Jonathan Slade '88, M.F.A

An Emmy award-winning filmmaker who believes in doing the unexpected if it makes you a better teacher.

Do the unexpected if it makes you a better teacher.: Jonathan Slade notices when his students pick up on movie references. McDaniel student Faith Young '21 was the only student to get Slade’s random “Star Trek” reference during a class in 2019. When he received an email announcing a new “Star Trek” internship, he knew Young would be perfect for it, so he helped her apply. She landed the internship. That’s the type of professor he is for his students. Slade graduated from McDaniel with a bachelor’s in Communication in 1988 and received the Argonaut Award. After completing his master’s in Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, Slade moved back to Maryland to work as a producer at Maryland Public Television. He began teaching as an adjunct lecturer at his alma mater before becoming a full-time professor.
As a Communication & Cinema professor, how do you find time to create Emmy-winning documentaries? Also, what has it been like to work with McDaniel alumni on these films?: Truthfully, it's not easy. Teaching is a full-contact sport and so is documentary production. When I'm in production during the school year, there is very little time to do much else. Even if a majority of your shooting occurs over the summer, there's still that moment when you're eating a Pop-Tart in the shower trying to figure out how to grade another paper on the drive to work while re-scheduling an on-camera interview because of impending bad weather. It can be exhausting, which is why it often takes two to three years from concept to broadcast. One benefit, though, is that I get to utilize all of the emerging McDaniel Cinema talent we have on the Hill. I get to select the best alumni and students to join me on shoots and in the edit suite as production assistants. It's rewarding to see students grow from spirited undergraduates into young professionals in the industry with their own voices and vision.
How did graduating from McDaniel College impact your career?: I am an unabashed evangelist for the liberal arts. It emphasizes creative problem solving, interdisciplinary thinking, theory and practice, strong research and writing skills, public presentation of self, teamwork, and resilience – all of which are necessary to survive and thrive in a world that is changing by the second. But the liberal arts also help you learn how to learn, and this will allow you to reinvent yourself throughout your life.
What is your favorite movie?: Once you admit your favorite movie, there’s no going back. People will always hold you to it. In truth, I respect different films and filmmakers for different reasons: Billy Wilder's “Double Indemnity,” (1944) for its sharp dialog and murky morality; Elia Kazan's “On The Waterfront,” (1954) for Marlon Brando's performance and his character's arc; Dennis Hopper's “Easy Rider,” (1969) for its iconic soundtrack; Alfred Hitchcock's “North By Northwest,” (1959) for how it uses its camera and what the filmmaker decides to withhold from us; and George Miller's “Mad Max: Fury Road,” (2015) for how it places powerful three-dimensional characters at the heart of a jet-fueled action narrative. The list goes on. But that's one of the great things about cinema – new filmmakers keep adding startling fresh takes all the time.

Directory Profile for Jonathan Slade '88

Career

He is a seven-time Emmy award winner with his most recent for his two-hour 2019 documentary, “Made Possible By Viewers Like You: 50 Years of Maryland Public Television.”

Values

He not only drives his Nissan LEAF electric car daily, but he and his wife, Novia, were possibly the first couple to travel across the State of Maryland in a fully electric vehicle in 2012 using the state's existing charging infrastructure, and, of course, made a documentary about their adventure.

Publishing

He started his own quarterly, hyper-local newspaper called the “Mason-Dixon Surveyor” that has a circulation of 1,000 in Lineboro, Md.

Jonathan Slade '88, M.F.A

About Prof. Slade

Outside of the Classroom