8 C OMMENCEM ENT 1 0 2 Friday, June 15, 2018 C o m m e n C e m e n t P r o g r a m RECEPTION FOR THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION PROCESSIONAL (Coral Tree Walk) NATIONAL ANTHEMCoral Tree Walk Kelsey Leeann Smith WELCOME Teri Schwartz COMMENCEMENT Dean, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television CEREMONY (Royce Hall) CLASS OF 2018 STUDENT REMARKS Lauren N. Henning Department of Theater Undergraduate Vincent Howard Blake Department of Film, Television and Digital Media Undergraduate COMMENCEMENT KEYNOTE SPEAKER Carl Franklin Director PRESENTATION OF 2018 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD IN THEATER Judy Kaye Actress and Singer PRESENTATION OF 2018 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD “IN FILM,ail toTELEVISION the hills AND of DIGITAL Westwood MEDIA H Allison Anders Writer and Director to the mighty sea below; CONFERRAL OF THE DEGREES CLASSHail OF 2018 to DEPARTMENTour alma OFmater, THEATER MUSICAL PERFORMANCE she will “Seasonsconquer of Love” every foe. Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson For we’re loyalPerformed to the by Southland, Claudia Baffo, Shelby Lauren Barry, Calvin John Armstrong Brady, Alana Karidad DeBlase, Kathryn Ellen Emery, Molly Jayne Grant, Grant Matthew Hodges, Ty Braden Koeller, Jacob Harris Levy, Spencer Douglasher honor Martin, Nicholas we’ll Thomasuphold, McKenna, Charles Richard Platt, Max Amadeus Risch, Brandon Joseph Root, Kelsey Leeann Smith, Shelby Lillian Talley We’ll gladly giveA L M A ourM AT E Rhearts to thee, Brandon Joseph Root to the Blue and to the Gold.” FINAL REMARKS Teri Schwartz — Jeane Emerson ’29 RECESSIONAL L e t t e r F r o m t h e P r e s i d e n t L e t t e r F r o m t h e C h a n C e ll o r Janet Napolitano Gene Block University of California President UCLA Chancellor Dear Graduates: Dear UCLA Graduate: Congratulations, UCLA Class of 2018! Congratulations! As you enjoy today’s Today we join your family, friends, and the ceremony and the celebrations that follow, I entire University of California community hope you will take a few moments to pause in celebrating you and your wonderful and reflect on all you have done to reach this accomplishment. You have worked hard, point. All of your late nights. All of the support sometimes overcoming great obstacles, in from your family and friends. All of the times pursuit of your UC education. you wrestled with complex problems and discovered unexpected solutions. All of those UCLA alumnus and tennis great Arthur Ashe things brought you here. once gave some simple but elegant advice: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do No one else can ever claim credit for the degree what you can.” you’ll receive today — you earned it. Let it be a symbol of your success and incredible potential. I hope you feel proud, Your time at UCLA has given you the knowledge, skills, and confidence you fulfilled and inspired by the endless possibilities that lie before you. And I need to go out into the world and change it for the better. Nationally and hope that you always associate UCLA with those feelings. globally, we face serious challenges. But as a UCLA graduate, you are well prepared to do your part to respond to these challenges, and help your local As you face challenges throughout your life, I urge you to reflect back on this community, the nation, and the world. As you embark on this journey, you moment and let it be a reminder that with enough focus and determination, are equipped with the tools you need to gather information, think critically, you can overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal. and continually adjust your understanding of the world around you. I am grateful for all of the ways in which you have enriched UCLA. Our I hope you will always take great pride in what you have accomplished at the campus is better because you were here. University of California, and in being a part of the UC family for life. I wish you the best of luck in whatever comes next. Following commencement, some of you will begin pursuing a career; others will continue your education or take time to further fuel your passions. Go forth, Bruins, and make the world a better, brighter place. Fiat lux – let Whatever path you choose, know that you are a Bruin for life, and you are there be light! always welcome at UCLA. Most sincerely, With very best wishes, Janet Napolitano Gene D. Block President Chancellor L e t t e r F r o m t h e d e a n C o m m e n C e m e n t K e y n o t e s P e a K e r Teri Schwartz Carl Franklin Dean, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Director Dear Class of 2018, After graduating from UC Berkeley, Carl Franklin spent many years working as an actor both on stage and in Heartiest congratulations to each and every one of you on television before returning to school to study filmmaking at this momentous occasion — the celebration of your academic the American Film Institute. career at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television! Armed with his experience in front of the camera, he You have accomplished remarkable creative and scholarly successfully transitioned behind it with his first feature, One work during your time with us at UCLA TFT. As your dean, False Move, in 1992. The film garnered critical acclaim and I am very proud of all of you. I feel honored and privileged earned him several awards including Best Director at the to have been witness to your outstanding achievements Independent Spirit Awards and Best New Filmmaker at the and great dedication to excellence. On behalf of our UCLA MTV Movie Awards. He also received the New Generation TFT faculty and staff, it is with immense joy that I extend Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. to each of you our very best wishes for having reached this Franklin quickly diversified his resume with the award- milestone day. winning HBO miniseries Laurel Avenue and his follow-up film, the moody neo-noir Devil in a Blue Dress, starring Denzel Washington. You are the newest members of our amazing UCLA TFT alumni community. We encourage you to stay connected to one another — and to us — as you embark on your exciting Franklin went on to direct One True Thing, starring Renée Zellweger, William Hurt and professional journey across the entertainment and performing arts landscape. Use your work Meryl Streep, who was Academy Award nominated for her role in the film; and the critically and successes to make a difference and to help the next generation of alumni who will one acclaimed Bless Me, Ultima. At the same time, he built a remarkable body of work in day join you in this exciting UCLA TFT network. television including directing episodes of highly lauded shows such as HBO’s The Pacific, The Newsroom and The Leftovers, and Showtime’s Homeland. As you go out into the world, I know that you will use your singular voices and the power of humanistic story to carry our UCLA TFT ideals forward to not only delight and entertain, He received an NAACP Image Award and an Emmy Award nomination in the category of but to enlighten, engage and inspire change for a better world. For that, and so much more, Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for his work on Netflix’s breakthrough hit House you have my unfailing gratitude. of Cards and won another Image Award in the same category for his direction of Netflix’s smash hit 13 Reasons Why. Congratulations, once again, Class of 2018! All of us at UCLA TFT are very proud of each and every one of you. Franklin’s numerous other credits include the films High Crimes and Out of Time; and episodes of Showtime’s Ray Donovan and The Affair; HBO’s Rome and Vinyl; Hulu’s Chance; Warmest good wishes, and TNT’s Falling Skies, Good Behavior and the upcoming series One Day She’ll Darken. He also directed the pilot episodes of Starz’ Magic City and ABC’s Ten Days in the Valley. Franklin is set to direct multiple episodes of Netflix’s Mindhunter in Summer 2018. He has television projects in development with HBO and Netflix as well as numerous passion Teri Schwartz projects he plans to produce through his production banner, Monarch Pictures. Dean UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television d istinguished a L u m n i a w a r d i n t h e a t e r d istinguished a L u m n i a w a r d i n F i L m , t e L e v i s i o n a n d d i g i t a L m e d i a Judy Kaye Allison Anders Actress and Singer Writer and Director Two-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer Judy Kaye Allison Anders is an award-winning film and television most recently starred on Broadway and on tour as Madame writer and director. She attended the UCLA College of Fine Morrible in Wicked. She also appeared on Broadway as the Arts, now the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Fairy Godmother in Cinderella and the Duchess in Nice and in 1984 had her first professional break working for Work If You Can Get It, for which she won Tony, Drama Desk her film mentor Wim Wenders on his movie Paris, Texas.