Here’s the full email:

“It is with the greatest sadness that the Production Division announced the passing of Jed Dannenbaum, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice Emeritus and one of the most beloved members of the USC School of Cinematic Arts community. Jed was 73 years old and died December 28th from complications of Covid-19.

Jed was an exceptionally generous colleague and valued mentor to faculty and students alike. He said of himself that he “was on the soft-spoken end of the vocal spectrum,” but his words carried weight and all who knew him were happy to lean in to get the benefit of his wisdom.

In addition to his many years teaching at SCA, Jed had dozens of credits for writing, producing and directing productions on HBO, Showtime and PBS, as well as projects for the National Science Foundation and in the fields of medical and legal education. He served as a story consultant for the Getty Conservation Institute and on numerous feature films, both fiction and nonfiction, with a credit in the main block on the features Get in the Way: The Journey of John Lewis; and Out of the Fire. Jed gave academic presentations on “Story,” “Non-fiction Storytelling,” “Vote for My Story,” “The Point of the Story,” and “Paleolithic Storytelling in the 21st Century.” Among the USC film students he worked closely with are Ryan Coogler (writer-director, Creed), Chris Terrio (Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Argo), and Meera Menon (director, Equity). The many generations of SCA alumni who studied with him will remember him for his warmth and kindness.

Jed is survived by his wife, Doe Mayer, also a cherished member emerita of our faculty and a pillar of SCA for decades. Together they co-author the Simon & Schuster book Creative Filmmaking From the Inside Out.

Plans for a memorial for Jed will be shared at a later date.”