Puttin’ on the Glitz
No, it’s not the Oscars. But judging from the crowd, it might as well be.

Searchlights flood the night sky. Hollywood heavy hitters step out of stretch limos onto red carpets. Reporters and fans crane to get a glimpse of the latest arrivals.
Sound like another entertainment extravaganza at the Shrine Auditorium?
Close, but with a twist: This night the action is taking place at the famed Academy Award venue’s new neighbor, USC’s Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts – the nation’s first and only fully digital training facility for student filmmakers.
In the days leading up to the March 1 opening night gala, workers toiled around the clock, putting the finishing touches on the 35,000-square-foot, $25 million structure. In the Ron Howard Screening Room, carpenters feverishly installed the newly arrived, custom-made seats. On the Akira Kurosawa and Stanley Kubrick sound stages, electricians tested hundreds of colored lights used to bathe the room in rainbow hues. In the studios on the upper and lower levels, specialists in motion sensor technology, Avid editing equipment and image compositing machines put their gear through last-minute test runs.
Even the corridors buzzed with activity as workers hung digital renderings and illustrations from Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, Forrest Gump and other Zemeckis films.








At the Zemeckis Center’s gala opening, (Top) directors George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg field questions from the press;
(Second down) Zemeckis is congratulated by California governor Gray Davis;
(Third down) USC president Steven B. Sample chats with Spielberg, who is also a USC trustee;
(Bottom) USC Cinema-Television dean Elizabeth Daley greets DreamWorks SKG partner Jeffrey Katzenberg.
By 4 p.m. on opening night, with a faint whiff fresh paint, floor wax and tropical hors d’oeuvres wafting through the air, the center stands ready to welcome the throngs of reporters from across the nation and around the globe who have come to cover the event.
Passing through the building in two waves, the media gather under a specially erected tent for a Hollywood reporter’s dream-come-true: directors Robert Zemeckis ’73, George Lucas ’66 and and Steven Spielberg (a USC trustee), along with Avid CEO David Krall, whose company outfitted the new center with an unprecedented 60 state-of-the-art digital editing workstations.
As the sun sets and the shadows from the Shrine grow long, a bank of spotlights positioned on 32nd Street fires up. The beams drench the gray façade of the cavernous Zemeckis Center with huge, white Z’s. Limos and town cars pull up to “the Z” (as the center was quickly dubbed) to discharge some of the industry’s and the state’s heaviest hitters.
Joining Zemeckis, Spielberg and Lucas for the festivities are California governor Gray Davis, DreamWorks SKG partner Jeffrey Katzenberg, producer David Kirschner (Titan A.E.), NBC West Coast president Scott Sassa ’81, director John Singleton BFA ’90 (Boyz N the Hood, Shaft), director/producer Jay Roach MFA ’86 (Austin Powers), writer/ producer John Wells MFA ’82 (“ER,” “Third Watch”), actress Pat Hitchcock O’Connell (daughter of director Alfred Hitchcock), as well as Zemeckis’ writing partner Bob Gale ’73 (Back to the Future I, II, III),) and collaborating producers Steve Starkey (Contact, Forrest Gump) and Jack Rapke (What Lies Beneath, Cast Away), to name but a few.
“It’s an incredibly exciting event,” Roach says, milling around and taking in the glamour. “I didn’t know it would be so splashy and cool. But it should be, it’s a big deal.”
Students working the event share the sense of awe. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a party this extravagant,” remarks Nick Stanton, a junior in the filmic writing program who is demonstrating some of the equipment for guests. “It’s neat to be at a party with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg,” echoes Colleen Reilly, a third-year graduate student in the production program.


With the opening in full swing, the evening has taken on a carnival-like quality. Green laser beams pulsate in a hazy mist down the corridors. A wild-haired Doc Brown from Back to the Future greets visitors and invites them to pose for pictures with his tricked-out DeLorean time machine, while Darth Vader moves menacingly among the invitees.
Five hundred guests drift freely through the center. Some prefer the main sound stages, where a jazz combo plays as they nosh on appetizers and chat over drinks. Some wander through the visual effects labs. Admiring the state-of-the-art gear, Roach grows wistful. “I wish I could come back and play with all this stuff,” he says.
Others opt for the tented area on the center’s west lot, decorated in a tropical motif – complete with life raft and palm trees – recreating the island sanctuary in Zemeckis’ latest blockbuster, Cast Away.
Midway through the evening, a hush falls upon the crowd as cinema-television dean Elizabeth Daley steps to the microphone. Hundreds of guests gather on the sound stage and hundreds more crowd around monitors stationed throughout the building.
Describing the event as “a milestone in this school’s history,” she thanks “the extended USC Cinema-Television family that has come together, led by Bob Zemeckis, to bring into reality this wonderful facility in which you are standing.”
USC President Steven B. Sample praises Zemeckis for his efforts to create the consummate digital arts learning environment. “For our students who will lead the field of cinema, as generations of USC graduates before them have, this facility represents the best laboratory that one could imagine,” Sample says.
Gov. Gray Davis lauds the director for his loyalty. “Being a part of an investment in the next generation of students is a wonderful way to advance their careers and pay tribute to the generations that have preceded us,” he says. To rousing applause, Davis proclaims it “Robert Zemeckis day in the State of California.”
When Zemeckis mounts the podium, he speaks from the heart.
“The USC film school was the most important influence in my entire career and in my life,” he says. “Not only did the school teach me the basics of filmmaking and nurture my passion for filmmaking, it also allowed me the opportunity to form friendships and working partnerships.”
Looking into the faces of many of those very friends and partners, Zemeckis smiles: “It’s my honor and my privilege to have my name on this center, and I’m grateful to have an opportunity to say, ‘thank you.’”


Photo by Lee Salem

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