Last Tuesday night the Prime Time TV Club was treated to a big helping of reality…

Chapman Alumna Jillian Arnold, professor of Cinematography, describes the process of filming in space, which she recently had the opportunity to do as a cinematographer for NASA.

Okay, in our last discussion (Building a Career, Part 1), we talked about the first two steps of building a career after you graduate: landing that all-important first job (whichever one you’re offered) and then working as hard as you can at it – with a smile.  Today we’re going to go from Step One  Continue Reading »

Building a career is a step-by-step process, so here’s Professor Brown’s advice on how to get there, a little bit at a time.  Part 1 of 3.

It’s only the end of the first week of Spring Semester, but Chapman TV students are already off to a great start.

Tuesday night Bethany Rooney, one of the busiest directors in television, shared the story of how she started out as a secretary and worked her way up to become the director of nearly 200 episodes of one-hour television. She went to college in Ohio, but someone a year or two ahead of her had landed  Continue Reading »

It was just another day at the office for Anne Portwood (TBJ ’11)…

It was a packed house as the Prime Time TV Club got the inside story on what it was like on the set of LOST from actress Mira Furlan, who played Rousseau on the acclaimed hit series.  Furlan, who grew up and learned her craft in the former Yugoslavia, is a household name in her  Continue Reading »

Professor Ross Brown greesta dn interviews current student and Television major Courtney Mock about her life at Dodge College, and plans for the future.

Professor Ross brown sits down with recent TV/BJ grad Anne Portwood (’11) and gets down to the nitty-gritty on how she’s faring in the business.

As web series grow in popularity, more and more film and TV students are finding their first jobs in the world of Internet TV.

For the third year in a row, a TV pilot written, produced, directed and created by Chapman students has been nominated as Outstanding Drama at the prestigious New York Television Festival.

Chapman TV students are already finding success in high places!

Another exciting (exclusive!) opportunity for TV Club members!

Here's an excerpt from an interview I gave recently, visit WriteOnLine.com to read the whole interview: Author Q&A: Ross Brown, “Byte-Sized Television” April 26th, 2011 in Author Q&A by Debra Eckerling Ross Brown is the author of Byte Sized TV: Create Your Own TV Series for the Internet, published by Michael Wiese Productions. He has  Continue Reading »

The TV Club welcomes long time TV  veteran Steve Zuckerman this week.

It’s great to be back at sea level…it’s amazing to think that just over two weeks  ago 10 of us (8 students, myself and cinematography professor Jurg Walther) stood on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.

Q&A with producer, writer Ross Brown: Tips for creators, viewers of web TV   The Seattle Times February 3, 2011 Stephanie Clary There have been many helpful guides on how to watch network and cable television shows via the Internet. But how do TV fans navigate the countless web-only series readily available? We turned to  Continue Reading »

     Chapman has written the book on creating web series…literally!  Chapman Professor Ross Brown has just published Byte-Sized Television: Create Your Own TV Series for the Internet, a first of its kind, step-by-step guide to writing, producing, editing and marketing your own original web series.      Based on the groundbreaking Byte-Sized Television courses he created  Continue Reading »

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Question: When do you know that a new entertainment form is here to stay?  Answer: When the A-List players start participating in that form.

Want to create your own TV series but don’t have any connections at any of the broadcast or cable networks?  No problem – just create your own blog.

Just wanted to alert y’all to some cool guests and trips we have coming up all in the 4-5 weeks before the Thanksgiving.

One of the best things about Chapman students is their collaborative spirit.  Some schools breed a culture of intense competition – every person for himself.  When student work is discussed and workshopped at hyper-competitive schools like that, it turns into a giant bashing session  – each student trying to rip the others work, rather than  Continue Reading »

CURRENT STUDENT INTERVIEW: KIRA INNES   What is your major and when will you graduate? I’m a double major in Television and PR/Ad. I graduate in May of 2011!   What is your ultimate career goal? I am extremely passionate about scripted television. During my time at Chapman, I was able to intern in a  Continue Reading »

ALUMNI INTERVIEW: MILES LEICHER  What was your major and when did you graduate? I started out as a Film Production major, but switched to Television Production and Broadcast Journalism after my freshman year. I received an honorable discharge (graduated) in May 2007. Where do you work now? For most of the year I work on  Continue Reading »

As someone who teaches TV writing and producing at one of the world’s premier film schools I get asked certain questions all the time: How do you get an agent? (subject for another blog post) How do you break into TV? (see blog of 6/9/2010) Can creativity be taught? The answer to this last question  Continue Reading »

MY FIRST JOB IN TELEVISION: STAND-IN FOR A DOG      Talk about starting at the bottom: my first job in TV included standing in for a dog while they adjusted the lighting for a dog food commercial.  Yep, there I was, an honors graduate of a top flight university, down on my hands and knees  Continue Reading »

ALUMNI INTERVIEW: MOLLY WILSON   What was your major and when did you graduate? TV Production/Broadcast Journalism – 2007   Where do you work now? I work at Warner Bros. Television in Current Programming   What do you like most about your job? I love the fast pace the world of TV offers.  The problems  Continue Reading »

Here's a link to a great round table discussion where some of today's top TV writer/producers reveal how they do it on a daily basis. Roundtable: Seth MacFarlane, Ryan Murphy, Chuck Lorre, Doug Ellin, Steve Levitan, Linda Wallem — Th livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com By Matthew Belloni "This place looks like Johnny Sack's office," Seth MacFarlane noted at  Continue Reading »

A TV SERIES BASED ON TWITTER POSTINGS?  AT CBS???      Yep – that’s exactly what this fall will bring.  CBS has ordered a half-hour comedy for fall based on the popular series of Twitter postings &*$! My Dad Says.      At first blush, this seems crazy – using something as slight as Twitter postings to  Continue Reading »

CREATING YOUR OWN TV SERIES For professional TV writers the Holy Grail is creating your own series – coming up with the concept and characters, pitching and selling it to a network, writing and producing the pilot, then making it to the fall schedule – and hopefully 10 years on the air. Here at Chapman,  Continue Reading »

Jeff Levering (TBJ, 2005) is one of alums working in sports. Jeff chose the hyper-competitive field of play-by-play, passing on easier paths with Fox Sports and the NFL Network. And in a few short years Jeff has made it to second base, landing the play-by-play gig with the Springfield Cardinals, the AA-affil of the St  Continue Reading »

My friend Neil Landau (author of the hot new book 101 Things I Learned in Film School – check it out) says that to make it in the entertainment industry, you need luck.  BUT: Neil has a very specific definition of luck.  It’s LUCK = PREPAREDNESS + OPPORTUNITY.  You never know when opportunity might knock,  Continue Reading »

Writing a spec script for an existing TV show is the first step for writers wanting to break into TV.  It's how I got an agent and my first staff job (on The Cosby Show) when I began my career – I wrote a spec Cheers.  Entire books have been written on the subject of  Continue Reading »