Eric Roth doesn’t sleep very much and whizzes through two or three books a week. The “Forrest Gump” writer and UCLA alumnus said his voracious reading is often used as precursive research to develop characters in screenplays. Read more...

Photo: Though he worked as a producer on the Emmy-nominated “The Alienist,” alumnus Eric Roth said he prefers working as a writer. He aims to remain accurate to small details when working on historical films such as the TNT drama. (Courtesy of Julia Hannafin)

Warning: This post contains plot spoilers of previous seasons of “Empire.” “Empire” earned no Emmy nominations in the main categories. But it is slated as a potential winner in a costume category and recently gained a new consulting producer, as well. Read more...

Photo: UCLA alumna and former professor Felicia D. Henderson, consulting producer on season five of “Empire,” said she most enjoys the family drama at the center of the show, having grown up with five sisters herself. (Courtesy of Matthew Jordan Smith)

Two former lovers circumvent their roles as prisoner and prison guard as they pass messages to each other through the inside of a milk carton in “The Carton Tongue.” The short film follows Salam, an imprisoned journalist and gay rights activist in Morocco who discovers that his jailer is his closeted former lover, Mourad. Read more...

Photo: “The Carton Tongue,” a fictional short film created for an intensive summer film program, portrays the struggles many LGBTQ individuals face around the world. Blake McCormack plays Mourad, the closeted Moroccan jailer who encounters his imprisoned former lover. (Courtesy of Chelsea Giles)