Adam Collis

Adam Collis is a filmmaker and Professor of Practice at Arizona State University’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School. 

As an educator, Collis has taught at ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, Loyola Marymount’s School of Film and Television, and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts - where he earned his M.F.A. in production.  

After that, seeking a deeper understanding of the entertainment business, Collis enrolled in UCLA’s Anderson School of Management where he earned his second graduate diploma,  an MBA.  

As a filmmaker, Collis directed the 20th Century Fox feature film, Sunset Strip, starring Simon Baker (CBS’s The Mentalist), Anna Friel (FOX’s Monarch), Nick Stahl (Terminator 3), Adam Goldberg (Fargo, Saving Private Ryan) and Oscar- winner Jared Leto.  He also directed Car Dogs, starring Patrick J. Adams (Suits), Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), comedian George Lopez, and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer.

Within that framework of filmmaking and teaching, Collis has been part of ASU’s historic rise as the most innovative and inclusive university in the country.  Repeated ranked #1, ASU’s innovative, collaborative and entrepreneurial culture has empowered Collis’ strategic, collaborative and expansive mindset, allowing him to fuse his filmmaking career with a dedication to advancing the film careers of his students. This has led to a number of highlights:

BROUGHT 2 FEATURE FILM PRODUCTIONS TO THE PHOENIX AREA, GIVING STUDENTS THE CHANCE TO LEARN FILMMAKING ON A WORKING FILM SET FROM AN OSCAR-WINNING CAST & CREW. 

Collis produced and directed an independent feature film in Arizona, Car Dogs, which simultaneously gave 85 ASU students the opportunity to learn filmmaking on a working film set from an Oscar winning cast and crew. The Car Dogs production created a sort of “teaching hospital for aspiring filmmakers”.

After its theatrical release, Car Dogs played on Netflix, DirecTV, Amazon Video, Apple+ and on most other VOD platforms. Subsequently, three more feature films were made by ASU film professors using Car Dogs’ model.

In 2014, Collis produced the low budget thriller, The Sintern, for FOX, MarVista and Tubi. Building on his love of making movies and teaching, the production had nearly two dozen former students working side by side with current student interns. 

CREATED A BEST-IN-CLASS INDUSTRY RELATIONS & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM:  ASU FILM SPARK

After the success of the Car Dogs, ASU asked Collis what he wanted to do next. His answer was that what he wanted wasn’t as important as what the students and film program needed. And that turned out to be a best-in-class professional development & industry relations program. In 2015, with the support of visionary supervisor and arts educator, Jake Pinholster, Collis founded ASU Film Spark, which President Michael Crow and the Trustees of ASU established to help create ASU’s first presence and connection with the entertainment industry.  Over its seven years, ASU Film Spark gave hundreds of ASU students opportunities to 1) learn from top level Film & TV creatives and executives; 2) prepare for their professional lives; and 3) take their first steps into their careers.

Film Spark was based in Los Angeles, but it developed a two-way corridor between ASU and Hollywood. Top Hollywood filmmakers, both studio and independent, came to Arizona for master classes. Students came to Hollywood for career fairs and professional development boot camps.  The program galvanized ASU alumni to create a Hollywood Sun Devil community.  In addition, Film Spark connected ASU with LA highschoolers and community college students, creating more awareness for the school.   

An apex moment for Film Spark occurred in February of 2020 when approximately 150 ASU film students traveled to Los Angeles for the Film Spark Career Fair.  There, they met  almost 125 alumni at a special Hollywood Sun Devil mixer at the historic Culver Hotel.  At the event, Lionsgate Vice Chairman and ASU alumnus, Michael Burns, gave the welcoming remarks. Since then, the Hollywood Sun Devil ecosystem has taken root, expanding beyond Film Spark.  At least three feature films have been made by individuals who met through Film Spark’s Hollywood Sun Devil community.

By 2022, Film Spark had connected ASU and its film students with 6 Oscar-winners, 6 Oscar-nominees, 8 studio chiefs, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the president of the Directors Guild of America, along with dozens of industry executives, blockbuster producers, A-list department heads, and award-winning directors… all in service to the many students who participated in Film Spark’s programs.

CONNECTED ASU WITH DREAMSCAPE, LEADING TO:  DREAMSCAPE LEARN

Collis brought Dreamscape Immersive CEO, Walter Parkes, to ASU for a two-day symposium on the future (Inventing the Future All Over Again). The symposium featured the team of futurists Parkes had assembled in 2000 to help Steven Spielberg envision the futuristic world of Minority Report. Collis cultivated the relationship with Parkes over the next three years. This led Collis to suggest an ASU-Dreamscape partnership to his supervisor, Jake Pinholster.  The result was Dreamscape Learn, a transformational virtual reality education experience born from Dreamscape Immersive’s groundbreaking entertainment platform and Michael Crow’s vision for higher education.

COLLABORATED WITH LIONSGATE VICE CHAIRMAN & ASU ALUMNUS, MICHAEL BURNS ON SEMESTER-LONG BLOCKBUSTER CASE STUDY CLASS

At the request of the ASU Foundation, Collis reconnected Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns with his alma mater. Over a 7-year period, Collis helped make the case to Burns that ASU had transformed itself into the most innovative and inclusive university in the world. The relationship resulted in many class visits with students, an ASU special event with President Crow at Lionsgate HQ, and a very special semester-long case study of a Lionsgate feature film - one that had not yet been released to theaters. For the case study, and during each week leading up to the release, Burns sent over a new Lionsgate executive to talk about their role on the film. The movie was the surprise hit of winter 2017, Wonder, which students got to see at a special screening arranged by Lionsgate. Subsequently, Mr. Burns had the idea of asking Sidney Poitier to bequeath his name to ASU’s film school.  He followed through by personally asking the family on behalf of the school.

BROUGHT SPIKE LEE TO ASU 

Collis brought Spike Lee to a sold-out audience of over 3,000 attendees at ASU’s Gammage Hall. For this event, Film Spark worked in association with the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy. The event was strategically scheduled during the 3 Million Stories national conference for arts educators hosted by Steven Tepper, the Dean of ASU’s Arts and Design Institute. The event served as a highlight for Dean Tepper’s Projecting All Voices initiative and demonstrated ASU’s fundamental commitment to inclusion. Collis facilitated meetings between Lee and President Michael Crow as well as with ASU’s head basketball coach, Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devil men’s basketball team.

SET UP MASTER CLASSES WITH TOP HOLLYWOOD VFX COMPANIES

Collis worked with The Third Floor Visualization (Gladiator II, Guardian of the Galaxy, Avatar: The Way of Water) and The John Hughes Institute, founded by Oscar-winning visual effects legend John Hughes (Babe, The Golden Compass, and Life of Pi). to give students the opportunity to learn Virtual Production, Visual Effects and Pre-Viz from the world’s best. The partnership also empowered students to learn cutting edge technologies and complete Capstone Projects during the challenges of Covid.

PARTNERED WITH LACMA TO CELEBRATE BLACK JOY & RESILIENCE

Collis collaborated with Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) during Covid on their Black Joy & Resilience film screening and talkback series. By this time, ASU had made the decision to have a larger presence in Los Angeles. Keeping ASU’s advancement into Los Angeles in mind, Collis matched six notable ASU scholars with six of the filmmakers for the post screening conversations, showcasing the scholars in this highly visible Los Angeles program.

DEVELOPED RECRUITMENT CHANNELS

Collis sought out leadership at Santa Monica College’s film and media production programs so that SMC film students could sit in on Collis’ weekly ASU film classes. This provided ASU with superior recruitment opportunities and immediate access to prime candidates for ASU’s film school.

For instance, Collis set up a screening of the 2024 Sundance Grand Jury winning feature film, In the Summers with a Q&A featuring his former student, the producer of the film, Dan Tantalean. The conversation was led by ASU alumnus, producer Michael Helfant, who was the former President and COO of Marvel Studios.

PRODUCED EXCEPTIONAL & INNOVATIVE SCREENING EVENTS

• A 3,500 attendee Jumbotron Screening of Into the Spider-Verse at Sun Devil Stadium in partnership ASU Cultural Affairs. Spiderman masks were given to all the children watching, and a movie screening was transformed into a powerful demonstration of ASU’s commitment to inclusion. 
• A 1,500 attendee Jumbotron stadium screening of feature film, Sorry to Bother You, followed by a live interview with visionary director Boots Riley.  
• A dual-site LA-Tempe screening of Black Panther with an LA-Tempe Zoom connected Q&A with producer Nate Moore.
• A 150 person "Sing-A-Long" screening of La La Land with the casting directors of the film.
• A 250-person sold out screening of Our Quinceañera with the director, Fanny Grande.

BROUGHT INDUSTRY LUMINARIES TO AZ FOR MASTER CLASSES:

• 3-time Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning producer Ted Hope, whose films have received 25 Oscar nominations and three wins. Hope lectured on new horizons for independent films on two occasions, and, at the beckoning of Collis, taught two years at ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management.
• The GM of Robert Rodriguez' El Rey Network, ASU alumnus Daniel Tibbets, who taught the business of entertainment.
• Veteran television director and co-chair of the DGA Diversity Committee, Bethany Rooney who talked about directing actors.
• The former President and COO of Marvel Studios, ASU alumnus Michael Helfant, who lectured on putting movie projects together.
• Academy Award nominated Larry Sher, Cinematographer of Joker and The Hangover movies, who spoke on the art of lighting for Cinema.
• Four-time Motion Picture Sound Editors award-winning sound editor and designer, ASU alumnus Hamilton Sterling (Master and Commander, Logan, Gangs of New York, War of the Worlds, The Dark Knight, There Will Be Blood, The Tree of Life) who taught Sound Design.

HOSTS WEEKLY CLASSROOM VISITS WITH INDUSTRY HEAVYWEIGHTS

• Legendary Producers Chuck Roven (Oppenheimer), Nina Jacobson (Crazy Rich Asians), Matt Tolmach (Venom, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Amazing Spider-Man)
• Top Hollywood Directors Patty Jenkins (Wonder Women), Jason Reitman (Saturday Night, Ghostburster: Afterlife, Up in the Air), Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange), Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote) and Jaume Collet-Serra (Black Adam, Jungle Cruise)
• Distinguished Department Heads including Dion Beebe (Oscar-winning Cinematographer of Collateral), Matt Jensen (Cinematographer of Wonder Woman and Game of Thrones), Phil Messina (Production Designer of The Hunger Games and Ocean’s Eleven), and Cynthia Charette (Production Designer of The Mysterious Benedict Society and Austin Powers), and Peter Brown, (Sound Designer of Aquaman and Fast and Furious).

ACHIEVED 100% INTERNSHIP PLACEMENT OVER 3 YEARS

After being assigned the internship placement leadership role for ASU’s Los Angeles campus in Fall 2022, Collis leveraged his years of building meaningful relationships in Hollywood, working one-on-one with industry professionals and students to facilitate this essential professional development opportunity.  In 2025, Collis has placed 50 students in internships so far.

When Collis arrived at ASU in the fall of 2009, the film studies area had about 100 students. It has become the stand-alone ASU Sidney Poitier New American Film School, serves over 1,000 students and is led by the former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, industry game-changer Cheryl Boone Isaacs.  In 2009, Collis and the film faculty taught in Tempe, in a modestly sized warehouse with no soundproofing. Today, thanks to the innovative and entrepreneurial approach of ASU President Michael Crow, the Poitier film school has a brand new, state-of-the-art $100MM headquarters in Mesa, Az. that includes sound stages, production equipment, and post facilities.  In downtown Los Angeles, ASU purchased the historic Herald Examiner Building and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, where the university continues its mission to create more access to higher education. 

Currently, Collis teaches a class on the film and television supply chain titled Welcome to Hollywood. It is a class designed to teach film production students about the business ecosystem and features class visits from some of the top working professionals in Hollywood.

In addition, Collis was recently honored by an invitation to become a Race, Arts and Democracy Fellow at ASU’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy. In his RAD Fellowship, he will be exploring ways in which cinema can examine the complex issues of democracy, racial differences, and the human connection.

Collis’ upcoming research and scholarship will focus on the history and future of American movie theaters.

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