ALUMNI Quicktakes
These alumni are making power moves worth noting.
Heliya Alam ’17 released her short film The List, which she wrote and directed. The List focuses on mental health.
Gaz Alazraki ’01 is set to direct a movie for Candle Media's Exile Content Studios about the true story of four Colombian children who survived a plane crash and living in the Amazon Rainforest for 40 days.
Carl Albert ’20 released his first novel, Truth of Crowns, in May.
Scott Alexander ’85 and Larry Karaszewski ’85 received the Bill Wittliff Award for Screenwriting at the 30th Austin Film Festival.
Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum ’99 will direct an adaptation of Anya Blau's novel Mary Jane for 3000 Pictures.
Akil Rashad Anderson ’21 was selected as one of six inaugural Fellows by BIPOC content accelerator Rideback Rise, while Marissa Díaz ’14 was one of ten Rideback Rise Residents.
Michelle Askew ’21 is a staff writer on Season 3 of Ginny & Georgia.
Evan Bregman ’08 was named to the LA TV Week 40 Under 40 Class of 2023.
Gabriel Brugni da Cruz ’16 received an Honorable Mention at WeScreenplay for his script, The White Lobster.
Trey Callaway ’89 was hired to write a new pilot for Netflix based on an international bestselling novel.
Madison Campione ’19 is writing and directing a new pilot, The Disappearance of Violet Willoughby, with Cineteller Productions.
Danielle Canepa ’14 produced the feature film Mrs. Booker on 8th Avenue with her brother, Alexander, which won the Reel-Life Award at the Chattanooga Film Festival. The film was also chosen as the US Spotlight Film at the 2023 Richmond International Film Festival.
Guillermo Casarin ’21 directed Bad Hombrewood, which won Best Latinx Short at the Cleveland International Film Festival.
Linda Yvette Chavez ’07 received the Crystal Award for Advocacy at the 2023 WIF Honors Awards, while America Ferrera (Dornsife) ’13 received the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award.
Akela Cooper ’06 will adapt Jack Follman’s short story It’s Over as a feature film for Sony Pictures. The film will be produced by Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment alongside Scott Glassgold’s Ground Control.
Rui Cui ’17 completed his debut feature film, Lost in the Stars (消失的她), which premiered in China in June 2023 and in the US in July 2023. Upon release, it topped the global box office for two weeks and remained in the top 10 box office earners for 2023, earning $1,721,446 USD so far.
Marissa Díaz ’14 was selected as a Sundance Episodic Lab Fellow 2023 with her script, Cochinas.
Howard Emanuel ’23 will participate in the WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Lab as one of five winners with his script, Shortstop. He also entered the Top 15 of Write LA's Pilot Competition.
Ingrid Escajeda ’02 signed a first look deal with Universal Television.
Paul Feig ’84 will produce a film adaptation of the novel Suburban Hell alongside Sam Raimi for Legendary Entertainment.
Caitlin Fein ’18 wrote the episode “Pranks Fore Nothing” for Nickelodeon's The Loud House, which aired on May 18th.
Gabby Fizman ’22 and Isabella Ares ’23 wrote a comedy, Holy Smokes, which won a $40,000 award from Kevin Smith on behalf of Roman Coppola's new film platform, Decentralized Pictures.
Coco Francini ’10 will produce Jenny Suen’s English-language feature debut Peaches starring Emma Corrin and Lucie Zhang.
Dina Gachman ’07 released her second book, So Sorry for Your Loss, which is a collection of essays about the grieving process.
Julio Vincent Gambuto ’16 published his first book, Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! in August with Avid Reader Press at Simon & Schuster.
Gwydhar Gebien ’15 published her third novel, Enfant Terrible: Showstopper, the next installment in a series of engrossing rock novels about a complicated antihero.
Hannah Getts ’14 produced the off-Broadway play Job, written by Max Wolf Friedlich and ran September 6 - October 8 at the SoHo Playhouse. It won the Lighthouse Series 2022.
Patricio Ginelsa ’99’s film Lumpia With A Vengeance released digitally on Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV and more (https://geni.us/lumpiamovie). Lumpia is a crowd-funded action comedy that received the 2020 Hawai'i International Film Festival Audience Award (Narrative Feature). Other alumni involved in the film include Christopher Santiago ’00 (Writer) and Dan Hertzog ’91 (Director of Photography).
James Gray ’91 will direct Ezekiel Moss for Focus Features.
Brian Grazer ’74 and Ron Howard, co-founders of Imagine Entertainment, signed a first-look deal with Amazon for Imagine's feature films and documentaries. Imagine Entertainment is also partnering with Wattpad Webtoon Studios to develop a feature adaptation of the Webtoon comic Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell from the creator known as Unfins.
Reuben Guberek ’15 released his short film The Flower of Battle, which he co-wrote and directed. The film is a comedic revival of the classic 'swashbuckler' genre.
Jordan Guingao ’20 was selected as one of five Humanitas New Voices Fellows with his script, Little Light. Feyza Safoglu ’23 was a finalist for the fellowship with her script, Insurgents; and Yeon Jin Lee ’20 was a semi-finalist with her script, Gwihyang.
George Heller ’01 is the executive producer of Role Play, which stars Kaley Cuoco. It will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on January 12, 2024.
Hikari ’11 will direct Rental Family for Searchlight, which she co-wrote with Stephen Blahut. Hikari will produce along with Shin Yamaguchi as well as Julia Lebedev ’06 and Eddie Vaisman of Sight Unseen Productions. The feature film will reportedly star Brendan Fraser.
Randal Kleiser ’74 self-published his second book, Drawing Directors, featuring sketches of famous film directors and his memories of meeting them.
Victoria E. Johnson ’97 was elected as President of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies.
Kelley Kali ’17 signed with The Gersh Agency following the success of her film I'm Fine (Thanks For Asking). Kelley also directed Jagged Mind, which was released on Hulu as a part of the new Pride Never Stops campaign.
Provenance took home Best Drama Series at the College Television Awards. Trojans attached to Provenance include Bijan Kazerooni ’22 (Producer), Julia Elizabeth Evans (Producer), Lucinda Hirschfeld ’22 (Producer), Ugonna Nwabueze ’22 (Producer), Caleb Townsend (Producer/Writer), Sayali Upadhye (Producer/Writer), and Vivian Gray ’22 (Director).
Kyle Killen ’97 will write and executive produce Netflix's series Man on Fire, adapted from the 2004 feature film starring Denzel Washington.
Daniel Kunka ’01 wrote Lift, starring Kevin Hart, which will premiere on Netflix on January 12, 2024. Lift is about a master thief and her ex-boyfriend who team up to steal $100 million in gold bullion that is being transported on a 777 passenger flight.
Annapurna Animation will produce an adaptation of the award-winning video game Stray, which was written by Steve Lerner ’11.
Olivia Levenson ’14 won second place in the Education Innovation Challenge held at Harvard University with Global Tinker, a mini-meditation program for children ages 3-5 who have experienced trauma or been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety.
Shawn Levy ’94’s 21 Laps Entertainment has sold Ben Ketai’s script Undying to Netflix under its first-look feature deal. Levy will produce for the company with Moera Ainai ’18 overseeing.
Chris Lightbody ’00 released the film Bootyology, which is currently available on VOD. Chris co-wrote it, produced it, and starred in it.
Peter LoGreco ’00 (Showrunner/Executive Producer/Director) received a Peabody Award for his work on HBO's We're Here. The show was also recognized by the Television Academy Honors.
Marina Massidda ’23 and Julia Rose Camus ’22 held a dual art exhibition in Highland Park called Skin Deep, which displayed their respective paintings and photography.
Charlie McDowell ’14 will direct and produce the film adaptation of Tove Jansson's novel The Summer Book, with Glenn Close set to star.
Dr. David Melbye ’06 was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship for two years at the University of Huddersfield. While there, David will complete his third book Crime-Jazz Diasporas: African American Music in Overseas Cinema.
Corey Mertes ’89 debut collection of short stories was published by Cornerstone Press as part of its Legacy Series.
Elizabeth Newman ’05 (Annenberg & Dornsife) joined Literate as its first new partner since the management and production company was launched in early 2018.
Lily Ni ’18’s first feature, Born to be Human, was released on Amazon Prime Video.
Peter Podgursky and Bryan Keithley ’07 released the dark-comedy, post-apocalyptic podcast series NPRmageddon, which spans 10 episodes.
John Ira Palmer ’17 produced Black Flies starring Sean Penn & Tye Sheridan. It premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Palmer also directed Out of the Corner of Our Eye, which is funded by National Endowment for the Arts and commissioned by SCI-Arc Channel for their Queer Perspectives series. Out of the Corner of Our Eye won the Audience Award for Best Platinum Short at the 2023 Outfest.
Tee Jaehyung Park ’22 and Urvashi Pathania ’20 are Second Year Fellows of the Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation Fellowship and Collab Scholarship.
Rodes Phire ’12 directed Farewelling, which premiered at Dances With Films.
Matt Reeves ’88 is set to showrun Warner Bros.' limited series about Buster Keaton. His production company, 6th & Idaho Productions, is also producing the project.
Jason Reitman is set to direct a film for Sony based on Saturday Night Live's opening night in 1975.
Brian Vincent Rhodes ‘15 Co-directed short Pacemaker which is up for Oscar consideration.
Allegra Rosenberg ’18 signed a contract with Norton for her debut nonfiction book, Fandom Forever (and Ever), about the history of fandom.
The Draymond Green Show — produced by Jackson Safon ’18 (Annenberg) — had an exclusive live podcast event at the UNINTERRUPTED Film Festival.
Kaushik Sampath ’14 and Neil Creque Williams ’12 were selected as fellows in the inaugural Blumhouse and K Period Media Screamwriting Fellowship. Kaushik and Williams are two of nine fellows selected to participate in this program created in partnership with the Sundance Institute.
Corey Sherman ’16 directed his first feature film Big Boys, which premiered at BFI Flare and won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at Outfest LA.
Min Shi ‘18 is nominated for a 2023 EMMY Award for Outstanding Main Title Design for The Last of Us.
Wild Eyed and Wicked won the “Dark Matters Feature” Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival 2023, written and directed by Gordon Shoemaker Foxwood ’14. The film was produced by Powell Robinson ’14 and Patrick R. Young ’14, and edited by William Ford-Conway ’14.
Andrew Silver ’83 was the Supervising Music Editor for Postcard from Earth, an immersive production directed by Darren Arronovsky for MSG Sphere. He was also recently credited as Supervising Music Editor on Salem's Lot and The Whale and as Music Editor on A Good Person.
Alex Simon ’90 was named one of Austin Film Festival's and MovieMaker Magazine's 25 Screenwriters to Watch.
Chad Stahelski ’90 is set to direct the film adaptation of Tom Clancy's game Rainbow Six.
The film Moon Garden swept the 2022 festival season. It was written, directed, and edited by Ryan Stevens Harris ’06 and produced by John Michael Elfers ’04.
Rawson Marshall Thurber ’99 will direct the first episode of Paramount +'s Dungeons and Dragons live-action series. He also penned the pilot script.
Dave Tolchinsky ’88 was named Dean of the Media School at Indiana University Bloomington.
The Inevitable Foundation, co-founded by Marisa Torelli-Pedevska ’22, has partnered with the Loreen Arbus Foundation to launch the Inevitable Foundation x Loreen Arbus Foundation Elevate Collective Awards.
The Stranger, written and directed by James Tupper ’02, received distribution through Omeleto.
Chris Van Dusen ’03 will executive produce Netflix's series adaptation of the novel They Both Die at the End.
John Vourlis ’92's documentary The House Next Door screened at the 72nd annual Columbus
Maddie Wu ‘23 Her film, Tango is Conscious, was exhibited at AFI Fest.
Kaitlyn Yang ‘11 Most recently named Variety’s 10 Artisans to Watch and Recipient of USC President’s Young Alumni Awards
SCA ALUMNI at International Film Festivals
Wei-Lai took home Best Comedy Series at the College Television Awards. Trojans attached include Zhongyu Wang ’22 (Director), Guang Xi Shi ’22 (Writer), Naomi Shroff-Mehta ’22 (Producer), and Andy Li (Producer).
Carly Wray ’05 and Lee Toland Krieger will executive produce the Warner Bros TV series Souvenir, Alaska. Krieger is also set to direct the pilot.
Samantha Xiao ’22 was selected for the CAPE New Writers Fellowship Class of 2023.
Jared Yeager ’02, Executive Producer at Walt Disney Games, released Aliens: Dark Descent for PC and game consoles.
Christopher Makoto Yogi ’09 will direct Merv and the Miracles, a Hawaiian doc that explores the 1982 college basketball game between Chaminade and Virginia. Co-produced and co-financed by Partizan and RTG Features, the film received an early first look during the opening weekend of the 43rd annual Hawai'i Film Festival.
R.M.N. had its U.S. theatrical release on April 28. It was written by Sergio Zaciu ’20 and his brother Oliver as well as directed by Palme D'or winner Cristian Mungiu. R.M.N. It originally premiered at Cannes in 2022 and was Romania's submission for the 2023 Academy Awards.
Julie Zackary ’04 joined Annapurna Animation as its Head of Animation.
USC students were recognized at the Humanitas College Screenwriting Awards in the following categories:
2023 Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award Finalists: AJ Currie ’24, Feyza Safoglu ’23
2023 Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award Semi-finalists: Renee Cunningham ’23, Carrie Finn ’23, Marcus Crawford Guy ’23, Ahmed Uthman ’24, Cynda Wang ’23
2023 David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award Semi-finalists: Isabela Aquino ’24, Kareem El Arab ’23, Gabrielle Ruiz ’23
Share your exciting news with us if you're an alum or current student!