"Writing With Passion"

Dr. Thom Parham is an associate professor of Cinema & Broadcast Arts at Azusa Pacific University. He has written for CBS’ hit drama JAG and the Family Channel sitcom Big Brother Jake, and has also worked on Touched by an Angel.

His specialties include Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Screenwriting, Broadcast Journalism, Television Production, and Media Studies. Thom has recently been selected for the 2004 edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and is also listed in the 2002 edition.

He co-wrote the book for Inside Out, an original musical comedy based on the Gospels, which APU's Drama Ministry Team recently toured in southern California and Phoenix, Arizona, and is currently co-writing Steeple Chasers, an original “dramedy” that will start its tour this fall. Thom will make his directorial debut on the APU stage with Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Skin of Our Teeth this October.

Having worked in the television industry, Thom knows the power of images. "Every time you see an image on television or film, it's because someone wants you to see that image," he said. "There are virtually no accidents." Thom’s crusade is to help his students become media-savvy: "I want them to understand when they see a film, they need to accept those images with a grain of salt and, afterwards, analyze them and talk about them."

He said too many parents use the television as an "electronic babysitter," without monitoring the images their children take in. His father, a retired Navy chaplain, wouldn't allow him to watch Popeye cartoons as a small child because he believed it negatively stereotyped sailors. Thom also reminds his students they are the future gatekeepers of images, and thus must be responsible filmmakers.

Dr. Parham is a known Trekker and wrote his doctoral thesis on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

We are excited to have Dr. Parham with us as his acadmic and practical experience will offer unique insights to the process of writing.

Voice Films Institute © 2003-2004 All Rights Reserved