Ross LaManna is an American screenwriter and author. He is best known for creating the Rush Hour series starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. [1]
His first novel, Acid Test, was published in the U.S. and Canada by Ballantine Books. The geopolitical thriller was chosen as an Amazon.com "Penzler Pick" and as The Mysterious Bookshop's selection for "Best First Fiction". It was published in several foreign territories and as an audiobook.
He attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in screenwriting, and also holds a Master of Arts from Arizona State University in dramatic writing.
He began in the entertainment industry working on international legal affairs at the independent studio Embassy Pictures. Columbia Pictures purchased a speculative script he had written while at Embassy, and soon thereafter he was hired by United Artists under a two-picture writing deal. Carolco Pictures later hired him under a unique,[ citation needed ] two-year "in-house screenwriter" arrangement, where he worked on a number of their projects. He has written original screenplays, adaptations or rewrites for Fox, Disney, Paramount, Columbia, Universal, HBO Films and many independent companies.
He was Chairman of the Undergraduate and Graduate Film Departments at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California from 2011 to 2024. He was also on the Board of Directors for the United States Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office. At Art Center, he brought in a number of notable filmmakers as part-time instructors, including the cinematographer Affonso Beato, ASC, the storyboard artist Tim Burgard, the director/producer Jeremiah Chechik, the cinematographer Allen Daviau, ASC, the screenwriter Doug Eboch, the director David Kellogg, the composer Dennis McCarthy, the title designer Dan Perri, the director/producer Richard Pearce, the entertainment attorney Lee Rosenbaum, the writer/director Bobby Roth, the director/actor Mark Rydell, the producer/director John Suits, the director Ron Underwood and the editor Billy Weber.
Conrad Lafcadio Hall, ASC was a French Polynesian-born American cinematographer. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he became widely prominent as a cinematographer earning numerous accolades including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards and five American Society of Cinematographers Awards.
Stephen Goosson was an American film set designer and art director.
Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screenwriting, casting, pre-production, shooting, sound recording, post-production, and screening the finished product before an audience, which may result in a film release and exhibition. The process is nonlinear, as the director typically shoots the script out of sequence, repeats shots as needed, and puts them together through editing later. Filmmaking occurs in a variety of economic, social, and political contexts around the world, and uses a variety of technologies and cinematic techniques to make theatrical films, episodic films for television and streaming platforms, music videos, and promotional and educational films.
The Columbia University School of the Arts is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, Visual Arts, Theatre and Writing, as well as the Master of Arts (MA) degree in Film Studies. It also works closely with the Arts Initiative at Columbia University (CUArts) and organizes the Columbia University Film Festival (CUFF), a week-long program of screenings, screenplay, and teleplay readings.
The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leading university had combined the study of theater, filmmaking and television production into a single administration.
New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, television and theater producer. It was originally located at the Tribeca Film Center. In 1994, NYFA moved to 100 East 17th Street, the former Tammany Hall building in the Union Square. After 23 years of occupancy, the academy relocated from Tammany Hall to 17 Battery Place.
Robert L. Surtees was an American cinematographer who won three Academy Awards for the films King Solomon's Mines, The Bad and the Beautiful and the 1959 version of Ben-Hur. Surtees worked at various studios, including Universal, UFA, Warner Brothers, and MGM, lighting for notable directors Howard Hawks, Mike Nichols, and William Wyler, gaining him a reputation as one of the most versatile cinematographers of his time.
William Ashman Fraker, A.S.C., B.S.C. was an American cinematographer, film director and producer. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. In 2000, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) honoring his career. Fraker graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1950.
California College of ASU is a private college in Los Angeles, California. Until 2023, it was known as Columbia College Hollywood. It is one of only 20 film institutions in the United States that have been awarded full membership by the International Association of Film and Television Schools (CILECT).
Vancouver Film School (VFS) is a private entertainment arts school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1987, it has achieved international recognition. The Vancouver Film School has campus locations around Downtown Vancouver and comprises six buildings. As part of the school's 20th anniversary in 2007, in August 2006 one million dollars was set aside in scholarships for new students. In March 2008, Vancouver Film School and YouTube launched a competition for three full-tuition scholarships for the creators of the three videos submitted and voted as favorites by the YouTube community.
Gary Ross is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is best known for writing and directing the fantasy comedy-drama film Pleasantville (1998), the sports drama film Seabiscuit (2003), the sci-fi action film The Hunger Games (2012), and the heist comedy film Ocean's 8 (2018). Ross has been nominated for four Academy Awards.
Gaetano (Tony) Gaudio, A.S.C. was a pioneer Italian-American cinematographer of more than 1000 films. Gaudio won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Anthony Adverse, becoming the first Italian to have won an Oscar, and was nominated five additional times for Hell's Angels, Juarez, The Letter, Corvette K-225, and A Song to Remember. He is cited as the first to have created a montage sequence for a film in The Mark of Zorro. He was among the founders of the American Society of Cinematographers, and served as President from 1924 until 1925.
Sheldon Lettich is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is best known for his collaborations with Jean-Claude Van Damme and his work in the action film genre.
Larry Fong is an American cinematographer. He has been the director of photography for four Zack Snyder films: 300 (2007), Watchmen (2009), Sucker Punch (2011) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
Robin Russin is an American screenwriter, director, playwright, author and educator.
Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is one of 10 schools constituting Chapman University, located in Orange, California, 40 miles (64 km) south of Los Angeles. The school offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, with programs in film production, screenwriting, creative producing, news, documentary, public relations, advertising, digital arts, film studies, television writing, producing, and screen acting.
Michael H. Weber is an American screenwriter and producer. He and his writing partner, Scott Neustadter, are best known for writing the screenplay for the romantic comedy film 500 Days of Summer. The film is based on two real relationships Neustadter had. They also wrote the screenplays for the film adaptations of the novels The Spectacular Now, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paper Towns.
Eric Chang is a film director and photographer, based in Los Angeles and New York.
Nirali Dineshchandra Thakker is an Indian born multi disciplinary artist living in Los Angeles, California. Nirali works in a wide range of media - painting, photography, writing and filmmaking.
Polly Morgan is a British cinematographer who has worked on the studio feature films Lucy in the Sky (2019), A Quiet Place Part II (2020), Where the Crawdads Sing (2022), and The Woman King (2022). She was also the cinematographer for multiple episodes of the TV series Legion (2017–2019). Morgan is accredited by the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). To date, she is the only woman to be a member of both, and she is the youngest member of ASC.
Art Center College of Design, Undergraduate Film Department - Staff and Faculty Biographical Data