Bob Bassett, founding Dean of Dodge College at Chapman University, spent 38 years establishing the school’s national and international reputation
Bob Bassett remembers it like it was yesterday – arriving in 1981 at what was then Chapman College as its first full-time film professor. There was no film major and no film students in what was then the Department of Communications.
“The entire film school was in my office,” Bassett says. “I had one lighting kit, one camera, one sound package and a Moviola machine for editing; a far cry from the $15M of state of the art equipment we now offer our students, but it was heaven to me…we could make films.”
A literature/philosophy graduate of Pomona College, Bassett had taught in private and public schools and universities, picking up a camera along the way. Self-taught, he later took summer film classes at UCLA and began taking his students to different locations to film outside of his teaching responsibilities.
So, Chapman offered him the opportunity to become a film professor charged with creating a film program; Bassett was ready.
From the beginning, his approach was innovative. Put a camera in the students’ hands the first day one (many universities restricted filmmaking to the junior year); allowing students to own their own films; later, opening facilities 24/7.
Bassett began building a program built on the belief that the art of visual storytelling prepared students for a wide variety of careers and that mentoring is the trademark of student/faculty interaction.
“We wanted what was best for the students,” he says.
His commitment to hands-on learning was most evident in what he calls the “location filmmaking” experience. He sees the first student filmmaking trip to Death Valley during Chapman’s Interterm in 1983 as the genesis of the film school today.
The Early Years
By 1992, the Department of Film and Television was formed and in 1994, the department moved into what was formerly the student union and cafeteria, later renamed DeMille Hall, in honor of support from Trustee Cece Presley, the granddaughter of Cecil B. DeMille.
Moving rapidly, the School of Film and Television was founded in 1996. By 1999, there were 800 film students and, thanks to Marion Knott of Knott family fame establishing a $1M endowment to establish a Filmmaker-In-Residence program, director Arthur Hiller (Love Story), who was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, launched it. Also of note, screening at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles highlighted Chapman students’ work for industry guests.
“The Marion Knott Filmmaker-in-Residence program has been instrumental to our growth,” Bassett says. “It brought important people from the industry to our campus, which put our name out there, and we were able to hire industry veterans to build an exceptional faculty not staffed by Ph.Ds but by those who had spent 20+ years in the business.”
By 2001, nearly 150 students were working on six location films during Interterm, while 2002 saw the PR and Advertising program join the film school with Bassett’s wife, Janell Shearer Bassett, in charge.
The year 2004 was fortuitous, as the film school was named the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, thanks to a $20M gift from the generous couple.
Leading up to that moment were people who Bassett says understood his vision for the film school. Jack Lindquist, former president of Disneyland, and Emulex CEO Paul Folino were instrumental, as was Chapman President Buck Smith, who started fundraising at the school, and, later, President Jim Doti, who fostered an entrepreneurial fundraising environment.
As Bassett relates: “The university had purchased two city blocks off campus, so I asked architect Gary Bastien, who had done a great deal of work for the Hollywood studios, to create a site plan and rendering for a studio with a backlot for those 10 acres. When Marion Knott saw the rendering, she pledged $500,000 on the spot, as did Cece Presley.”
It was then Bassett got a call from Doti, who wondered what was happening as no film studio plan had been authorized by the trustees. When Bassett said he’d already raised $1 million, there was a brief silence and then Doti said, “Come see me.” Doti got on board and the Chapman Studios campaign was born. Not long after, Deedee and Don Sodaro and Ed and Libby Pankey offered a $3.5M challenge grant, and the Women of Chapman support group pledged $1M and established a $1M student filmmaker endowment.
Bassett says Doti and Folino, who was campaign chair, were tireless in fundraising for the $70M. The school’s 500-seat theater was named in Folino’s honor, and it was Folino who introduced Arnold Schwazenegger to the effort, who headlined the Marion Knott Studios groundbreaking ceremonies in 2004.
Full Steam Ahead
The “bricks and mortar” were in place, and the sky was the limit. Bassett had begun taking classes to the Sundance Film Festival and one year to the Cannes Film Festival, thanks to support from Sandy and David Stone. Chapman student films were being shown at these prestigious festivals, and Dodge College was branching out internationally with a campus in Singapore and filmmaking travel courses to Asia and Africa.
Always committed to getting the word out, Bassett offered Chapman as host for the annual University Film and Video Association (UFVA) conferences for national and international film school faculty, and in 2014, the annual congress of the International Association of Film and Television Schools (CILECT).
He also established the Women in Focus conference in 2000 to draw top women in the film industry to Dodge to talk about their successes and challenges.
Between the Filmmaker-in-Residence program and an Industry Advisory Board, many film industry veterans have been introduced to Chapman. Several stayed to teach full-time: Academy Award-winning writer David Ward (The Sting), director John Badham (Saturday Night Live), producer Alex Rose (Norma Rae) and animator Bill Kroyer (Tron). An Advisory Board notable isTed Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix.
In sync with Bassett’s mantra of making Dodge the film school of the future, Chapman Filmed Entertainment (CFE) was launched in 2011 with the intent of producing professional feature films to accelerate the careers of Dodge alumni by offering them key creative positions. The first film, The Barber, saw theatrical release in 2014 and was followed by Static, which has secured distribution through The Orchard. The initiative has garnered wide media coverage. No other film school offers this opportunity.
Dodge College’s second facility, the Digital Media Arts Center (DMAC), opened in 2014 as home to animation and visual effects students. In 2016, Chapman Studios West (CSW) opened its doors with the Dhont Documentary Film Center and myriad production spaces.
Bassett’s wife Janell, Chair of the Media Arts Division, has been instrumental in telling the film school’s story and teaching students how to get the attention of the industry through entertainment marketing, a program not found at any other film school.
“She has been a partner from day one,” Bassett says.
Retiring after 38 years, Bassett is proud of The Hollywood Reporter’sranking of Dodge College as #6 of the top 25 film schools in the U.S. But, I imagine he is most proud of staying true to the Dodge College mission: “To nurture the dreams and open the minds of students, preparing them for a creative life in the film and television arts.”
As Bassett puts it:
“I don’t know why I have been so lucky as to be able to take this amazing journey, but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything.”