Knott Gives to School Again

Marion Knott, whose family founded Knott’s Berry Farm, has donated $3 million to Chapman University to help fund the completion of a new film studio named for the Orange County businesswoman, the school announced Wednesday.

Knott’s $5-million gift in 2004 jump-started the $41-million project, and her most recent donation will help furnish the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts building with equipment to rival the most technologically advanced studios in the country, film college Dean Bob Bassett said.

Once Marion Knott Studios opens in August, the 76,000-square-foot structure, a few blocks from the main Orange campus, will feature two soundstages, a digital-arts production center, a broadcast news hub and a 500-seat theater with the ability to show both digital and 35 mm film, Bassett said.

After the studio is completed -- Chapman still lacks about $9 million in funds -- the university will begin drafting a second construction plan, he said. Pending city approval, the additional facility could include a studio back lot with permanent street-scene sets, as well as student housing.

Bassett said he befriended the philanthropist about 25 years ago and was constantly impressed by her concern for the school’s students and her desire to help them. “That’s why I think of her as an angel of the film school,” he said.

Knott, 84, who has been a university trustee for the last quarter-century, said entertainment had always been her passion and she wanted give students the opportunity to make it theirs.

“I’m going to expect some great ones,” said Knott, daughter of theme park founders Walter and Cordelia. “The things coming out of it right now just take my breath way. I’m very proud.”