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Courtesy of AMPAS |
"Crash" star Matt Dillon and producer/teacher Cathy Schulman. |
She's bound for red carpet on Oscar night
By Karen A. Lefkowitz
UCLA Today
She was just nominated for an Academy Award as the producer of “Crash” and is a partner in a high-powered entertainment company with numerous film and television projects. She’s also an active member of the Producers Guild of America, one of several trade organizations to which she belongs.
With all this, Cathy Schulman also has to grade quizzes and teach students about plot, theme and how to pitch their potential movie masterpieces.
It’s just a typical schedule for Schulman, a producer and creative executive who moonlights as a visiting associate professor in UCLA’s prestigious Producers Program in the School of Theater, Film and Television.
Before supplying the entertainment marketplace with budding filmmakers, Schulman established an impressive Hollywood résumé. Since October 2002 she has partnered with Tom Nunan, a nine-year veteran instructor of the Producers Program, in Bull’s Eye Entertainment. Prior to that, she worked in acquisition, development and production with the likes of actor Edward Burns, director Martin Scorsese, and filmmaker and Sundance Film Festival founder Robert Redford.
A graduate of Yale University, Schulman recognizes the importance of higher education and its contribution to one’s success in the real world. She teaches future producers, creative executives, managers and agents in the Producers Program Research & Development 1 course. A graduate-level curriculum culminating with an M.F.A., the Producers Program focuses on the business knowledge and experience needed to achieve artistic and professional success in the entertainment business. Students are required to develop a professional-level project and then pitch it to the class and industry professionals.
Schulman’s students are unabashed fans of her work in and outside of class. “Cathy has a deep-rooted love for cinema,” said student Josh Mandel. “Her ability to cater her business strategy and story development principles on a case-by-case basis to her students’ projects reflects that passion.” Mandel’s classmate, Balazs Juszt, agreed. “We are all in love with her. ... She’s humble, witty, smart and a savvy businesswoman. What more could you want in a professor?”
Away from the halls of academia, Schulman is fresh off the snowy slopes of Utah where she attended the Sundance Film Festival and secured distribution for her company’s latest film, “The Illusionist,” which stars Edward Norton and Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti.
Even as she diligently pushes ahead on other film projects, Schulman is also savoring her biggest career accolade so far: an Oscar nomination as a producer on “Crash.” Schulman describes “Crash” as “the ultimate in satisfaction. It’s an example of a film with a social, ideological purpose. Not only is it a success critically and financially, but it is having a major impact. It’s not often you can make people truly think about things.”
Among Schulman’s current endeavors is a “Crash” television series with cable channel FX and movies in various stages of production. With all that Schulman does, how does she feel about her work at UCLA?
“I’m enjoying it immensely. It’s been a great way to not just give back, but also to get reinvigorated myself and hear new minds ready to tackle this business,” she said.
To see a list of Oscar nominees who are alumni and UCLA Extension graduates, click on “Briefs.”
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