The UAB Lecture Series presents "From Geek to Batman: How Producer Michael Uslan Brought Batman to Life" at 7 p.m. Monday, July 21, at the Alys Stephens Center. The lecture is free and open to the public. For information on the lecture, call the Office of Student Involvement at 934-8225.

Uslan is best known as the originator and producer of the Batman movie series, starting with Tim Burton's 1989 film and continuing to 2008's "The Dark Knight." Less well known is that the first film was the culmination of a decade-long effort by Uslan to bring a serious, dark version of the character to the big screen. In 1979, Uslan secured the film rights to "Batman" from DC Comics, but was turned down by every studio in Hollywood. The reason: Batman was from the funny pages and wasn't meant to be taken seriously. Ten years later, "Batman" was the highest grossing film of the year, breaking box office records and spawning a genre of films adapted from comics.

In an inspiring program, Uslan takes audiences along on the journey of creating his career to bringing Batman successfully to the big screen. He shares the principles that allowed him to persevere despite repeated rejection and encourages audiences everywhere to reach for their dreams and believe in themselves.

In addition to the Batman series, Uslan has produced "The Spirit" (2008), "Constantine" (2005) and "National Treasure" (2004). Uslan has received an Emmy, The President's Medal of Excellence, the Independent Spirit Award, The Hoagy Carmichael Creative Achievement Award and The Distinguished Hoosier Award.