Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
Patty Ahn is a Ph.D. Candidate in Critical Studies at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Although she currently plans to pursue a career in higher education, her relationship to the media industries has not been solely academic. While working toward her degrees in Film and Media Studies and English at the University of California, Irvine, Patty helped with the startup of a post-production facility in Los Angeles, CA. Patty integrated the critical tools she acquired as a media studies major with the practical skills she learned on the job, and worked on a variety of projects ranging from Stacey Peralta’s documentaries Dogtown and Z-Boys and Riding Giants to VH-1’s long-running series Driven and Behind the Music.
Patty’s dissertation titled “Visual Music Networks: Korean-American Popular Music and Global Multiculturalism in the Wake of the Cold War”historically examines how U.S. and South Korean media policies since the late 1950s have structured the transpacific movement of Korean/American popular music media between these two nations. The inspiration for this research project comes from a personal place. Patty grew up in a diasporic Korean household permeated by the sounds of Korean and U.S. music television programs, and her parents were among the small number of Koreans who immigrated to the U.S. at the height of the Cold War. She asks what are some of the historical and political factors that account for this fragmented media environment. Patty’s research project also has a pedagogical goal. She believes that music and music television provide primary cultural sites of identity-formation for Asian American and other minority youth and thus should be instituted as an integral part of any undergraduate media studies curricula.
Patty hopes to continue to pursue a career as an educator, pushing students, other media scholars, and even industry workers and analysts to think about how music television structures our identities, social worlds, governmental policies, and cultural practices. She is truly grateful to have found a network of support for these ambitious pursuits at the School of Cinematic Arts.
On Gratitude
I am writing to express my utmost gratitude for your generous award to the School of Cinematic Arts and for selecting me as a recipient from a highly competitive pool of applicants. Our community undoubtedly thrives because of the continued support by members of the SCA family like yourselves. I have just completed my fourth year of the Ph.D. program in Critical Studies, but the road to graduate school was a challenging one. My family has faced a series of financial challenges since my father passed away while I was in college. Because of our circumstances, I took a break from my undergraduate education, returned years later to complete my B.A., and applied to graduate school, all while working full-time and moving between several homes. My receipt of this award thus represents more than just a gesture of financial support from you. It affirms SCA’s stellar ethos of mentorship and that one can still attend a top program even if she does not have the financial resources to do so.
I only hope that I can repay this generosity through my own pedagogical commitment to the school. My professional priority is the work of teaching. Beyond all else, academic research gives me the tools to push my students to examine media beyond what appears on the film, television, and computer screen and become more aware of their lived environments. Every semester, students express to me and the professor how much the way that they think not just about media but about themselves has changed over the course of the semester. This is the most rewarding aspect of this career. I cannot thank you enough for your continued support in my professional goals.
Once again, I am humbled and honored to have been chosen as a recipient of the Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship.
Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
Ginge Cox attended the University of California, San Diego where she studied Computer Science and Music. During this time she was a Division I athlete and honors scholar. Ginge was also the president of marketing for the Greek Board of Directors and an actively contributing member to Kappa Alpha Theta. Ginge was an active participant in the Women’s Center; organizing and volunteering for various fundraising campaigns to combat against domestic violence and foster a safe haven for women in volatile situations.
Upon graduation, Ginge began working for the “Blue Man Group” and comedy troupe, “Second City” as a sound engineer on Norwegian cruise lines. Ginge ran two full broadway style shows every night to a theater of 2,000 + for a year and a half while sailing around the world. Ginge currently works as a freelance sound engineer in San Diego running conferences for companies such as Apple, Ross, Nokia, and Sony. She begins her graduate studies at USC in the fall studying TV and Film Production, and is extremely excited to be a part of the program and campus.
On Gratitude
This scholarship means the world to me. I am so grateful for your generosity. This scholarship will help me to pay for an education that will propel me forward to achieving my goals. Being able to attend USC means receiving the education necessary to become a leader in the film and TV industry. I feel so lucky to have been chosen for this scholarship, and cannot begin to think of how to thank you for your generosity.
I hope that one day after my education at USC I am also in the position to help others dreams come true. My dream job is to work for Skywalker Ranch which an education at USC can prepare me for. I want to be one of the leading sound designers in the industry. I wouldn’t be able to attend USC without the generous support from donors such as yourself.
Thank you!
Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
Linda Jules describes herself as “an artist trapped in the body of a computer scientist.” She is specifically interested in using visual effects and animation in developing fully immersive three-dimensional multimedia systems. Her work as a Master of Fine Arts candidate at the University of Southern California involves developing a qualitative evaluation of the effects that gradual changes in graphic and stereoscopic design components have on overall user experience. Her interest in these topics reflects a long term desire to develop and refine her research in the practical and theoretical approach of merging traditional artistic practices with modern digital media.
Now entering her third and final year of graduate studies, she has built a solid foundation, both in and out of the classroom, investigating issues on the brink of emerging arts and technologies. She has worked very closely with several professors at USC in the hopes of expanding her research goals. During the Spring of 2011, Linda worked under the mentorship of Eric Hanson learning to create content for full dome planetarium setups. This collaboration introduced her to many individuals in and around the university working within her field of interest, fully immersive cinema. She is also currently volunteering with the Department of Biomedical Engineering on creating dance based films that explain science concepts. Her first collaboration, Dance with Newton’s Laws, has reached a wide variety of audiences, from physics classrooms at the University of Southern California to elementary school groups looking to spark the science bug in young children throughout Los Angeles.
On Gratitude
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your kindness in funding the Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship for an additional year. Your continued support has kept me from being overwhelmed by the financial cost associated with graduate school. I am able to better focus on the things that matter, such as maintaining a high GPA and volunteering my time outside of the classroom because of the generous award that you have provided me.
Now that I am entering my final year of graduate school, I am well on my way to figuring out what type of career I may be involved in for the rest of my life. I hope to be able to use the knowledge I have gained in combining technology and traditional arts at my MFA program in Animation and Digital Arts at University of Southern California to develop scientific visualizations and other virtual tools for use in academic and health industries.
Once again, thank you again for supporting me and other students of University of Southern California. Your generosity truly makes a difference.
Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
Michael Libby is a creative director, writer, and producer with an extensive background in concept design for global theme parks and expertise in immersive storytelling, entertainment technology, and location-based experience design.
He develops and protects the creative vision of a project as it matures from concept to creation. As an avid futurist, he enjoys researching new entertainment technologies and exploring their creative possibilities. With a B.A. in English from the University of Southern California, his work has taken him to many different outlets including Walt Disney Imagineering, Thinkwell Group, and Rolling Stone magazine. As an Interactive Media M.F.A. candidate at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Michael plans to spearhead a revolution in experience design by implementing interactive techniques of design, narrative, and psychology into the rapidly maturing field of location-based entertainment.
On Gratitude
Please allow me to thank you profusely for selecting me for this generous scholarship. It goes without saying that graduate school is a great financial commitment. This scholarship helps immeasurably to ease the burden of my student loans, and will greatly improve my quality-of-life during the time that I will be a graduate student. Perhaps most importantly, this scholarship allows me the freedom to take on less extra-curricular work during the school year, giving me the financial independence to concentrate exclusively on my studies and my personal growth while at the School of Cinematic Arts.
It has been said that this particular M.F.A. program is not for those that just want a career in the field of interactive media, but for those who want to be leaders in that field. I fall into this latter category, and I plan to squeeze every drop of knowledge out of this program so that I can become a true industry leader and innovator. This wouldn’t be possible without the generous help of the Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for seeing me as worthy of this generous gift.
Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
From an early age, Mimi Munson has had an enduring fascination with the written word and the world of film. After writing her way through elementary school and high school, she received a grant to go to Europe for a year to travel to her favorite authors’ homes in England, Germany, Austria, France, and Italy, working while she traveled. She then attended Columbia University, where she majored in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and Comparative Literature.
After a four years in New York working as a writing assistant and writing two novels (unpublished) she was introduced to Peter Weir, who hired her to be his research assistant on an early version of the script for Master and Commander. During a pause in that production she was also hired by Scott Frank to research a rewrite of Flight of the Phoenix. In the Fall of 2001, she was moved out to Mexico and then Los Angeles to continue with Master and Commander through the end of production. In the last ten years she has worked as a researcher and story consultant on over a dozen feature films and documentaries, including Anchorman, The Lookout, Howl, Lovelace, Stick It, and many scripts and rewrites. She continues to be on staff with Scott Frank. She lives in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles with her four-year-old daughter Charlotte, who is by far the most creative and adventurous project she has ever been lucky enough to work on.
On Gratitude
When I first heard that I had been offered the Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship, I was agonizing over the decision I had to make about accepting my place in the program this fall. The financial risk felt overwhelming, and as a mother without a husband or outside support, it felt almost crazy to me to take such a chance on so many gambles wrapped into one– the economy, the politics of Hollywood, and most of all, myself. I’m a practical person almost as much as I am an artist, and it was so hard to justify possibly putting my child’s security in jeopardy for something that certainly my old-fashioned family sees as selfish and unrealistic. Your vote of confidence in me, and the generous gift you are giving to me and my daughter by relieving some of that financial risk, pushed me across that line into making this leap of faith, and signing up.
But as I write this letter to you now, two months later. I find myself feeling grateful to you for something even more than the money itself, as helpful as that will be to me this year. My father died unexpectedly in April, and my mother is very sick in the aftermath of losing him. It’s hard to put into words– let alone a paragraph– what losing my father means to me. I was tempted to defer school for a year while I try to gather myself and my family back together. But as I have been navigating this experience, I have been reading about Mary Pickford, and watching her feisty and intensely sensitive performances. I read of her own first divorce in circumstances similar to mine, of her cutting her famous hair after her mother died, and heard her tell of someone saying that she was “like twenty women in one woman, a whole harem.” I heard her in a Canadian radio interview telling of her childhood, I heard her self-deprecating sense of humor, her toughness in not glossing over her criticisms of the imperfections she saw in herself and others, graciously, yet with conviction. I recognize some of her moral strength from my grandmother, and others in that generation of my family who are mostly gone now, but whose unrelenting strength and high expectations will live on in my mind forever. There are still too many women in movies today who only reflect one or two of the 20 women that we all feel within ourselves. My employer always teases me for sneaking in extra layers of complexity into his female characters, and this, in addition to being a professional who tries to support and promote as many other women in Hollywood as I can, are major goals for me going forward.
My father won’t be here to see what I’m capable of from here on in my life, but you will be. Thank you for investing in me, and for giving me this profound honor of feeling that you, and Mary Pickford through you, are behind me. I know she wouldn’t slow down in these circumstances– if anything she would attack her projects with even more passion, and I will do the same. I hope to live up to her legacy in my own way, whatever that turns out to be.
Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
Adam North hails from Centreville, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. With a B.A. in English and minors in Psychology and Theatre, Adam comes from a diverse educational background. After college, he left Los Angeles and began work in TV production, then returned to LA exhausted and freezing cold after a year to work as a temp at HBO Original Programming. Currently he is producing the web series “Complete Works,”a comedy about the finals of the American Shakespeare Competition, which features talent including True Blood‘s Deborah Ann Woll and Tony nominee Mary-Joan Negro.
Adam will return to USC for his second year in the Peter Stark Producing Program this fall. He is currently a trainee at Columbia Pictures, and has worked at HBO, both in production and casting, and Fox Searchlight. He is the co-founder of Boom Kat Dance Theatre and a member of Bowling For Tiffany, a Los Angeles sketch comedy troupe. Previous projects include: HBOs The Miraculous Year, Project Runway, and The Apprentice. Adam graduated Magna Cum Laude graduate from USC, where was a Trustee Scholar.
On Gratitude
I can’t fully express to you how significant the Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship will be for my education and my future, and how grateful I am for it. Thank you so very much. As you’re aware, these are trying financial times, and the fact that a good portion of my tuition is now being given to me will make an absolutely massive difference in my ability to manage my debt after graduation and to focus on the internship I’ve been given, my classes, and my thesis during this final year.
I’m currently interning at Columbia Pictures in Creative Affairs and hope to continue here through next year (provided that I don’t mess it up!). The scholarship I’ve received will help to ensure that, regardless of what salary I may be making, I’ll still be able to stay at this job because my debt is being mitigated. I truly believe that this internship has the potential to jump-start my career, so it’s thrilling to know that I can stay regardless of my financial situation. I’m also producing a web series on the side called “Complete Works,”about the finals of the American Shakespeare Competition. It’s a feature-length script, a month of shooting, and a post process that will last until the end of the year. Your generous donation will make it possible for me to afford the necessaries like gas, etc. to juggle school and this side project.
To sum it up: I can’t thank you enough.
Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
Taylor Nygaard is a sixth year PhD candidate in the critical studies department of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Originally from wine country in Northern California, Taylor went to college close to home, receiving her BA with honors from UC Berkeley in 2005 with a double major in Rhetoric and Film Studies. Transitioning directly into graduate school, she received her MA in Critical Studies at USC in 2007. After completing her coursework and qualifying examinations, she is currently working on her dissertation, tentatively titled The Virtual Big Sister: Visuality & Technology in Girls’ Media Culture, which examines contemporary girls media culture and particularly the intersections of old media like film and television with new media like social networking sites, web 2.0, and mobile technologies. She is especially interested in issues related to gender, identity, and contemporary business strategies of the media industries.
Above all else, Taylor is passionate about teaching. Having served as a teaching assistant in a variety of classes in the School of Cinematic Arts, she has developed strong relationships with her students and hopes to inspire them to think critically about the media that surround them. Throughout her tenure at USC, Taylor received the Michael Wayne Fellowship for a commitment for film preservation for her work as an assistant archivist at the USC Warner Bros. Archives. She served as faculty representative in her graduate group, has been published in the media studies journal Spectator, and was nominated by her department for the “Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award” sponsored by USC Center for Excellence in Teaching in 2010. However, one of her most outstanding attributes is that fact that she coordinates and runs a peer-lead teaching seminar for her fellow graduate students to encourage cooperation and foster a thriving teaching atmosphere in her department. She hopes to become a University Professor after graduating in May 2013.
On Gratitude
I cannot begin to express my gratitude for receiving such a prestigious honor. As I begin my final year at USC, having spent almost seven years in the School of Cinematic Arts working towards my PhD, this is such a bittersweet moment. It would be impossible to list everything that I have learned during my time here. I came in loving film and television, but I’m leaving with great friends and mentors and an understanding of both the industry and the art form which I couldn’t receive anywhere else in the world. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing faculty and students, all the while being immersed in an environment which fosters creativity and expression. I’m saddened to leave this place in the spring, but this scholarship will give me the opportunity to take advantage of every last moment, since I won’t have to spend a majority of my time working away from school to pay my bills.
Your donation will allow me to focus on my research, writing, and teaching without the pressure of having to work long hours to support myself. Along with finishing my dissertation this year, I will be teaching, and making myself competitive for the academic job market. My goal is to become a university professor, so that can give other students the same experiences I have received, and this scholarship will help me represent the important legacy of USC by giving me the time to focus on my dissertation and applications to teaching positions. If I’m lucky enough to reach my goal, I hope to provide future students with the same incredible experiences I had as a college student””those that made me see the world in a whole new light. I want to encourage learning, creativity, and understanding and I know that media touches everyone in a way that supports these more than anything else. I’ve witnessed it over and over again. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting education, and for allowing me this great opportunity. I promise to live up to this important honor.
Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
Joe Peracchio is an actor, director, writer, and producer who recently served as Artistic Director of the California International Theatre Festival for the 2011 season, after having served as its Founding Producer since 2009. He is also the Founding Artistic Director of Tricklock Company, the internationally acclaimed professional theatre company in residence at the University of New Mexico, and the founder of the state’s premiere performing arts event The Revolutions International Theatre Festival, held annually in Albuquerque & Santa Fe, now in its 12th season.
Joe’s acting, directing, and writing has been seen on stages in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Edinburgh and many other cities and universities throughout the U.S., Europe, and Canada for over 15 years. He directed and starred in the hit rock-opera Taking the Jesus Pill in Hollywood, directed and produced the hit musical Bukowsical! (Outstanding Musical Award 2007, New York Fringe Festival), and his play, The Glorious & Bloodthirsty Billy the Kid, created with Tricklock Company, has completed three international tours throughout Europe, Canada, and the US, winning the Spirit of the Fringe Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2005. Joe’s short film script Last Weekend was a finalist in USC’s 546 Short Film Competition 2011. Joe was a principal actor on the CW Network’s series EASY MONEY, starring Laurie Metcalf, in 2008/2009, was a writer and lead actor in the PBS teen comedy show Fences for two seasons (Gold Medal: NY Festival of Film and TV & nominated twice for Regional Emmy Awards), and has appeared in many film and television productions.
He has been honored by the New Mexico Business Weekly as one of the State’s Top Forty Under 40 Arts Professionals and was appointed by Mayor Martin Chavez to the Albuquerque Film Advisory Board and the Mayor’s transition team to advise the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Cultural Affairs. He also works with the City of Los Angeles Office of Cultural Affairs as a grant reviewer and consultant and is a member of SAG/AFTRA and the Actors Equity Association.
On Gratitude
It is with profound gratitude that I write today to accept the Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship. It is such an honor to receive one of the most prestigious scholarships bestowed by the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and to have my graduate work in screenwriting supported in part by a scholarship named for such a hero and legend of film history.
In the same spirit as Ms. Pickford, over the years before coming to SCA I worked as an actor, stage director, and producer around the country and in Europe and Canada, as a theatre teacher at middle, high school, and university levels, as a producer of international theatre and festivals in both California and New Mexico, and most recently as an actor in television and film. I came to SCA to pursue my dream of reaching a larger audience by writing, producing, and directing television and film drama. The training I am receiving is of such a high caliber, and the support and faith in my work that you have expressed by granting me this scholarship is truly humbling.
In addition, I am a relatively new father of two little girls, and having already put my wife through graduate school we understand the commitment necessary for me to make the most of this MFA opportunity. This support will help me, and my young family, more easily navigate the frugal graduate school years – years filled with hard work and sacrifice that we know will serve as a strong example for our daughters.
Thank you for this honor, and for the prestigious new line on my resume – “Recipient of the Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship”. But really, thank you for the encouragement of my work that this represents, for the help in attaining my career goals, and for helping to make my girls proud of their dad as they grow up.
Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship
2012-2013 Recipient
About This Student
Sera Tabb is a Los-Angeles based Producer currently attending the Peter Stark Producing Program. She is committed to producing high-end creative content both for entertainment and social purpose. Her production company, Plexory, is currently active in creating web-based media for a wide variety of clients. Most recently Sera has been credited on network series for MTV News & Docs, The Travel Channel, The Food Network, and The History Channel.
Sera’s first feature documentary, Identity Richmond, is scheduled to make a festival run in 2013. She looks forward to producing more non-scripted content in the future and branching into narrative content.
On Gratitude
First I would like to sincerely thank you for offering me the Mary Pickford Foundation Endowed Scholarship. As a Peter Stark Producing Program student hoping to continue work in the industry as soon as possible, this award could not have come at a more helpful time. I have gained so much from my time at USC already and this award will help me complete my education.
I am truly honored to have been selected for this scholarship. Thank you for creating a way for students like myself to pursue our passions while working to create content that will benefit the greater public.
I could not be more thankful.