If there’s one thing Californians love, it’s the sunny, outdoor weather.  If there’s a second thing Californians love, it’s sports.  With a new television venture on the brain, Professor Pete Weitzner is aiming to give some lucky Media Arts students the perfect combination of the two.

You see, for years, Dodge College students have been involved with the athletics department from Cal State Long Beach, and this relationship has just brought some impressive payoffs.  Filling in first as unpaid interns, then gradually coming to fill even more specialized roles, Dodge College quickly made a name for themselves as dedicated, creative workers.  After a few dozen games, across several years, these pioneering students caught the attention of The Big West conference’s management, which elected to begin a paid internship program early this Fall.

And then, one very important thing happened: ESPN signed on to help produce the Big West’s content.  In short time, our TV students were elevated to key staff members for the Big West athletic conference, from PAs to cinematographers, and even taking over the privileged position of the play-by-play announcer.

And that leads us to today’s exciting news, which is that The Big West and has partnered with ESPN, to usher local sports coverage into the next century, by way of a brand new mobile broadcasting station: a ‘complete high-definition production solution into a 23-ft. Mercedes Sprinter van.’  Outfitted with all the latest and greatest technology, which will be manned by none other than Chapman University students!  Essentially, ESPN and The Big West are both looking to bring a more immediate, local presence to sports coverage, and in a large part, our talented pool of young professionals is what’s bringing it to life.

The program is in its infancy, and much of the rules and practices have yet to be articulated.  But, as Prof. Weitzner believes, the time is right for this kind of collaboration to take off,

If there’s one area in our industry where there’s not enough people, and you wouldn’t expect it — it’s live event production.  With all these new channels for distribution and digital content, and the proliferation of local news coverage, there just simply isn’t enough talent to go around to fill all the new media channels that are opening up.  If there’s a student looking to make it in the TV industry, I couldn’t recommend a program like this enough.  Being so close to LA, it’s all about getting your name out there, and for these students, it’s already happened, before they’ve graduated.

Good luck to everyone working on the van, and stay tuned for more info!

Interested in being part of the team?  Contact Professor Pete Weitzner with your info.