USC's Cinematic Arts

Last week I was invited to meet Ron Meyer, Vice Chairman of NBC Universal. I was hesitant to drive 50 miles to Los Angeles and meet traffic head-on. “What the Heck” lets go for it, take the top down and enjoy the drive. To my surprise It was a great meeting and informative – he was terrific – a real and genuine conversation.

It’s been over 23 years since I last visited the USC campus. I considered myself one of the very few lucky ones, since I attended the school in the middle of the transition to the New School from the old, broken down barracks. However, there was something unique and special about the cinema school’s barracks. The barracks were dark, filled doors that never shut, moviolas with bulbs that never worked, uncomfortable chairs that squeaked during audio recordings, the atrium was uninspiring, etc. But there was uniqueness to the school. I can only describe it as a constant fog of great filmmakers roaming the classrooms and lecture halls. The barracks were home to Douglas Fairbanks, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Zemeckis and dozens of great directors. You couldn’t feel more special – you were among these elite storytellers who understood the power story.

A year later, we moved into the new building – the George Lucas building – and the fog became a sense of pride. But today, the USC Cinematic Arts facility is incredible. You can imagine how I must have felt as I walked into this wonderful building – beautifully decorated, spacious, the screening rooms were clean and every building was endorsed by the likes of Spielberg, Sony, Randall Kleiser, Paramount, Ron Howard, Peter Stark, etc. It is spectacular.

The USC School of Cinematic Arts has a feeling of empowerment – you can taste the ambition in the air. During the visit with Ron Meyer, the questions asked by freshman and seniors were articulate and thought-provoking – these kids are brilliant. Geez! I don’t recall having these type of kids as my classmates in 1989. I could of never competed with this new generation of filmmakers.

But I do know one thing as I walked the school grounds – as I heard the Trojan band playing in the background, the song girls practicing in front of Tommy Trojan and the bikes zooming by - I accepted the fact that I took this school for granted. It took more than 20 years to realize how special the experience was at ‘SC and I hope the students today take it all in, work really, really hard and take advantage of the opportunity USC offers. There is nothing like it.