Cale Epps

Pronouns: he/him

Email: caleepps@usc.edu
Advisor: Anikó Imre

Cale Epps is a Ph.D. student in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Southern California. His research examines film and television industries, public policy, and media labor, with a focus on the U.S. Southwest. His dissertation project, Worlding the Southwest, investigates how production infrastructure, state film incentives, and Indigenous media governance reshape Hollywood’s relationship to the region. He is particularly interested in how the movement of production affects local workers and communities.

His work includes policy research on film incentives and production mobility, and he received the Society for Cinema and Media Studies’ Media Industries Scholarly Interest Group Graduate Student Writing Award in 2026. Before graduate study, he worked in video production and arts education. He holds an M.A. from USC, bachelor’s degrees in Film and History from Arizona State University, and a postgraduate certificate in Filmmaking from the London Film School.