Couple donates $2 million gift

Suzie Harrison

Laguna Beach residents Chuck and Twyla Reed Martin this month donated

$2 million to Chapman University’s film school, university President

Jim Doti announced.

“I’ve been involved at Chapman University a long time. I took

graduate classes there years ago,” Twyla Reed Martin said.

Chuck Martin has been a trustee since 1988.

The donation will allow the school’s Dodge College of Film and

Media Arts to endow the Twyla Reed Martin Dean’s Chair in Film and

Media Arts.

“Six years ago, I started having discussions with Dean Bob Bassett

about Chapman’s film school. I could see its potential to be one of

the best in America,” Twyla Reed Martin said. “It’s been such a

pleasure working with Dean Bassett and the Chapman University family.

This is our gift to the dean for his terrific work.”

She added she believed in Bassett’s vision of bringing the film

school to national prominence, a process that began when Kristina and

Larry Dodge gave a $20-million gift to the school.

Chuck Martin recalled that when Chapman board chairman Ambassador

George Argyros asked him to join the board years earlier, the

university was financially strapped.

“[The board] wanted to recruit solid business men to help during

that difficult period; that was my earlier attachment to the

university,” Chuck said. “It’s one of the really wonderful

experiences in my life to see that university on the verge of

bankruptcy become a really outstanding, financially strong,

academically superior institution in Orange County.”

He credited the endowment to his wife’s passion for the film

school and her years of hard work to help develop and advance the

school.

“It’s something Twyla has put to heart, invested a lot of

herself,” Chuck said. “People don’t see how much goes into it. With

this gift I am really happy to see her name on the chair -- since she

has put so much heart and self into the film school.”

Bassett said the endowment would provide funds for the Dean’s

discretionary fund and special events.

“Twyla has been a dear friend for many years; she was one of the

first people I articulated my vision of the film school to,” Bassett

said. “Twyla introduced me to Larry and Kristina Dodge who donated

$20 million last year to the film school. That’s the way this process

works -- people finding out about the vision of the school and wanted

to get involved themselves.”

Bassett was the founding dean of the film school in 1996.

“I was the first film professor at Chapman in 1981; we had only a handful of students at the time,” Basset said. “Now we’ve started

building the new film school, have 30 full-time and part-time

professors and 1,000 students.”

Bassett said what was unusual about their vision of the film

school is that they wanted to model it on a studio.

“We wanted a production studio, back lots and sound stages,”

Bassett said. “We envisioned building a film school with a workflow

very similar to a large production company.”

The Martin’s endowment is the second chair in the film school.

Five million dollars was donated to form the Marion Knott

Filmmaker-in-Residence Endowed Chair and the naming of the new studio

building.

“The first phase cost $40 million,” Bassett said.

Construction is underway for the film school’s new home -- Marion

Knott Studios, a 76,000-square-foot facility, slated to open in 2006.

Chuck Martin is the founder of Enterprise Partners, a large

venture capitol firm. He co-founded the buyout firm Westar Capital

LLC.

“Our two main interests are higher education and the arts,” Chuck

Martin said.