
Will be directing the Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment thriller The Changeling by J. Michael Straczynski; will be directing an adaptation of Peter Morgan's play Frost/Nixon, which concerns the famed 1977 television interviews between David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.
Becky Hutner '03
Will be producing and editing a new, daily entertainment show for NBC called Your LA.
Nancy Juvonen
Is producing the Warner Bros. thriller He Loves Me along with her Flower Films partner, Drew Barrymore, in which Barrymore will also star.
Aaron Kaplan
Who is head of scripted TV and programming for William Morris Agencyis a new member on the board of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society.
David Klass '89
Is author of the young adult bookFirestorm, which he has also adapted into screenplay for Warner Bros. Pictures. This will be the first in the planned Caretaker Trilogy.
Jon Kroll '89
Will executive produce for New Line Television's Wedding Crashers, a hidden-camera reality take on the comedy feature.
Shawn Levy '94
His production shingle 21 Laps Entertainment is producing the romantic comedy spec Matchbreaker for 20th Century Fox.
Meredith Jacobson Marciano '81
Has ran a successful casting company in New York City since 1986, and has begun casting an Italian film for Filmauro, which will shoot in NYC called Christmas In New York.
Felipe Marino '04
Is a partner of Occupant Films, a shingle he started two years ago along with two other recent graduates of the Peter Stark Producing Program, Joe Neurauter and Keith Calder. Marino is producer of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, which Occupant financed on a six-figure budget.
Kevin McCollum '89
Produced the new Off Broadway musical In the Heights, based off the book by Quiara Alegria Hudes.
Chris McGurk
Is in line to run the film side in the new Starz pay TV operation, which is in the making of becoming a full-fledged media company.
Neal Moritz '85
Is producing a DreamWorks Pictures adaptation of the studio's book property Nightlife, about a female serial killer who changes identification every time she commits a murder; producing futuristic crime story, Roadside Picnic, based on the book by Russian writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky.
Don Murphy '88
Of Angryfilms is producing the Warner Bros. Pictures adaptation of DC Comics' Deadman.
Nick Osborne '97
Of L.A.- based Underground Films signed a one-year, first-look deal with The Weinstein Company.
Polhemus, Mack '93
Has written and directed two independent features, one of which is a family comedy that premiered at the Dances with Film Festival in Los Angeles, My Bad Dad. It's about a burned-out biker dude who is entrusted with three children when his ex-girlfriend dies.
Chuck Pratt '78
Has signed on to be executive producer of Fox's Vanished. Earlier this year, he signed a deal to wite two blind scripts for 20th Century Fox TV.
Jay Roach '86
With his company, Everyman Pictures, will produce the independent film, Smother , for Inferno Distribution. The film will star Diane Keaton, Dax Shepard, and Liv Tyler.
David Schiff '91
Is now Vice President of Development and Production for Hell's Kitchen producer Arthur Smith of A. Smith & Co.
Josh Schwartz '99
Is teaming with Christopher Fedak to write and executive produce pilot Grosse Pointe Blank, a hourlong high concept action drama.
Tom Shadyac
Of Shady Acres will produce Magic 8 Ball, a high-concept comedy about the toy, with Universal Pictures.
Michael Shamberg
Was signed with Double Feature partner, Stacey Sher, to a three-year, first-look production deal with Paramount Pictures.
Stacey Sher '85
Was signed with Double Feature partner, Michael Shamberg, to a three-year, first-look production deal with Paramount Pictures.
Jon Singleton '90
Has signed a five-picture domestic distribution pact with Universal Pictures under his production company, New Deal Productions.
stephen Susco '99
Will write the spec script for Lionsgate and Sobini Films' Santuary, based on the book Bad Men, by John Connolly.
Adam Sztykiel '00
His production shingle 21 Laps Entertainment is producing the romantic comedy spec Matchbreaker for 20th Century Fox.
Michael Taylor (Chair of USC CNTV Production Division)
Will produce the romantic drama Unforgettable for Gold Circle and released by Universal.
Andy Tennant '77
Will direct the adventure comedy Fool's Gold starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson for Warner Bros.
Rawson Thurber '99
Is directing Groundswell Production's, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, which will star Peter Sarsgaard, Sienna Miller, Nick Nolte, Jon Foster, and Mena Suvari.
Matthew Weiner '94
Has had his original drama Mad Men, a cinematic drama set in the 1960s Madison Avenue will follow the professional lives, social mores, and sexual exploits of ad execs, bought by AMC to premiere next June.
Benjamin Weissman '74
Is editing the limited anthology series Battleground by Stephen King for TNT.
Laura Ziskin '73
Has been hired to produce the 79th Academy Awards by president, Sid Ganis.
Films and TV Shows
You, Me and Dupree
Mike LeSieur, Screenwriter.
Monster House
Robert Zemeckis, Executive Producer.
Click
Neal Moritz, Producer.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Sheldon Kahn, Editor.
Ant Bully
Jon Price, Editor.
Zoom
Suzanne Todd, Producer;
Jennifer Todd, Producer;
Nicholas Osborne, Executive Producer;
Trevor Engelson, Executive Producer.
Step Up
Melissa Rosenberg, Screenwriter.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Rickey Bobby
Judd Apatow, Producer.
Invincible
Gordon Gray, Producer;
Ericson Core, Director and Camera.
Beerfest
Lee Haxall, Editor.
The Black Dahlia
Josh Friedman, Screenplay.
Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show
Ari Sandel, Director.
Borat:Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Jay Roach, Producer.
All the King's Men
Gray Marshall, Visual Effects Supervisor.
Flyboys
David S. Ward, Screenwriter.
Blade: The Series
David Goyer, Executive Producer;
Jon Kroll, Executive Producer.
Entertainment Tonight
J.D. Crowley, Supervising Producer.
The Insider
J.D. Crowley, Supervising Producer.
Vanished
Chris Black, Co-executive Producer.
Prison Break
Neal Moritz, Executive Producer;
Zack Estrin Co-executive Producer.
Weeds
Craig Zisk, Co-executive Producer.
Nip/Tuck
Christopher Baffa, Camera.
Standoff
Tim Story Director and Executive Producer.
The Path to 9/11
Cyrus Nowrasteh Writer/Producer.
Jericho
Stephen Chbosky, Executive Producer/Writer;
Jon Turtletaub, Director/Executive Producer.<
'Til Death
Josh Goldsmith, Executive Producer;
Cathy Yuspa, Executive Producer.
Smith
John Wells, Executive Producer/Writer.
Six Degrees
Bryan Burk, Executive Producer.
Heroes
Greg Beeman, Executive Producer.