My time at USC School Of Cinematic Arts - Alumni Class '17

The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts is a world renowned film program that some notable filmmakers like George Lucas, John Carpenter, Ryan Coogler and Ron Howard have attended. The Master’s in Fine Arts program boasts a 3% acceptance rate and the school has been named in the top three of best film schools for decades. I was among some of the older students in my cohort and one of the only one’s married, with kids and a veteran, so at times it was very challenging, but in the end worth it. In this blog post I’ll share a bit about my journey through USC and the impact it made on me as a filmmaker with some of my student films I’ve made along the way.

I was in the Army Reserve while I attended USC 2014-2017.

*Interpreters Wanted* screening at USC, 2023.

Making films, a life-long pursuit

Ever since I got my first Hi-8 camera in junior high I was making videos and trying to tell stories. I started an editing class when I was 16 and was off to the races, this was far before Youtube or the internet was a place you could share your videos, so most of the time they just sat in my computer. I grew up in a lower middle-class income household and never imagined being able to attend a school like USC, but my parent were both artists so they always encouraged me to be creative and pursue my dreams. I was a pretty horrible high school student, I graduated with something like a 2.5 GPA and pretty much had no real aspirations of going to college but I started making videos for church and with my friends and that led me to eventually getting my degree in Electronic Media and graduating in 2005 from the Master’s University. Below are some photos of my adventures in filmmaking during those years.

In high school filming everything, 1998.

Filming my short film *Lost Coin, 2002.*

Prepping a scene for my short film *4 Minutes*, 2004

As a Freshmen in college filming one of my short films, *Freelance*, 2001.

Directing my buddy Patrick Levis for my film *American Skid Row, 2005.*

Returning from Israel changed

I studied abroad in Israel for my last semester of college in 2005 and was working on a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That trip and making my film From L.A. to Jerusalem (an inspired title from Thomas Friedman’s book From Beirut to Jerusalem) changed much of the way I saw the world and how I saw my future career. I wanted to make films that mattered about real people and stories that changed people’s perspectives. I saw the world as a much bigger place than I had before and knew that film could make a deep impact, like it had done in me.

Still from my first feature documentary *From L.A. to Jerusalem*, 2005.

Eating lunch with a Palestinian man as he shares his perspective on the conflict with me, 2005.

Discussing the conflict with an off-duty Israeli soldier, 2005.

Film Industry or Bust! or the Army…

After graduating I pursued my film career full force doing everything from extra work, to internships, to production assistant work, to running film all over Hollywood. Eventually I got burned out and a little cynical about the industry and decided to join the military in 2007 as a combat correspondent/videographer. Fast forward through the ups and downs of military service, Melanie and I decided it was time to leave the military in 2013. We wanted to move back to Los Angeles where our families were but that kind of depended on a few factors; where would we live, what would I do for a career, should I go back to school?! So many unknowns…

This reel was part of my USC submission package.

From the Army to Film School

After almost 7 years in the military, one of my close Army friends exhorted me to use my G.I. Bill and he asked me one day “what’s your dream school?” I told him that I’ve always wanted to go to USC’s film program but I just didn’t have the confidence, he said “you need to apply!” So the next day I started my application process. As with any Master’s program the process can be arduous but I was getting close. One of the final steps was an interview which I did from Malaysia while I was on an Army mission. A few months later after anxiously awaiting their answer I was admitted! That was definitely a life-long highlight kind of moment. Our little family was going to move back to Los Angeles and I was going to start in their Master’s of Fine Arts in Film and Television program starting in January 2014 and I was thrilled!

Reality Ends Here

“Reality Ends Here” is the motto for USC’s film school, and for me it took on a little different meaning. Transitioning from the Army to film school was a huge challenge but I was ready and excited! The first semester of film school is getting back to the basics. We were getting to know our cohort of 60 other filmmakers while making several student films that had a variety of limitations meant to even the playing field and we learned to work creatively within those restrictions. The first year we had a class called Production 507 and my first film there was called Contraband - A True Story. The assignment was you must shoot the film in 1 day, 1 location, with 1 crew member for $100, limited on screen dialogue, with max 3 characters and due within a couple of weeks. This story was based on a situation I had when I went to Airborne School. I had some kind of snack and when I thought I was gonna get caught during a random locker inspection I flushed it down the toilet but it clogged it up really bad. I spent a good amount of time cleaning it up, and it was nasty. I decided to do this film because I had never done a comedy before and wanted to give it a shot. The tight constraints on us forced me to think outside the box quite a bit on how to achieve laughs in a small setting with minimal dialogue.

James Bane as Drill Sergeant. This former Marine is an amazing actor and good friend.

We had a ton of fun on this crazy film. Amy Ebersole (who pretty much did every other job I didn’t do) with my great actors.

Generation Youtube

The next film I made was an exploration of the internet celebrity world and how we treat each other online and in person. My sister Rachel Talbott is a popular Youtuber and I talked often about how we all treat each other in the internet world, she is an amazing woman with a unique voice on the internet and has a large audience. I was fascinated by the world of hatred, manipulation and even violence that is targeted toward internet celebrities (or pretty much everyone nowadays) and that’s where the idea for Generation Youtube came from. Stylistically I wanted to try a dark thriller/horror genre. The assignment was you must shoot the film in 2 days, one location, with 2 crew members, no more than 5 actors, no more that $400 and due within a couple of weeks.

My lead actress Molly McIntyre and my everything man Brandon Hall.

The story behind Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life

The next major course was Production 508 where the professors put you in groups of three and you have to make three films together. I was grouped with two women Liv Nelson and Sharon Park, each had their own unique style and voice, we all grew to be very close. Our trio would each switch off taking different production roles. At this time I was a big fan of the book Five Came Back about the five director’s that were in Hollywood that went to fight during World War II; Frank Capra, John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, and George Stevens. I took a lot of inspiration from these directors as I wanted to tell stories in the Armed Forces and then return to Hollywood to makes films about what I had experienced. I particularly gravitated toward Frank Capra and in my research realized his first film after the war was It’s a Wonderful Life, one of my all time favorites. I wanted to tell the story of how Frank Capra came to make this film. It was a huge challenge because of the limitations I had in the class; the assignment was no more than $1,000 and must be shot in four days or less, with my other two trio partners in the key roles. Another special aspect of this film was I got to meet Frank Capra III and he and his family signed off on me making this movie! During 2020 I decided to re-edit this film and below is the result, a great Christmas-time short film! :)

Sharon Park my D.P., Justin Possenti and Elaine O’B Capogeannis my leads and on the right is Liv Nelson my producer and editor.

Lindsay Naves, Jennifer Marshall and Trevor Scott.

Behind the scenes with Daril Fannin and Sharon Park.

The God Machine

The last film I would make at USC was for my Directing class called The God Machine. The idea for this sci-fi film was first thought up by my friend and co-writer Zach Bradshaw (he and I have co-written two features together). I developed the idea in one of my screenwriting classes and decided to jump all in. We shot this film in 4 days for under 5K. This film had a huge amount of production problems including losing half a days footage when a card went bad. Making this film gave me a tremendous amount of confidence even though it didn’t quite turn out as good as it was in my head. I learned how to create under pressure and finished my longest scripted film during school.

More of my acting team, Mike Dowling, Ric Maddox, Patti Troisi and Joe Henley.

My producer Tom Goodall with all the paperwork.

Directing my son in a scene with my great DP Brian Brooks II.

End Of The Line

It was an absolute dream come true attending USC film school and I ended up graduating with a thesis feature screenplay called The Lens Of War about my combat photographer partner Andrya. I also graduated with a 3.8 and was immensely proud of that. I had alot of personal problems during this time as well. Transitioning out of the Army was not the easiest for me and I struggled a lot but am so thankful to Melanie and her family for supporting me during those years. I gained knowledge, experience, connections and friendships that will last a life time. I am also immensely thankful to The Pat Tillman Foundation for helping me with a scholarship during my time here. Graduating from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts was truly one of the greatest achievements of my career thus far.

The Fam and I enjoying a Trojans home game victory.

Working as a camera op on a student TV Pilot.

Director Peter Berg and I. I was one of Pete’s intern’s and mentees during one of my semesters.

The great actor James Bane and I working on a Darth Vader green screen commercial.

Shooting a scene from Oliver Stone’s *Born On The Fourth Of July* for my directing class.

Working as a 1st AD on Xavier Burgen’s thesis film.

Screening My First Feature Film at USC

May 2, 2023 I was able to screen my newest feature documentary Interpreters Wanted at USC in the George Lucas building supported by Michael Taylor, Jenna Cavelle, USC’s Media Institute For Social Change and Vet TV. It was truly a wonderful night making my time at USC come full circle. I feel like the screening really resonated with the diverse audience. My Afghan actor friend Fahim Fazli opened up during the question and answer with a tearful and emotional speech about how much he enjoyed it, which meant so much. I’m excited to see where this film goes and am honored to share it with the world starting with my USC community. Also my girlfriend Brooke and my family came to support me, which made it an extra special night. Thanks for reading and see you at the movies and FIGHT ON! ;)