# Learning Corporation of America's founder William F. Deneen interviewed January 23, 2000

William F. “Bill” Deneen was a filmmaker and executive for his own company and Enclyclopaedia Britannica Films (EBF) before founding the Learning Corporation of America (LCA), a division of Columbia Pictures. In this January 23, 2000 interview with Geoff Alexander, filmed in Tiburon, California, the 74-year-old Deneen unfolds the beginnings and demise of LCA, his days at EBF, the impact of the Elementary and Secondary Educational Act (ESEA), and how poor quality negative film and piracy effectively ended the days of 16mm academic films. Among his stories, Deneen reveals how as a filmmaker he smuggled film into and out of Mexico in his Cessna 182, and utilized Samuel Bronston’s sets from the 1964 feature film “Fall of the Roman Empire” to make his academic films based on Roman history. He discusses his LCA colleagues Bert Salzman, Robert McFarland and study guide writer John Matoian, EBF filmmakers John Barnes, Bert Van Bork and Larry Yust, and film editor Grace Garland. For more on Deneen, visit https://www.afana.org/deneen.htm

- Kind: Educational
- Year: 2000
- Runtime: 1 h 1 min
- By: Geoff Alexander
- Genres: Education
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/deneen-william-2000-01-23)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Kids profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/deneen-william-2000-01-23?play=1)