Peter Exline
2019 Distinguished Alumni
B.S. Philosophy '69
Peter Exline graduated from OSU in 1969 and was in Vietnam before the end of the year. A combat veteran who served with the 101st Airborne Division, he eventually married and moved to New York.
After three years at New York University, Exline graduated with an MFA and the confidence to pursue jobs in the movie business. Realizing the movie business in Los Angeles offered more opportunities than New York, Exline moved there in August 1979, starting a job with music manager and producer Mace Neufeld. More moves led to working as a story analyst before getting another executive position with Michael Douglas’ company, Stone Group Pictures.
Later on, Exline began teaching an extension on story analysis class at the University of California Los Angeles. In 1992, the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts offered him a position as an adjunct professor teaching story analysis and the movie business. By 2002, Exline started the Digital Film Camps at Pepperdine University in Malibu for kids 12 to 18 years of age, which continued for 12 years.
He retired from USC in May and takes classes in carpentry and plays competitive bridge.