Student-created soap opera begins filming and production
Omkar Baxi
Issue date: 5/23/08 Section: News
Felicia Behr, former senior vice president of daytime programming for ABC-TV, oversaw the production aspects of the series in a course offered during the spring term. The class dealt with all of the production issues, from casting and set creation to actually filming the TV series. According to Behr, the overall objective of the class was to introduce the students to the professional settings and atmosphere of daytime television.
In order to make the production more professional and introduce the students to a more realistic TV atmosphere, professional actors from the Philadelphia and New York areas were hired to play the characters of "University 101." The Heery casting company, which has previously worked directly with Drexel University, supplied various actors that were cast by the students in the production class, according to Ryan Windish, the actor playing the character Tod in "University 101."
"We wanted our student directors and producers to work with seasoned actors who have worked on camera and on tight production schedules," Sabinson said.
"Students seem to have more drive and less of the business aspects of professional production. It makes it more fun," Windish said, from a professional point of view.
Writing a Soap
Lorraine Broderick, instructor of the scriptwriting class, said that the greatest lesson she taught was to disillusion the stereotype of a soap opera.
Broderick said: "In reality, [a soap opera] is a drama that tries to display its story as close to reality as possible. The viewers are able to really connect and identify with the characters because you spend so much time with them."
According to Broderick, the course was comprised of selected students who wanted preparation and experience in writing for daytime drama. The students were first asked to create individual scripts for a soap opera, which were then voted on to determine the final script for the show. Kevin McCorry, a freshman screenwriting major and a student in the scriptwriting class, further explained that the most popular scripts were frequently meshed together, taking the best aspects of each to create the final product.
In order to make the production more professional and introduce the students to a more realistic TV atmosphere, professional actors from the Philadelphia and New York areas were hired to play the characters of "University 101." The Heery casting company, which has previously worked directly with Drexel University, supplied various actors that were cast by the students in the production class, according to Ryan Windish, the actor playing the character Tod in "University 101."
"We wanted our student directors and producers to work with seasoned actors who have worked on camera and on tight production schedules," Sabinson said.
"Students seem to have more drive and less of the business aspects of professional production. It makes it more fun," Windish said, from a professional point of view.
Writing a Soap
Lorraine Broderick, instructor of the scriptwriting class, said that the greatest lesson she taught was to disillusion the stereotype of a soap opera.
Broderick said: "In reality, [a soap opera] is a drama that tries to display its story as close to reality as possible. The viewers are able to really connect and identify with the characters because you spend so much time with them."
According to Broderick, the course was comprised of selected students who wanted preparation and experience in writing for daytime drama. The students were first asked to create individual scripts for a soap opera, which were then voted on to determine the final script for the show. Kevin McCorry, a freshman screenwriting major and a student in the scriptwriting class, further explained that the most popular scripts were frequently meshed together, taking the best aspects of each to create the final product.
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