The School of Theatre, Film & Television is thrilled to announce FTV LA, our new base in Los Angeles made possible by our partnership with Film Independent.
FTV LA will host alumni talks and film screenings, creating opportunities to connect with fellow alumni, at Film Independent headquarters (5670 Wilshire Blvd, 9th floor).
Join us on March 14 for Alumni Spotlight: VFX Takeover with Class of ’09 with Tom Erickson, Scott Silver and Sheldon Smith. An RSVP is required to attend.
Tom Erickson is a film editor and visual effects editor who has worked on a variety of studio and independent projects, including Blue Beetle, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch. He specializes in helping filmmakers blend storytelling with visual effects, collaborating closely with directors and artists to bring complex sequences to the screen. Tom is also passionate about mentoring and sharing what he’s learned about the creative process and the teamwork that goes into making movies.
After graduating from the UofA with a BFA in Film/TV, Scott Silver moved to Los Angeles to begin working on Visual Effects. He started off as a VFX PA on 20th Century Fox’s Gulliver’s Travels, and he worked his way up over the years to a VFX Production Supervisor on Sony’s Jumanji. Soon after, he got hired as a junior executive at 20th Century Fox to oversee Fox Searchlight and other miscellaneous Fox projects. He is now the VP of Visual Effects overseeing all films at Searchlight Pictures.
Sheldon Smith is Vice President of Visual Effects at Legendary Entertainment, where he helps guide visual effects strategy, production planning, and technology initiatives across a diverse slate of feature films. Before joining Legendary, he spent more than a decade in freelance visual effects production, rising from coordinator to associate producer on films including Life of Pi, Jurassic World, War for the Planet of the Apes, Ad Astra, The Call of the Wild, and The Batman. He has also consulted on numerous productions, developing custom tools that streamline editorial, production, and financial tracking for visual effects and post-production teams. While at the University of Arizona, he interned with the Hanson Film Institute and served as photo editor for The Daily Wildcat. He earned a BFA in Media Arts with a minor in Business Administration and is a member of both the Producers Guild of America and the Visual Effects Society.
FTV LA is a TFTV partnership with Film Independent made possible by the Hanson FilmTV endowment.