I am an Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies and English at the University of Pennsylvania. My research focuses on media history, especially government regulation of Hollywood.

My first book, Hollywood and the Culture Elite: How the Movies Became American (Columbia UP, 2005), uncovers and examines collaborations between Hollywood and universities, museums, and government agencies from World War I to the Cold War.

I am working on a new book, tentatively titled Hollywood’s Copyright Wars, from Edison to the Internet, on the history and future of Hollywood and copyright law. It explores the history of film piracy, the importance of plagiarism for the studio system, film directors’ campaign for “moral rights,” and Hollywood’s love-hate relationship with fair use, among other topics. An excerpt on early film piracy is available here (Project Muse subscription required).

I have also published on and frequently lecture about fair use and academia. And in 2006, two colleagues and I successfully petitioned for an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for media professors using clips for teaching. You can read more about the exemption here.

Current students (and anyone interested), please click the link here or click the navigation link at the top of this page to see course websites with syllabi and readings.

In addition to Penn, I have taught at Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Tsinghua University (Beijing).

I live outside of Philadelphia with my wife, two children, and crazy beagle.