2018 Alumni Achievement (Merit) Award
Writer, director and producer Tommy Oliver (DC 2006) began his filmmaking career while still a student. He agreed to produce “Sophia for Now,” a full-length feature written and directed by two fellow students.
He founded his own production company, Confluential Films, in 2012. He is one of the youngest people to ever produce a feature film at Sony Studios — 2015’s “The Perfect Guy,” which made $26 million its opening weekend. His directorial debut, the semi-autobiographical “1982,” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to critical acclaim in 2013. He also produced 2011’s “Kinyarwanda,” a Sundance Award winner and sixth on Roger Ebert’s top 10 list of films of that year.
Last year, he and his wife, Codie, had the most-viewed unscripted TV debut in Oprah Winfrey Network history with “Black Love,” a docu-series that uses interviews with black couples to showcase what it takes to make a relationship work.
Oliver conducts workshops in Los Angeles for CMU students in the Master of Entertainment Industry Management program and the Showcase of New Talent for the School of Drama. He goes out of his way to help students and alumni, sharing with them his hard-fought knowledge about how to avoid the pitfalls of the entertainment industry.