An Official Employee Publication From the Office of University Relations

KU is the first university to participate in a live teleconference with the Director’s Guild of America
By Emily Forsyth

Faculty members and students in the Department of Theatre and Film recently played a major role in bringing a little bit of Hollywood to the Heartland. On July 24, the department established a precedent for KU as the first university to participate in a live teleconference with the Director’s Guild of America (DGA), based in Los Angeles.

About 20 students and several faculty members had the opportunity to talk with John Stockwell, director of the recently released film “Crazy/Beautiful.” Also joining the discussion from Los Angeles were Rip Murray, associate director for the film, and Randal Kleiser, director of “Grease” and “Blue Lagoon.”

The teleconference was a test for both the department and for the DGA. Both groups hoped to learn from the trial run and incorporate feedback into future efforts for teleconferencing.

Matt Jacobson, assistant professor of theatre and film, was thrilled that KU could be the first university to participate in this venture.

“I think it says something about the quality of our department that we were chosen to be the first department they wanted to work with,” Jacobson said. “What we do here today is going to set the template for what the DGA does in the future.”

John Ahearn, graduate student, said the conference provided a rare opportunity to interact with Hollywood directors.

“Being so far from New York and L.A., it’s hard to get interpersonal experience with directors,” he said. “That’s where everything is happening if you’re interested in feature filmmaking.”

During the hour-long discussion, students asked questions about the process of filmmaking, specific scenes in the movie, and making the transition from actor to director.

Chuck Berg, professor of theatre and film, said he hoped the experience would be an eye-opening one for students planning to pursue careers in feature filmmaking.

“Having the ability to provide our students with an opportunity to interact with cutting-edge professionals in L.A. is an absolute advantage,” he said. “It is terribly important to provide students with knowledge of the realities of actually being in the movie business.”

Some of the realities discussed during the teleconference included the process of negotiating for a film’s rating and costs for the use of music in a film.

For example, Stockwell said he spent about $800,000 for the music in “Crazy/Beautiful.”

“Post-production can be very expensive,” Berg said. “That’s important for our students to know.”

Jacobson said he hoped the department and the DGA would be able to continue their partnership and participate in live teleconferences once or twice a year. He also would like to see more directors on a panel in the future.

“The cost is the same for a teleconference if you’re talking about two people or 10 people,” he said. “It would be prohibitively expensive if we had to fly them out in person. But, now it is a possibility.”

The comparatively low cost of a teleconference allows more people to participate in the experience without compromising the feeling of an intimate gathering, Jacobson said.

“Hopefully, by the end of the conversation, the students will forget the people they’re talking to are two time zones away,” he said. “This is something you can’t get out of a textbook or a magazine article.”