When Scott Sanders ’ 91 moved to Los Angeles right out of Carolina, he did the same
thing a generation of expatriate Tar Heel
filmmakers have done: He moved in with
one of his fellow alumni, Grady Cooper
’ 87. Cooper was in Burbank, not far from
the apartment where John Altschuler ’ 85
and Dave Krinsky ’ 85 lived, by the Warner
Brothers lot.
Altschuler and Krinsky had moved to
Los Angeles in 1986, the advance vanguard
for UNC’s Hollywood invasion. Peyton
Reed ’ 86, John Schultz ’ 85, Doug McCallie ’ 86 and others followed. There are now
about a dozen Hollywood UNC alumni
who graduated between the mid-’80s and
early ’90s, working on everything from
movies to TV commercials.
Reed has had the highest-profile success
with his directorial debut, 2000’s Bring It
On, a No. 1 box office hit. Schultz has
directed six theatrical features, including
Cedric the Entertainer’s 2005 version of
The Honeymooners. Altschuler and Krinsky
co-wrote the 2007 Will Ferrell comedy
Blades of Glory and ran the animated TV
series King of the Hill for seven years. Bill
Martin ’ 86 wrote for In Living Color and
now works on the new Kelsey Grammer
series Hank. McCallie, Cooper, Dave Bur-
ris ’ 87 and Norwood Cheek ’ 90 all have
worked on the CBS series Survivor, among
other credits.
They also work together when they
can. When Sanders was doing a preview
trailer to raise money for his movie Black
Dynamite, Schultz and Norwood helped
him shoot it while Burris had an onscreen
bit part as a racist sheriff.
“I really should have cast Burris in the
film,” Sanders said.
Off the job, UNC’s Hollywood crew
still hangs out. One regular gathering spot
is the Toluca Lake house of David Palmer
’ 86 (who does editing and creative marketing for Paramount), partly because of its
central location.
“Dave Krinsky and I are literally neigh-
bors,” Palmer said. “Go another mile and a
half that way and it’s where John Altschuler
lives. Four more blocks and you’re at Grady
Cooper’s house. Then up the hill with the
Hollywood sign, John Schultz and Bill
Martin are just off the first street you come
to. Down the other side is where Peyton
Reed lives. Two miles down from there is
Norwood Cheek’s apartment, and Dave
Burris is just past him.”
Location aside, the big draw of Chez
Palmer is his pool and hot tub.
“UNC people kind of have an open-
door pass to my house,” Palmer said. “I’ll
sometimes get these calls: ‘Hey Dave, how
do you turn on the hot tub?’And I’ll hear
voices in the background. ‘Um, you’re at
my house? Who all is there?’And it turns
out everybody had the day off but me.”
“Hollywood is a place where people
blow a lot of smoke out of various body
parts,” Warden said. “If you’ve known
somebody for decades and remember them
as the biggest nerd on campus, you have
license to rip them in a way that maybe
they don’t get on the set — which is good
for everybody. Generally, they all love what
they’re doing and know they’re lucky to
get to do it, which is a great energy to be
around. And when everybody got together,
you wanted to come in with some game.
To make everyone laugh, have opinions
about their stuff. It was very much about
sharpening what you do and learning from
each other.”
The ’80s Expats: There Goes the Neighborhood
— David Menconi
TIM LEE/THE NEWS & OBSERVER
From Chapel Hill to Hollywood’s hills -- top row, left to right -- are Grady Cooper ’ 87, Scott Sanders ’ 91, Norwood Cheek ’ 90, Doug McCallie ’ 86, John
Altschuler ’ 85 and Bill Martin ’ 86; bottom row, from left, are Peyton Reed ’ 86, John Schultz ’ 85, David Burris ’ 87 and David Palmer ’ 86.
