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October 10, 2006
Senior creates the next O.C.
Let it be known that I hate sitcoms. I find them to be campy, predictable and altogether not funny.
That said, I’m actually quite optimistic for and withholding judgment on Hamline’s own sitcom, On Campus, until I can see the final product. Last week I stopped by the set (that evening it was the Blue Garden near the library) to interview the creative team and watch a scene being filmed. I came in expecting very little -- maybe a handheld camera and a few people just joking around; what I found was anything but.
My first order of business was to talk to the duo behind the whole thing--seniors Drew McCullough (Director/Executive Producer) and Nerissa Nordquist (Writer/Associate Producer).
Nordquist is a student at Augsburg, and the two met there last year when McCullough was taking an ACTC class. After some discussion and mutual interest in doing a sitcom, Nerissa wrote the beginning of On Campus and they filmed the first two episodes. This year they’re back to redo those episodes and film a few more; ideally, they will end up with an eight-episode season.
My biggest question was, obviously, “what is the sitcom about?” For reasons not entirely known to me, they were hesitant about giving out details regarding the show’s premise.
“There are three guys and three girls in college,” McCullough said, “They don’t know each other in the beginning of the show but they will know each other by the end.”
The scene I watched gave no further hints about the premise of the show, but it might be interesting to note that there were references to Facebook and Hamline’s “Where’s the Fun?!”
Although the two are very tight-lipped about the plot, they weren’t quite as secretive when gathering people to work on it. They focused the bulk of their recruitment in Hamline’s theatre department and also brought back some of the people who helped out last year. Apparently, their efforts were successful because they have amassed a fairly large groupčin addition to the six main characters, there are nearly 40 extras and around 12 people in the crew.
You might say that this year McCullough and Nordquist are taking “On Campus” more seriously than before; as seniors they are looking to use this project as a springboard for their careers post-graduation. Acquiring funding has been difficult and currently they are attempting to get it supported through work study. McCullough has also donated the use of his equipment and production tools to get the show off the ground.
Maybe I’m naive, but I must admit that I was very surprised at the enormous amount of work that has already gone into this seemingly small project. For example, they had a boom mic and clapboard. After seeing the boom mic and clapboard I half-expected an on-set hair and makeup crew to appear too. I also couldn’t help but wonder where all of these people had acquired their knowledge in creating television shows. If, in reality, they had no idea what they were doing. They certainly fooled me.
McCullough assured me that On Campus will be shown to a Hamline audience once completed, so keep your eyes open for a premiere in the coming months.
Posted by dwright at October 10, 2006 10:41 PM
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