There’s a good chance a Denison alum worked on something you watched in the past year. Graduates of the college’s cinema program have been finding success in the film and TV industry for years, partially thanks to the hands-on training they got in Granville and a network of fellow Denisonians who “bend over backward to give back to the students after them,” as Associate Cinema Professor Marc Wiskemann explains it.
Just one example: Chelsey Warner ’11, an associate producer on the popular Amazon superhero satire The Boys, got her start working on the Starz pirate drama Black Sails, a Treasure Island prequel created by Denison grad Robert Levine ’96.
Others have hit it big by working together with their classmates.
Loose Films, a production company launched by Ori Segev ’14, Noah Dixon ’14, Brett Reiter ’14, and Drew Johnson ’14, got their movie Poser — shot in Columbus and set in the local music scene — into New York’s prestigious Tribeca Film Festival, leading to theatrical distribution and agency representation for the company. A fifth Denisonian, Logan Floyd ’16, did the Poser cinematography.
“The movie has a look to it,” Wiskemann says, “and that’s Logan.”
The Loose Films team presently is working on their Poser follow-up with lots of industry support.
“They graduated. They worked together. They all played to their own strengths,” Wiskemann says. “They’re on the path of achieving the filmmaker dream.”
Denison is developing a presence in newer forms of media, too. Chase Hilt ’14 is both on-screen talent and a supervising producer for Mythical Entertainment and its hit online variety show Good Mythical Morning, which boasts 17.8 million subscribers on YouTube and famous guests such as Post Malone.
It’s a lot to keep up with, but Wiskemann, a two-decade veteran of the cinema program, documents it all via the @denison_cinema Instagram account — a must-follow for Denisonians interested in keeping tabs on the school’s movers and shakers in Hollywood and beyond.
“I’m not surprised by the achievements of any of these students,” Wiskemann says. “They were invested in their work while they were here, and continued to work really hard after they graduated. It’s there for any of our majors who really want it, and it doesn’t take a lifetime to find success.”
Denison Cinema watchlist:
- Robert Levine ’00 followed up his Starz series Black Sails by co-creating the new FX series The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow, recently picked up for a second season.
- Screenwriter Dan Ewen ’96 penned the 2019 family comedy Playing With Fire starring John Cena. Ewen also just landed a series at Amazon Freevee called Clean Slate starring Laverne Cox and George Wallace.
- Cinematographer Lyn Moncrief ’96 shot The Office star B.J. Novak’s recent directorial debut Vengeance.
- Greg Evans ’97 is an editor on the smash Netflix drama Bridgerton.
- Adam Mallinger ’02 is a writer for the CW series Superman & Lois.
- Medha Jaishankar ’06 is a producer on the forthcoming thriller He Went That Way starring Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi.
- Former Denison football player Peter Jarowey ’09 is the CEO and a founding member of distributor Vertical Entertainment, which recently purchased the Sundance favorite Emily The Criminal starring Aubrey Plaza.
- Chelsey Warner ’11 is an associate producer on the hit Amazon Prime series The Boys.
- Loose Films, the production company started by Ori Segev ’14, Noah Dixon ’14, Brett Reiter ’14, and Drew Johnson ’14, was the force behind Poser. This Columbus music scene drama recently saw theatrical release through Oscilloscope Laboratories, the distributor founded by late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch.
- Chase Hilt ’14 is a supervising producer for Mythical Entertainment’s popular YouTube series Good Mythical Morning.