Vandy in Hollywood was the cover story for the Spring 2010 issue of Vanderbilt Magazine.

Vandy in Hollywood

Opening doors in Tinseltown takes smarts, guts and, if you’re very lucky, alumni on the inside.

The lure of Hollywood is just as strong today as it was a century ago when motion picture production companies from New York and New Jersey moved west to take advantage of the warm, sunny weather. Vanderbilt alumni have always had a presence in Hollywood, from actress/singer Dinah Shore, BA’38, to Oscar-winning director Delbert Mann, BA’41 (Marty), to Oscar-winning screenwriter Tom Schulman, BA’72 (Dead Poets Society), to Fred Thompson, JD’67, who played the folksy district attorney on television’s Law and Order before making a run for the presidency in 2008.

In the early days movie-making was much simpler: Actors, writers, producers, directors, cameramen, editors, and muscle to move the equipment were just about all that was necessary to take a production from the back lot to the big screen. Today, with the advent of special effects, international distribution, and as many cable channels as there are stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, opportunities abound. Finding them, however, can be tricky, and in Hollywood it’s not always what you know, but rather who you know.

That’s where Vandy-in-Hollywood—and Chad Gervich—come in.

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