Sherwood Oaks College
Sherwood Oaks Film School is a nonprofit 501 educational organization. The mission of the school is to provide opportunities for students to meet with and learn from working entertainment industry professionals who have achieved success in the movie and television business.
The school was created in 1971 as Sherwood Oaks Experimental College by Gary Shusett, brother of Alien film franchise co-creator Ronald Shusett. His former students include Sylvester Stallone, James Cameron, Matt Groening, and Todd Durham who went on to create six movie and television franchises that have each generated over $1 billion in revenues.History
Gary Shusett started the nonprofit school, the first of its kind in Hollywood, with no outside funding. His philosophy was to find individuals who were highly successful in a particular field in the motion picture, television, or music industry and put them into a small, intimate setting with newcomers who were seriously dedicated to learn from them. In a short time Shusett and Sherwood Oaks gained international exposure and were featured in top magazines and popular books on filmmaking. Screenwriting teacher Syd Field conducted his first workshop there. Through the years hundreds of industry professionals have lectured at the school, including legends Orson Welles, King Vidor, Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, Rod Serling, Roman Polanski, Mel Brooks, Lucille Ball, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, William Goldman, Robert Towne, and Neil Simon.Notable alumni
