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For the past year in Champaign-Urbana<\/strong>, we have been regularly prodded with public relations reminders that the University of Illinois<\/strong> is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding in 1867<\/span><\/a> as a land grant university, the Illinois Industrial University<\/strong>. We congratulate them for their commitment to preparing the civil servants, leaders, and visionaries of the next generation, but it is also a cue for us to think about all the former UIUC students who have grown up and left their marks in entertainment and the arts since leaving these here Twin Cities. What this leads us to acknowledge is how many of them we\u2019ve never received an opportunity to know. As an example, we skimmed through this on-line collection<\/span><\/a> hosted by the News-Gazette<\/span><\/strong> of salutes from UIUC \u201cfamous formers\u201d and \u2013 little surprise<\/em> \u2013 recognized very few of the names or faces tagged in the \u201cMedia\u201d and \u201cArts\u201d categories. The same goes for this informal survey posted to the UIUC Web site<\/a><\/span> last winter that concentrates on graduates working in film and television. We\u2019ll presume that many more individuals partake in \u201cthe biz\u201d than are accounted for here.<\/p>\n Two alumni neglected in those sources have left us during the summer months, previously carving out disparate careers that dealt with the act of creatively shaping the written word for the screen. More recently, The Hollywood Reporter<\/span><\/span><\/strong> noted the death of screenplay author, instructor, and workshop mentor Thomas Rickman<\/strong><\/span><\/a> on Sunday, September 9<\/strong>, at the age of 78. Raised with few modern comforts in Kentucky<\/strong> among a distinctive culture in the South that would heavily inform his storytelling, Rickman attended UIUC as an English graduate student in the late Sixties and co-founded the Depot<\/strong>, an experimental theatrical space<\/span><\/a> in downtown Urbana\u2019s former train station that now houses the Celebration Company<\/strong>. Subsequent enrollment in the fledgling American Film Institute<\/strong> of California<\/strong> helped encourage him to take up professional scriptwriting after making a couple of well-received student film shorts. He would peak a decade later with the smash Burt Reynolds<\/strong> vehicle HOOPER<\/strong> (1978) and the biographical COAL MINER\u2019S DAUGHTER<\/strong> (1980) starring Sissy Spacek<\/strong> as country music legend Loretta Lynn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Rickman\u2019s work on the latter brought him an Academy Award<\/strong> nomination in early 1981 for best adapted screenplay, while fellow UIUC alumnus Richard Alan Greenberg<\/strong> earned his own Oscar<\/strong> nomination in 1988 for his contributions to the science-fiction action film PREDATOR<\/strong> (1987) with superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/strong>. Greenberg, a Chicago<\/strong> native who passed away on Saturday, June 16<\/strong>, at age 71, became famous in the industry after finishing his graduate school and teaching years at UIUC and UI-Chicago<\/strong> to join business-minded brother Robert<\/strong> in New York City<\/strong>. Following a handful of underwhelming commercial assignments, as told to The Art of the Title<\/span><\/strong> in a wide-ranging interview<\/a><\/span>, the siblings formed R\/Greenberg Associates<\/strong> and lucked into the challenge of designing dynamic titles for the opening crawl of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE<\/strong> (1978), pulling off a bold and memorable sequence. This led directly to the game-changing motion title work of ALIEN<\/strong> (1979) and cemented their path for the next 20 years, a run that ended in the late Nineties after Richard stepped away from an R\/GA satellite office in Los Angeles<\/strong> and Robert shifted the company focus towards new media and digital branding<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n