SCA IN MOTION
MESSAGE
from the
DEAN
(L-R) Former SCA Board of Councilors Chairman, Frank Price with Donna Langley (Current Board of Councilors Chair) and SCA Dean Elizabeth M. Daley.
Dear SCA Family,
It’s my pleasure to share another issue of In Motion, and reflect on the year we’ve had at the School of Cinematic Arts.
I don’t usually open this message with sad news, but I feel compelled to note the passing of Frank Price, our Board Chair Emeritus, who died in August at age 95. Frank ran two studios—Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures—during a long and celebrated career as a writer and executive in Hollywood. However, he spent the last thirty-plus years doing everything in his power to help the School of Cinematic Arts succeed, including recruiting and leading our Board of Councilors for three decades, and serving as a USC trustee. It seems that everywhere I look on our campus, I can identify a facility or program that Frank helped acquire for our students. I like to think that in addition to all his other accomplishments, his work on behalf of the School will be part of his legacy. We recognize his contributions with a pictorial remembrance in this issue.
Please also check out the Year in Review, and recent accomplishments of our alumni (including professional partnerships that started as student collaborations), and a look at several new programs and classes at SCA. Our cover story on AI represents good news, as our students and faculty use our strength in applying new technologies for impactful storytelling to develop ethical applications for AI tools. It’s all in the following articles.
The excitement at SCA is continuing to build towards our centenary in 2029. To keep abreast of plans for celebration, as well as what’s happening here on campus, sign up for SCA Behind the Scenes newsletter by emailing communications@cinema.usc.edu. And if you’re an alum, please be sure to update your information in SCA Community.
Remember, you have an open invitation to come to campus anytime for screenings and other public events. Connect on social media @USCCinema. We always look forward to connecting with you!
Dean Elizabeth M. Daley
AI
in
PRACTICE
How SCA’s Divisions are addressing AI with students.
PRODUCER
Kevin Feige
MAKES
Impactful
GIFT TO SCA
ALICE BROOKS
is
WICKEDLY GOOD!
The cinematographer, adept at creating stunning frames, is finally getting her due!
WRITING ALUMNUS
Josh Schwartz
CREATES
Mentorship Program
AT SCA
Sonja Warfield’s
GILDED AGE
The SCA alumna and former Professor is now the showrunner of one of television’s hottest dramas!
From
FILM SCHOOL TO
Wednesday
The Enduring Partnership of Al Gough and Miles Millar
ONLY
at
SCA!
5 Classes You’ll Never Find Anywhere Else
Remembering
FRANK PRICE
The Founding Chairman of the SCA Board of Councilors was a steady representative of the School’s support system
From
GYM PARTNERS TO
Writing Partners
Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier on Structure, Collaboration, and Breaking In
Experimentation
IN DOCUMENTARY
Filmmaking
An adaptation from SCA Professor Pablo Frasconi’s recent book
Creating Experimental Documentary Films.
GUARDIANS OF
Hollywood’s
Memory
The Warner Bros. Archives and the Iron Mountain Partnership
Designing
FOR CROSS-SECTOR
Impact
Celebrating the Legacy of USC’s Creative Media & Behavioral Health Center
Being
SOPHIA
the
ROBOT
An exploration of Sophia the Robot, Adjunct Professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, through the eyes of a student
SCA
Launches
THE HOLLYWOOD CONFERENCE
The Division of Cinema & Media Studies (CAMS) at SCA partners with industry scholars and professional to launch first ever Hollywood Conference
VR
for
HEALING
How Creative Media at SCA is Deepening the Work of Palliative Care
YEAR
in
REVIEW
Take A Look
Take A Look
SCA
Retirements
Steve Albrezzi
SCA Professor,
Film & Television Production Division
Helaine Head
SCA Professor,
Film & Television Production Division
Midge Costin
SCA Professor,
Film & Television Production Division
Tom Miller
SCA Professor,
Film & Television Production Division
Click Here
Candi Jacobs
Senior Business Officer,
USC School of Cinematic Arts
ALUMNI
Quicktakes
See what our alumni have been up to this past year.
Check it out
Check it out
FILM & TV
Releases
Explore SCA alumni projects now screening near you.
Check it out
Check it out
In
MEMORIAM
MARSHA
Kinder
Tributes pour in for the beloved professor of film and media studies, from colleagues who worked with, or were mentored by her at SCA
DAVID
Weitzner
From student to colleague, SCA alum Ty Strickler reflects on Weitzner’s lasting impact on the School of Cinematic Arts.
STEVE
Hanson
The curator and archivist who led the Cinematic Arts collections of the USC Libraries for more than thirty years.
MARIANO
“Mar”
ELEPAÑO
A cherished USC School of Cinematic Arts educator and mentor
Ronald Friedman
1932–2025
Television Writer and Screenwriting Professor
Friedman, a former architect who collaborated with Frank Lloyd Wright, was a prolific television writer, responsible for more than 700 episodic hours on shows including
Get Smart, The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, The Odd Couple, Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, Barney Miller, Happy Days, All in the Family, Wonder Woman, Chico and The Man, Starsky and Hutch, The Fall Guy and Fantasy Island
. Friedman also wrote for many animated series, including
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (originating the battle cries Yo Joe! and Co-bra!), Taz-Mania, and Marvel’s Fantastic Four and Iron Man
series. He notoriously killed Optimus Prime in 1986’s animated The
Transformers: The Movie
, against his will Friedman insisted to fans of the series who frequently lambasted him for the storyline.
Friedman taught screenwriting at SCA and Chapman University for more than three decades. He is survived by his wife Valerie and their three children.
Myrton Running Wolf
1968–2025
Multihyphenate filmmaker, scholar, and SCA alumnus
Running Wolf, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, graduated with an MFA in Film & Television Production from SCA in 2002. After studying Mathematics and Chemistry as an undergraduate, Running Wolf turned to media and performing arts scholarship and practice. He also earned an MA in Performance Studies from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies from Stanford University. As a film creative he worked in Production Management at Disney-ABC Television, as a Creative Producer for The CW and NBC network affiliates, as a researcher and tribal liaison for PBS’ American Experience and as an actor in several television series and films. As a scholar he taught at Stanford University, Vassar College and Santa Clara University, and developed and led workshops at numerous tribal and junior colleges on cultural diversity, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration, the economics and politics of corporate mainstream media, identity politics, and mainstream film/television/theater production. In 2017, he joined the faculty of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada and was Professor of Race and Media.
James Foley
1953 – 2025
Director and SCA Alumnus
Foley, who graduated from SCA in 1979 with an undergraduate degree in Production, had a long career directing episodic television and films, beginning with film
Reckless
(1984) and including
At Close Range (
1986)
, After Dark, My Sweet
(1990)
, Glengarry Glen Ross
(1992)
, Fear
(1996)
, Fifty Shades Darker
(2017)
, and Fifty Shades Freed
(2018) and the television series
Hannibal, House of Cards
and
Billions
. He was a frequent collaborator of Madonna’s in the 1980s, directing her film
Who’s That Girl
(1987) and its accompanying music video, as well as music videos for hit songs including
Dress You Up, Live to Tell, True Blue
and
Papa Don’t Preach
, and the opening sequence for the film of her first tour
Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour
Nicholas Clapp
1936–2025
Documentarian, Amateur Archaeologist and SCA Alumnus
Clapp’s film work was tied to his love of the outdoor adventure. He began working on National Geographic Specials in the 1960s for which he worked on the Oscar-nominated documentaries
Journey to the Outer Limits
(1973) about a climb of the Santa Rosa Peak in the Peruvian Andes and
The Incredible Machine
(1975), about the human body. He edited the ABC series
The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau
(1968) and produced and directed
The Great Mojave Desert
(1971), a one-hour special for National Geographic and CBS. Clapp won numerous awards for his documentary and was an author of eight books. An amateur archeologist, he assembled a team that uncovered the ruins of a lost city in Southern Oman 1991 that was thought to have existed between A.D. 300 and A.D. 500; the expedition was covered in the New York Times. A California desert preservationist, Clapp was a board member of the Anza Borrego Foundation. He is survived by his wife Bonnie Loizos, and their daughters Jennifer and Cristina.
Babatunde Akinyole
1986-2025
Filmmaker and SCA Alumnus
Akinloye, a Los Angeles native, was a 2018 graduate of the Peter Stark Producing Program. At his time of death, he worked in Creative Development at Walt Disney Animation where his credits included
Encanto
(2021),
Moana 2
(2024) and
Zootopia 2
(2025). He previously worked at MACRO and Issa Rae Productions, and in 2017 was selected for the inaugural class of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Academy Gold Rising Talent Development Program, which aims to help promising young filmmakers get a foothold in the industry. Akinloye is survived by his wife April, and their sons Taj and Tayden.