Writing Big Stories for the Big (and Small) Screen
David Koepp (BA ’90) typically creates stories for very large canvases. His blockbuster screenplays include Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible and Spider-Man (2002), just to name a few. Prior to the Feb. 10 HBO Max release of his most recent work, the Steven Soderbergh-directed thriller KIMI, Koepp screened the film for the TFT community.
Read Koepp's conversation with UCLA Newsroom
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Enacting Change
Through March 5: What if the Allies lost World War II? This is the premise of the ambitious live-to-tape event A Most Favored Nation, inspired by the Amazon series The Man in the High Castle.
Read all about it and find out how to watch
Lost at Sea
Through March 5: Directed by Michael Hackett, Shakespearean drama Pericles holds no shortage of twists and turns as audiences discover the lengths one man will go in search of his beloved wife and daughter. Find out more
Pioneering Woman
March 28: The UCLA Film & Television Archive will screen Executive Board member Donna Deitch's (MFA ’76) Desert Hearts (1986), as part of its Pioneers of Queer Cinema series at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood.
Find out more
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In the News
Olly Sholotan (BA ’19) plays Carlton Banks in the new Peacock series Bel-Air, a dramatic interpretation of the Will Smith ’90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Merrin Dungey (BA ’93) co-stars alongside Courteney Coxin the horror-comedy Shining Vale, premiering March 6 on Starz.Watch the official trailer on YouTube.
Francis Ford Coppola (MFA ’67) will receive a lifetime achievement award at the 59th Annual ICG Publicists Awards on March 25.
Jun Hee Han (MFA ’20) and Sining Xiang (MFA ’20) were named Best Asian American Student Filmmakers (West Region) at the 27th Annual DGA Student Film Awards on Feb. 17.
Mitali Jahagirdar (MFA ’17) has been nominated for a WGA Award for writing the "Which Witch?" episode of the Disney+ series Just Beyond.
Alumnus James Ponsoldt’s coming-of-age film Summering will be distributed by Bleeker Street and debut in theaters this summer before heading to Showtime. He will also write and direct the series Urban Cowboy, based on the 1980 film, for Paramount+.
Executive Board member Richard Wolpert has debuted his new weekly podcast, Tech vs Media, which features the trailblazing innovators who have had impact on the past, present and future of tech and media.
Recent guests have included Marc Geiger and Casey Wasserman.
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First Look
TriStar Pictures
'The Woman King'
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s (BA ’91) next project, The Woman King, arrives in theaters on Sept. 16. TriStar Pictures has shared first-look photos of the project, which is inspired by true events and stars Viola Davis and Thuso Mbedu.
