Over half a dozen alumni of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television have been nominated for this year’s Emmy Awards in everything from acting to cinematography, but the key to their success is their background in screenwriting.
The Emmys recognize excellence in television arts and sciences, and this year’s ceremony will air Sept. 18.
James Glennon, nominated for Best Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series for HBO’s “Deadwood,” found he was even able to draw on his own writing experience when it came to interpreting the show’s script.
“I wanted to be a cameraman, but the key to photography is screenwriting. All production starts with the screenplay,” said Glennon, who graduated from UCLA in 1968.
While enrolled in the screenwriting program at UCLA, Glennon would hang out in the physics department because he liked learning about lasers. He also snuck into art classes and became familiar with different styles.
“I didn’t care to enroll in the classes,” Glennon said. “I treated UCLA as a giant hors d’oeuvres tray,”
His road to becoming a cinematographer started with screenwriting, took a brief detour to lasers, and finally ended up with a job as a mail boy for Warner Brothers, where he soon began hanging out with the cameramen on the studio’s lot.
“I got so busy being a cameraman, I’ve really never pursued writing,” said Glennon, who as a director of photography uses the camera to reinforce the dramatic nature of the film.
Mike Anderson also considers his knowledge of screenwriting to be helpful in his job as director for “The Simpsons.” His job is to figure out how to best enhance the writing through visuals – a job he’s been successful in, considering he’s already won two Emmys and has been nominated again this year.
After graduating from UCLA in 1988, he found himself in need of a job after two failed script projects. One day, while watching television, he came across an episode of “The Simpsons.”
“I thought, ‘That’s how I draw – maybe I can do that,’” he said. “I like telling stories. Animation is one way (to do that).”
Anderson started out making live-action student films while at UCLA, but soon switched to animation. Film students at UCLA often find themselves filling the role of writer, director, producer or editor on either their own film or on those of their peers. Anderson wound up being an animator as well.
When he went to apply for the job, he was able to flash his UCLA credentials.
“I recognized some of the names as UCLA people, and any connection is great. That’ll get you in the door,” Anderson said. “But you still have to be good at the job because they can kick you out of the door.”
Anderson’s understanding of story writing is part of the key to his success on the show. The script is sent over from Fox, and then Anderson and a team of animators figure out how best to visually represent the story and the jokes.
“In live-action, a director says, ‘Stand over there.’ (Directing animation) is a second-hand process. I tell someone to draw someone standing over there,” Anderson said.
And unlike shooting live action, animators don’t end up with reels of extra film to cut through.
“We pre-edit in our minds,” he explained.
The animation crew embellishes jokes and enhances situations with what Anderson calls “the Simpsons style of humor,” in which a character will say something and the camera reveals something to contradict what was just said.
Anderson is nominated this year for the episode “Future Drama,” a flash-forward episode of Bart and Lisa’s prom night.
Working for such a long running can be a mixed blessing. The characters are well-established and the fan base is large, but Anderson said that you have to work hard to continuously surprise the audience.
He still admires the show’s ability to hit at the heart of shared human experiences.
“If you have to have a job, this is a good one,” Anderson said.