College of Communication

Scott J. ThompsonScott J. Thompson, Assistant Professor

Film And Television
  • BA – University of Southern California
  • MFA (Screenwriting) – University of Southern California

Scott J. Thompson began teaching screenwriting in Los Angeles, while working as a Development Executive and Story Consultant for various production companies, including New Line Cinema, MTM Enterprises and the Fred Silverman Company. He has taught for fourteen years, directed Emerson College’s Screenwriting Certificate Program for eight years, and conducted seminars for the New York Film Academy, the Cape Cod Writer’s Conference and the Plymouth Independent Film Festival. His screenwriting has been recognized by several national competitions, including the Austin Film Festival, the Chesterfield Screenwriting Fellowship and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences’ Nicholl Fellowship. His feature-length comedy, Foreign Exchange, was optioned in 2006 and is slated for principle photography in the coming months. He is currently under contract with Los Angeles-based West Coast Pictures to draft a period-drama set in the 1700's. As a Visiting Professor at Boston University, he is the recipient of the 2007 Lyndon Baines Johnson Faculty Advisor of The Year Award.

Elizabeth MehrenElizabeth Mehren, Professor

Journalism

B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.J., University of California, Berkeley

As a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, Elizabeth Mehren wrote news, feature and magazine stories about events ranging from presidential politics to the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal to the Olympic Games and the Academy Awards. Mehren worked for the paper in California, covering state and regional news. As a member of the paper’s Washington bureau, she wrote about politics and the White House. In New York, she pioneered the paper’s publishing beat and also produced feature and hard-news stories. For 15 years she served as New England bureau chief, reporting from a six-state region. Mehren previously served as a reporter and news editor at The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune and the Hayward (California) Daily Review. She has written for many national magazines. Mehren is the author of “After the Darkest Hour” (Simon & Schuster) and “Born Too Soon” (Doubleday/Kensington Books), which was made into a television movie. She is the co-author of “Overcoming Infertility.” Professor Mehren also has had extensive experience in radio and television, appearing on The Today Show, Fox News, CNN and elsewhere. She was won several national awards and was a fellow at the University of Maryland’s Casey Journalism Center, as well as a visiting scholar at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism.