News and Events
FTT Talks presents 2009-2010 Series
Special upcoming presentations in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre...
FTT Talks presents Scott Mitsui (ND ’92)
Making the Perfect Trailer: A Behind the Scenes Look at Movie Marketing
Friday, October 2nd, 2009, 3:00 pm
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
Scott Mitsui is the award winning producer of some of the most memorable recent movie trailers, including A Serious Man, Lost In Translation, Milk and Crash. His workshop will present a rare opportunity to discover the arsenal of techniques deployed in the production of trailers that form such a vital ingredient in the representation and marketing of modern motion pictures. Step-by-step, Scott will use video and other raw elements to deconstruct and reveal the alchemy, philosophy and mechanics behind the creation of that perfect trailer.
You can view some of his work at Mark Woollen.com
FTT Talks presents 2008-2009 Series
FTT Talks presents Katie O’Connell (ND ’91)
Network Television Development Executive
"The Transforming TV Industry"
Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 5:00 pm
214 DeBartolo Hall
Katie O’Connell, who in her position as a Senior Development Executive at NBC brought to TV such shows as 30 Rock, Chuck and Life, will speak about the current fluctuating state of network television, focusing on such issues as changing prime-time programming trends, the shifting landscape of advertising, and the impact of new technologies on television’s operations.
Ms. O’Connell graduated from Notre Dame’s American Studies program in 1991. She was most recently a Senior Vice President of Drama Development at NBC Entertainment and was previously at Imagine Television, where she developed numerous comedy and drama projects, including the Emmy Award-winning shows Arrested Development and 24.
FTT Talks presents Catherine Allan
Senior Executive Producer, tpt National Productions
"Picturing History: Documenting Pre-Photographic History for Television"
4:30 P.M., Thursday, March 19, 2009
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
This is a free but ticketed event.
Call the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Ticket Office at (574) 631-2800 to reserve tickets.
In her talk, Catherine Allan will discuss how television documentary filmmakers work through the challenges of making films about subjects that predate the invention of photography and show clips of techniques that have been utilized in such award-winning PBS documentaries as Benjamin Franklin, Liberty!, and the upcoming Dolley Madison.
Catherine Allan is a Senior Executive Producer at tpt National Productions [Twin Cities, MN, public television]. Allan's executive production credits for PBS include two Peabody Award-winning productions: Liberty! The American Revolution and the acclaimed feature-length documentary Hoop Dreams, recently named the number one documentary film of all time by the International Documentary Association. Other productions include the Emmy Award-winning Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Kinsey for PBS's American Experience series, the Golden Eagle-winningContinental Harmony, The New Medicine, and Jane Goodall: Reason for Hope.
This event is sponsored by the Department of Political Science and the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre
Gary Cosay, Consultant, Founding Partner,
and Board Member of United Talent Agency
“The Business of Show Business”
5:00 P.M., Thursday, October 9, 2008
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
This is a free but ticketed event
Call the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Ticket Office at (574) 631-2800 to reserve tickets
In his talk, Gary Cosay will outline what it takes to start and sustain a successful Hollywood career. From discussing the roles played by agents and managers to highlighting the dynamic changes taking place in the media entertainment industry today, Mr. Cosay will explain how to turn creative talent into a thriving business career.
Across his fifty-year career in the media entertainment industry, Gary Cosay worked his way up from an agent trainee position at the William Morris Agency to become a Senior Partner at United Talent Agency, a leader among the entertainment industry’s talent and literary agencies. He started his own agency, Cosay & Associates, in 1975, expanded that company into the Leading Artists Agency in the early 1980s, and became a senior partner of the United Talent Agency through a 1990 merger. He has represented such artists as Richard Bach (Jonathan Livingston Seagull), Steve McQueen (The Hunter), Ron Leavitt & Michael Moye (Married With Children), Carol Black & Neil Marlens (Growing Pains, The Wonder Years, Ellen), Bruce Helford (The Drew Carey Show, The George Lopez Show), and David E. Kelley (Doogie Howser, L.A. Law, Chicago Hope). Recently departing Hollywood for the East Coast, Mr. Cosay now acts as a consultant for United Talent Agency and plans to start a new literary agency specializing in books and screenplays. He currently lives in Nantucket, MA, with his wife, Healy, and their four dogs.
Sponsored by The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and The Department of Film, Television, and Theatre.
Theresa Rebeck
Author, playwright, and screenwriter
“Writing for the Stage, Screen and Page”
“Thursday, September 18, 2008, 5:00 p.m.
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
This is a free but ticketed event.
Call The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Ticket Office at (574) 631-2800 to reserve tickets.
In her talk, Theresa Rebeck (ND ’80) will address what she considers both of a writer’s primary concerns: how to tell a story with truth and vision and how to maneuver as a dramatic writer in a dangerous world.
Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced playwright. Past New York productions of her work include Mauritius at the Biltmore Theatre in a Manhattan Theater Club Production; The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels at Second Stage; Bad Dates and the Butterfly Collection at Playwrights Horizons; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop. She has won the National Theatre Conference Award, the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, and the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play at Boston’s Huntington Theatre.
Ms. Rebeck’s first novel, Three Girls and Their Brother, was just published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books. Ms. Rebeck’s other publications include Free Fire Zone, a book of comedic essays about writing and show business.
In television, Ms. Rebeck has written for Dream On, L.A. Law, and Third Watch, and she has been a writer/producer for Canterbury’s Law, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue. Awards include the Writer’s Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody, all for her work on NYPD Blue. Her produced feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and Sunday on the Rocks.
Ms. Rebeck holds a BA in English from Notre Dame, and an MFA in Playwrighting and a PhD in Victorian Melodrama, both from Brandeis University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Jess Lynn and two children, Cooper and Cleo.
“As a writer, I have always considered it my job to describe the world as I know it; to struggle toward whatever portion of the truth is available to me.” –Theresa Rebeck
Sponsored by The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre.
Patrick Whitesell, Partner, Endeavor Talent Agency
Hollywood, California
Friday, Septeber 12, 2008, 2pm
Browning Cinema
DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
FREE but ticketed event (631-2800 for tickets)
Patrick Whitesell joined Endeavor as a partner in February 2001. Since his arrival, Whitesell has been a member of the company’s Executive Committee and is intimately involved in the strategic growth of the company and the development of its ancillary business. Whitesell’s clients include Ben Affleck, Jessica Alba, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Jennifer Garner, Kate Hudson, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, Ellen Page, Joaquin Phoenix and Charlie Sheen.
Until his arrival at Endeavor, Whitesell served as head of the talent department of Creative Artists Agency four of the five years he was with the agency. Prior to joining CAA, he was an agent at United Talent Agency for two years. This followed an almost two-year stint at InterTalent, where Whitesell was promoted to agent after an initial start in the agency’s mailroom.
Whitesell is an appointed member of the Governor’s California Film Commission and an associate member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. A graduate of Luther College in Iowa, he resides in Beverly Hills, CA, with his wife Lauren Sanchez, their son Evan and daughter Ella.
Sponsored by the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, the Department of Film Television and Theatre and Notre Dame Office of Development.
2007-2008 Talks and Lectures
FTT Talks Presents Mike Cerre
“CSNY: Deja Vu”
Saturday, April 19, 2008, 7pm and 10pm
Browning Cinema
DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
FREE but ticketed event (631-2800 for tickets)
“CSNY Déjà Vu, is a look back at the politics and anti–Vietnam War sentiment in the music of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. As both a portrait of a band and an examination of artistic process, CSNY Déjà Vu is filmmaking that is self-centered, yet fresh and critical. Today’s generation must be as tired of hearing about the ’60s as we were of an earlier era, and this depiction of the tour is anything but preaching to the converted. Part performance, part commentary, and very much a call for activism, CSNY Déjà Vu is relevant because we ignore the lessons of history at our peril. The film's real value lies in its rejection of simple nostalgia and its ability to focus on the present day.
Featuring music from Neil Young’s controversial Living with War CD, this evocative and edgy film documents reactions from fans to a band that has remained committed to issues of politics and art for more than four decades. Since history seems to repeat itself, perhaps our artists best illustrate what we need to remember.
-SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL.
Mike Cerre (ND '69) who wrote CSNY: Deja Vu, will be present after the 7pm screening to discuss the film and his career as an Emmy Award winning journalist embedded in Iraq...
Jeffrey Stepakoff
“The Rise of the Writer in Hollywood”
Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 7pm
Browning Cinema
DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
FREE but ticketed event (631-2800 for tickets)
"The Rise of the Writer in Hollywood”
From a first-person perspective covering his two decades in Hollywood, Jeffrey Stepakoff will trace the rise, fall, and rebirth of scripted entertainment during the era of media consolidation. He will discuss how entertainment became this country’s great commodity, where the business is going and what the WGA strike means for all of us...(more)
Katie O'Connell '99
Senior Vice President, Drama Development,
NBC Entertainment
“Developing Prime-Time Television”
Tuesday, November 13, 2007, at 7pm
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center...(WATCH NOW)
We In Cinema (Nós do Cinema)
Friday, October 5, 2007, at 7:00 pm.
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.
This is a FREE but ticketed event. Call the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Ticket Office at 574.631.2800 to reserve tickets...(more)
De-Constructing a Controversial Masterpiece
The Birth of a Nation Panel Discussion
Tuesday, October 2, 2007, at 7:00 pm
Browning Cinema, Debartolo Performing Arts Center...(more)
Screenwriters Showcase
Larry Karaszewski, Jim Jennewein, and Stephen Susco
Friday September 21, 2007 7:30 pm
DPAC Browning Cinema
This event is free and open to the public...(more)
2006-2007 Talks and Lectures
Haskell Wexler, Cinematographer, Director
Academy Award Winner
Wednesday April 11 and Thursday April 12, 7:00 p.m.
Browning Cinema...(more)
Adam Kane, Filmmaker, Citizen Pictures, Inc.
Behind the Camera: Shooting and Directing for Film and Television
Wednesday, April 4, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
Browning Cinema (more)
Lee Young-Lan, Actress/Associate Professor
and "A Petal"
Tuesday, March 27, 9:00 p.m.
Browning Cinema (more)
"3 Events in Three Days"
March 5, 6, and 7 (more)
Gela Babluani, Director
13 (Tzameti)
Friday, February 23, 2007, 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
Browning Cinema (more)
Matthew Waynee
(ND '95) Screenwriter, "Unknown" (2006)
Thursday, February 15, 2007, 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
Browning Cinema, DPAC
"Unknown", directed by Simon Brand...(more)
Curt Tofteland
Founder of Shakespeare Behind Bars Program
October 5, 2006
(more)
Yoon Jong-Bin
Director of THE UNFORGIVEN
Monday, October 2
(download PDF )
Patrick Creadon
Director of Award Winning Film WORDPLAY
September 14-15, 2006
(more)
Jim Sharp
Executive VP of Production, 20th Century Fox
September 7-8, 2006
(more)
2005-2006 Talks and Lectures
Roy Lee
Cofounder and Producer, Vertigo Entertainment
Wednesday, March 29, 2006, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Browning Cinema...(more)
Mr. Wolfgang Latteyer - Independent German film and television producer
"Young German Filmvergnuegen - From Run Lola Run to Maren Ade: How They Charm the U.S. Art House Audience"...(download PDF)
Thursday, February 23, 2006, 7:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Browning Cinema, DPAC
Brief Intro, film screening, & Q&A
*This event is free and open to the public
Screening of "The Forest for the Trees" [Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen] (Maren Ade, Germany, 2003, 81 mins.) In German with English subtitles.
Asian Film Festival & Academic Conference
February 4 & 5, 2006
Taegukki: The Brotherhood of War and 3 additional Asian films
Taekgukki filmmakers
Kang Je-Gyu, director (Shiri)
Lee Hana, producer
Lee Young-Lan, actress & Associate Professor, School of Art, Theatre and Film, Kyung Hee University, Suwon, Korea
Scholars on Korean Cinema
Dr. Lee Hyangjin, Lecturer, School of East Asian Studies, The University of Sheffield, UK (Contemporary Korean Cinema: Identity, Culture, Politics)
Dr. Heo Chul, film director & Assistant Professor, Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, San Francisco State University (Director of KIMA Film Festival)
Open to the public. Tickets are $3 for Notre Dame students, $5 for Notre Dame faculty and staff, and $6 for the general public. For information, call the Browning Cinema Box Office (574) 631-2800 or buy your tickets online at http://performingarts.nd.edu
Free parking is available in the lots directly north of the DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. Check back for updates on FTT Talks. For further information contact: Aaron-Magnan Park
New Zealand Director Yvonne Mackay
Oct. 8 & 9, 2005
As one of New Zealand's leading directors of film and television programs, Yvonne Mackay is active in a wide spectrum of award-winning media initiatives that address New Zealand society both at home and abroad.
2004-2005 Talks and Lectures
"YOUR T.V. AND MOTION PICTURE FUTURE"
PETER ENGEL, executive producer, Saved by the Bell and Emmy nominated Last Comic Standing
Wednesday, October 6, 5:00 p.m.
Browning Family Cinema, DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts
THE GRUDGE: From Notre Dame To Hollywood
A Screening and Talk with Actor William Mapother (ND '87) and Screenwriter Stephen Susco (ND '95)
Thursday, November 11, 7p.m.
Browning Family Cinema, DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts
J.J. SEDELMAIER, animator
"Animation in Film, Television and Advertising."
Thursday, November 18, 5 p.m.
Browning Family Cinema, DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts
ED MILLER, Emmy Award Winning Journalist
"America's Most Wanted: Why People Kill"
Friday February 18, 7p.m.
Browning Family Cinema, DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts