In 2002, the famous director Steven Spielberg quietly obtained a cinema degree, and Jurassic Park had something to do with it!
While he was still a student at university in 1968, Steven Spielberg signed the short film Amblin which immediately earned him a contract at Universal studio to shoot episodes of a series then Duel in 1971, which launched his career. Too busy professionally to complete his degree, the man who would become Indiana Jones’ dad had to abandon his studies.
Steven Spielberg got angry with this director he adored!
Zuma Press / Bestimage Steven Spielberg
But in 2001, at age 55, as recalled Collider, Spielberg snuck back to California State University in Long Beach to try to complete his degree in “cinema and electronic arts.” He registered under a pseudonym (withheld) and, unable to attend classes, wrote essays, worked on independent projects and met with professors.
When the time came to have to show a director’s study film, he suggested to the teachers… Schindler’s List. The school’s principal commented at the time (via BBC): “I think it counts as a study film… well perfected”.
And Jurassic Park helped a lot!
In the United States, to obtain your diploma, you must obtain “units” in several classes. The unit defines the duration of the class. For example, “Screenwriting – 3 units” means that the course takes up 3 hours per week. To obtain your diploma, you must collect 120 to 180 units on average.
Universal Pictures
To return to Steven Spielberg, the film school granted him generously 3 units in paleontology just for having done Jurassic Park. A way to salute the film’s representation of archeology and Spielberg’s love of dinosaurs and to give the otherwise very busy director a helping hand so that he can obtain his diploma.
“Most people go to college for education or for their parents, but I went there for my children. I have seven, and I constantly stressed the importance of them going to college, without having been there myself. So in my mid-50s, I re-entered Cal State Long Beach and graduated.”