This article was published in The Ithacan, but had to be cut down because of limited space that week. Here is a deeper look into Almost College's College Emmy Nomination.
ITHACA, NY- A disheveled young man wakes up in the middle of a messy living room—red plastic cups are scattered everywhere and a bar stool is even turned upside down. It may look like the morning after a raging college party but it really is the opening scene for Almost College, the first narrative ICTV show to be nominated for a College Emmy.
Feb. 11 Jordan Edelstein and Rob Bowman anxiously waited all day for an email from the College Television Awards (CTA) telling them if they had received a nomination. Around 9 p.m., Bowman got an email saying they were nominated for the Narrative Series category. At that moment Edelstein and Bowman started texting and calling everyone they knew.
“Everyone involved had done a lot of things before,” said Edelstein, senior television and radio major who wrote, produced and directed the show with Bowman. “But, this is the most proud I have ever been and it’s the best feeling I got from something I had worked on.”
Edelstein said that he and Bowman were unsure whether the Emmy judges would understand the tone of the show, which Edelstein says is an Arrested Development meets the Wonder Years style that caters to a college audience. But their Video Workshop professor, John Scott; manager of ICTV Pete Johanns; and CTA board member Professor Steve Gordon all encouraged Edelstein and Bowman to submit the show.
“It doesn’t have any of the hallmarks of poor student productions which is really bad sound, really bad lighting, really bad performances and shoddy story telling,” said Scott. “And those are the things that normally kill a project. These guys paid attention to all those details and on top of it they told a really good story.”
Last spring in Gordon’s development classes, Bowman thought of an idea for a Web series about a high school senior who pretends to be in college. Before Bowman and Edelstein got back to school in August they had written two scripts and were lining up crewmembers. Jordan said collaboration with students in other majors was what helped make this production.
Senior Colleen Wood, who spent last spring in Los Angeles interning and editing Web content for Lifetime, was selected early on to be the post-production director. Senior Zack Sweeny took on the director of photography position and shot all the footage in high definition, a first for ICTV. The show was also the first ICTV show to have audio production majors, Seniors Mike Sokol and Conrad Capalbo, on set at all times. Senior Musical Theatre major Ryan DeNardo played Mark on Almost College.
“Everyone was just really good at what they did and stepped it up for the project and it definitely showed,” said DeNardo. “It was a great collaborative experience.”
After shooting 31 out of 60 days last semester and spending hours in post-production the cast and crew must wait until tomorrow to find out if they placed in one of the top three spots for their category.
If Almost College wins one of the top three places, one of the producers will be flown to Los Angeles to accept the award at a gala held on April 10. They will also receive between $500 and $2,000 depending on their place, the chance to pitch their project to a development executive and be matched with an industry mentor. Last year, University of California Los Angeles student, Shane Acker’s animated piece 9 won a CTA, then was produced and released by Tim Burton as a feature film.
Gordon said that winning would show the CTA that the college does produce quality narrative fiction work. The only other time an Ithaca College show won a College Emmy was when Newswatch won an award in 2004. While winning would be great, Edelstein and Bowman said they are glad to receive recognition for something they love doing.
“It is really cool when you do something and put your whole life into it,” said Edelstein. “Then when people understand and appreciate your work it is a really good feeling.”
Episodes of Almost College can be watched online at http://www.ictv.org
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