“In the mid-to-late 1980s they were probably the most dominant force screenwriting duo,” said Gary Hoppenstand, a professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures. “It’s nice to bring them back to Michigan State to show the kind of talent that has graduated.”

The Epps=%.. and Cash duo began when Epps was a student at MSU and Cash was one of his professors. Epps graduated from MSU in 1972 and decided to move out to California to pursue his career. Cash decided to stay in East Lansing and continue as a professor at MSU.

However, the writing duo continued thousands of miles away as Epps acted as the “contact person” in Hollywood.

When Epps first started writing, he said he just wanted to entertain people with his movies.
“What you hope for is that it’s being seen,” Epps said. “I never expected Top Gun to still be so valued today.”

Decades after leaving MSU, Epps still holds close ties to the university, staying in contact with some of his old professors he had while in school, hoping to catch up while he is in town. Epps also said he hopes students can use his experiences to learn about the industry. He said if students have enough passion they can follow their dreams, but it’s also a lot of work.

Kinesiology sophomore Melinda Palinkas is in a film studies class Epps will be teaching during his stay at MSU this week. She said she enjoys seeing such a successful screenwriter come from MSU, although she has no desire to become a screenwriter.

“It’s like history,” Palinkas said. “So many talented people at MSU go to Hollywood, seeing someone (who is so successful) is really unbelievable.”

Epps now is the chair for the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts where he teaches, but he continues to write, although he hasn’t had any films hit the big screens in several years.

“I love teaching, it’s very satisfying,” he said. “(But) I still write scripts (and) hopefully we can have movies produced in the future, but it’s a very competitive market.”