Meet Baylor’s nationally recognized expert on Hollywood and film

How many superhero movies and sequels will they really keep making? Where exactly is the Star Wars franchise headed? What can Hollywood tangibly do to support women directors? How have tablets and smartphones affected the film industry?

Baylor professor Chris Hansen is a go-to expert on topics such as these. He’s an award-winning writer and director, professor, and chair of Baylor’s Department of Film and Digital Media. Media outlets seek him out for his expertise on topics like screenwriting, directing, gender bias in Hollywood, and trends in the film industry.

For example: Do people really want more superhero movies and sequels?

“It’s hard to say what people are really interested in seeing,” Hansen says. “They say one thing, but they often vote differently with their box office dollars. … [If] they’re going to have to choose between several movies to see in an actual theater, they’ll often choose the one that has more spectacle, because there’s a feeling that it’s more ‘worth it’ to see something like that on the big screen, and that smaller movies won’t suffer from being seen on the TV in your living room.”

Hansen has been featured in outlets such as NPR’s Marketplace, The Atlantic and CNBC. He’s directed his own movies — created in part by many Baylor FDM students — including The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah, Clean Freak, Endings, Where We Started, and Blur Circle, which you can watch on Amazon Prime, iTunes and Blu-ray. Many of his films have screened at festivals throughout the United States and Canada, have been released theatrically in Los Angeles and New York, and have been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, Village Voice and LA Weekly.

Sic ’em, Professor Hansen!

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