It seems like a TON of commercials use the USC campus as a backlot for their ads. I can see why-the campus is nicely designed , with 19th-century “California Mission” architecture.
At any rate, I assume the school likes this-they make money, and they also get to show off their campus.
As a USC graduate, I was moved to remember the fountain (near the Philiosophy Hall)-it has a verse on it that I remember “Oh stream of life, slow or fast, all streams reach the sea at last”
Anyone know who the author was?
I could be snide and say that Google’s your friend, but even Google didn’t know. The best I could find is the quotation attributed as the inscription on the fountain outside Seely Wintersmith Mudd Hall. Sorry. :shrug:
Probably location. Aren’t they located conveniently near the cameras?
I think you may have confirmation bias here. I’m more familiar with the UCLA campus, so I tend to see it more often in commercials, TV shows, etc.
Two minutes on Google suggests that line is by Gilbert Bayes.
Two minutes on Google was approximately one more minute than I spent. I was, however, wearing my USC hoodie, so I was in the proper frame of mind for the minute I did spend.
I’m a location scout in LA, tho’ I work in TV and Movies, not in Commercials. While USC probably does have more filming on their campus than UCLA, it is far from being the only campus used. Occidental gets used plenty, as does College of the Canyons, CSUN, and LA City College.
While not a college campus, the location that gets used more than an other in town is LA Center Studios. I can almost guarantee that you’ll see it within 10 minutes of turning on a television.
The last college I worked at was used in some national ads. Definitely not USC (either one). One of the few colleges in the region with a good “traditional” college look to one part of it. The even did a fake clowns in gowns for one of them. The school would get a donation, the background students got to feel good about that and nothing more.
(And the place I worked at before that was the site of the filming for a really bad, but successful, film. It runs on cable all the time so I can see the frat house across the street from my old-old-old office on a regular basis.)
I am surprised at USC being used so often. I think UCLA looks a whole lot nicer. Must have a friendlier PR department. Plus there are those schools on the edge of the valley.
PR department has zero to do with the filming. Both schools do have film liaisons that are within the Activities departments that handle film requests. USC, as a private institution, has more freedom in setting guidelines; UCLA, as a public institution, has stricter guidelines, and they have far fewer days available for filming.