In Hollywood, turning thirty can fill a person with dread. Fortunately, the Peter Stark Producing Program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts has a long list of accomplishments to look back on as it enters its third decade. On September 11, 2011, the Stark Program celebrated thirty years of success with a cocktail reception in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Lobby at SCA.

“Every year, I tell the incoming students the same thing, ‘Get to know the Starkies because one day you’ll be working for them,’” said Dean Elizabeth M. Daley to the crowd of over one hundred Stark graduates. “We have such wonderful facilities and equipment but the greatest resource we have at the School is the alumni and I want to thank all of you for everything you do.”

The Peter Stark Producing Program was founded by legendary producer Ray Stark and graduated its first class in 1981. The program has graduates working as creative executives, distribution executives, writers, directors, managers, producers and other positions in and out of the entertainment industry.

Stark graduates hold positions at over one hundred and fifty companies in sixteen countries and have won numerous awards including Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes.

“The greatest joy of working in such an incredible program is having all of you as extended family,”

said Stark chair and legendary producer Larry Turman. “Ray Stark produced a gazillion films, many of them wonderful, but I honestly believe his greatest legacy will be the Stark Program and, by extension, all of you.”

The most recent graduating class from the Peter Stark Program has seventeen out of its twenty-five graduates working in the entertainment industry.

For more information on the stark program, please visit: cinema.usc.edu/stark