Television writing and production major goes out with a bang
Photo Courtesy of Nate Vance
In the fall of 2021, the last of the television writing and production (TWP) students were accepted into the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Now, in the spring of 2025, they graduate, and the TWP program comes to a final breath.
Coming right off the heels of Dodge College Dean Stephen Galloway’s introduction in March of 2020 — right before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the nation — the longstanding major was decided by the Dean and faculty to be no longer offered at Chapman. In its stead, the film production major was to be expanded into film and television production, with a separate major for writing in the form of writing for film and television.
“Dean Galloway believed that film and television writing should be housed under the same umbrella,” said Bill Rosenthal, assistant professor and TWP program coordinator. “And the faculty — by and large — agreed with him.”
Students in the TWP major were left to continue with the program, but the class of 2025 was the last year of TWP students accepted as a teach-out was initiated. Now there are only 20 TWP students left at Chapman. Next fall, it will be zero.
The major offered a chance for students to explore both writing and physically producing television, the only major at Dodge with the opportunity to do both facets of media creation. For many of the students, this was the program’s main draw, especially when applying to film school in their senior years of high school without a very clear path or understanding of exactly what they wanted to study.
“When students apply to college at 17, they usually have a general idea of what they want to study,” Rosenthal told The Panther. “TWP students often came to Dodge knowing they were interested in television, typically thinking they wanted to write or direct. The program provided a comprehensive education in writing and production, allowing students to explore different aspects of the field and ultimately discover their true passion.”
The unique approach of the major, opting for generalization in lieu of specialization, saw students realizing interest in a wide variety of film and television roles. Many gravitated towards writing, while others discovered passions for video editing, directing, sound mixing, producing and more.
“I never thought I would want to direct,” said senior television writing and production major Rachel Sand. “I was like, ‘That's not my thing, that's just not. It's not something that interests me.’ But I'm really glad that I got to have such a low stakes experience directing because I learned that I really do like it and it's something that I could see myself doing in the future. I'm really glad that I got this experience directing in college so I know what to do next time.”
But as programs merged and the major began to be phased out of the Dodge academic program, obstacles began to arise for students.
“When I applied, I knew they were going to get merged, but I thought it was going to be before or after me or something,” said senior television writing and production major Gretchen Albers. “I just thought it was going to be different, maybe better executed than it has been. For me, it makes sense that film and TV are together because they're so similar now. You know, old sitcom multicam stuff still gets made, but a lot of stuff on streaming is made the way film is made, right? I think after a few years, it'll make sense that they're merged. But about my sophomore or junior year, I realized that the merge was going to be very slow and weird, leaving our major with some hiccups, like getting rid of some classes and not being able to produce the pilots that were written in our year.”
Albers is referring to a junior year project that all TWP students undertake: producing a full-length pilot episode of a television series. TWP students in their junior year would produce two chosen pilot scripts written by the class above them, at a budget of $15,000 each. In their senior year, the pilots that they write get produced by the juniors below them. But when the current class of TWP students had no one in the year below them to produce their work, things got complicated.
“So we were all annoyed that we were losing out on that opportunity, as there was no class below us to produce the scripts that we were writing,” said senior television writing and production major Tavin McAllister. “That was the first major blow that I felt; that we're losing out on a really great opportunity. We brought that up to Dodge administration, and we were like, ‘This is an opportunity, so we would like some sort of option to try and get these produced.’ And what they gave us was $30,000 that we could split between however many projects we wanted, and we would have to treat our scripts as a producer-initiated pilot or film where we would act as kind of showrunner or producer and we would have to find a team (for production). Set everything up, put it all together and then that's how we could get our pilot produced.”
He continued: “The big thing that they added was the money to try and help us find somebody. But by that point, pretty much every single sophomore or junior director and team all had their project set up already. So, it was really difficult to find anyone who was available and didn't have an AP (advanced production) or thesis set to go. They offered us a mixer. I think one or two TWP or writing for film and television students went and didn't have any success.”
While they were unable to get production of their pilots off the ground without another class of students, some of that budget was then carried over into their senior year for the production of their short form projects. As a sort of thesis for their major, TWP students take Short Form Television I and II, where they produce six 12-or-so minute web series pilots. Normally at a budget of about $2000 per project, that was increased to $2500 for each project.
Of course, not getting to produce their pilots through Dodge didn’t stop everyone. Senior television writing and production major Holden Barker and his friends crowdfunded two of their own television pilots, “Eldritch Roommate” and “Wannabe Famous,” in their time at Chapman.
“‘Eldritch Roommate’ was largely created to give us production experience as freshman and sophomores, because if we didn't do that, our first production would be as juniors,” said Barker. “That is one of the little flaws of our major, and this was to tackle that. However, for ‘Wannabe Famous,’ a major reason (for its creation and crowdfunding) was us losing our pilots and losing a little bit of the production experience. It's not a flawless major.”
Many students also aired frustration with course registration across their time at Chapman, citing the slow decline in the number of courses offered for their major and some confusion in finding class substitutions during the teach-out.
“End of sophomore year, it really started to affect how we could get classes,” Barker told The Panther. “Junior year, most of our classes are gone. Senior year, it's really just the bare minimum classes we need to graduate. And we weren't able to get into all those classes because of permission numbers, because our major was no longer seen as an actual thing. The classes that we needed to take, every single time that we went to apply for or to add to our shopping cart, we didn't have the permission to do it. And we'd have to contact the teachers to take classes that we had to take to graduate. I don't think anybody was super hurt by that, but it did really suck to have to make a case every time I wanted to take (these classes).”
Despite some frustrations and obstacles, Dodge’s shift away from the TWP major is reflective of broader changes in the entertainment world. Television specifically is a much less distinct medium than it was at its inception, so putting film and television production together may be the logical next step.
“I mean, that's the industry. That's how it works. That was our big rationale for doing it,” said Michael Kowalski, associate dean of Dodge College. “The justification is that there isn't separation (between movies and TV). The separation you know is from the ‘80s, maybe ‘90s, but how much network television have you watched recently? Now there’s a complete blurring. I think that's what it really reflects. It just reflects the way the industry has changed. We are preparing our students for the industry, so it's important to put them in an environment that reflects the expectations and the practices of the industry.”
Opinions are somewhat divided on the segmentation of writing and production in the current structure of the Dodge majors. Many students of the TWP major stand by the more all-encompassing approach, which helped them explore different aspects of production they may not have otherwise touched, while others enjoy the current approach letting them hone in and master a specific craft.
“It’s not a matter of one approach being better or worse — it’s simply a different way of approaching their education,” said Rosenthal.
This couldn’t be more true. It’s difficult to definitively say which approach is the more beneficial one, and the split seen now between film and television production majors and writing for film and television majors comes with its own set of flaws and positives. While both majors get the opportunity to specialize, as is reflected in the film industry as a whole, it also leads to some separation between the two departments.
“I don't think a lot of people who are just in film production or just in screenwriting actively take other classes,” said class of 2024 television writing and production alumnus Jennings Gibbs-Barger. “There definitely is room to take electives (in the other programs), but it's not really necessarily encouraged. I think there's a disconnect there. Having TWP forced you to take classes in every area and every aspect and explore something that, if you were curious about it, was there. Being able to see your projects go through every stage of production was really beneficial. I think that a lot of people don't get to see that, which sucks. A lot of screenwriters just write their scripts and then they don't ever get to see that process, like practicing going through meetings with producers and directors.”
While the Dodge administration has tried to remedy this disconnect between writing and production majors, there have been hurdles to do so. On April 10, Dodge Academic Support sent out an announcement of an FP 331 Directors and Screenwriters Mixer, the workshop class where junior film production major students film their AP projects. The plan was for writing majors to meet with directors and find people to potentially produce their scripts, but the mixer — scheduled for April 17 — was cancelled due to low registration from directing students.
“I wish there was more mandatory networking,” said senior television writing and production major Katelyn Chong. “I feel like if you choose to be a (screenwriting) major, you're probably not going to go and want to be on set and then network because that's just probably not inherently the way that you are. At least, I wasn't really going on set unless it was mandatory for the major, and then obviously for this (Short Form Television) class which ended up being great. But the directors and producers often write their own things. I feel like it excludes the writer. It's perhaps very reflective of the industry, just kicking the writers even though that's where it all starts.”
Despite difficulties in bridging the gap between the writing and production sides of Dodge, the programs have been very successful in preparing students for life in the entertainment industry. While the new approach may be more reflective of how the industry works — writers being largely separate from physical production — there is something to be said for how learning both aspects let students thrive post-graduation. Notably in the TWP program is class of 2017 alumnus Hannah Einbinder, who has received multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards nominations for her role in the HBO comedy series “Hacks.” Alongside her is Lily Lerner, a class of 2024 TWP alumnus who is currently working as a showrunner’s assistant on the critically acclaimed Max series “The Pitt.” She spoke to The Panther about her experience in TWP and how it helped her get to where she is now.
“I'm working as a showrunner's assistant now and I'm with my boss in the writer’s room, but I'm also his assistant during production, which I was doing for the past few months,” said Lerner. “I know how to read a call sheet and I know who to talk to for every question because I've been on (Chapman) TV production sets, and they're essentially the same as real life sets. So, that benefited me a lot. A lot of young writers, like real TV writers, don't know how to read a call sheet. They never learned any of that. So I was teaching them stuff.”
She continued: “Just knowing about being on set and knowing who does what, like knowing what the first AD (assistant director) does and what the second AD does and having a grasp on that, is essential because it's really overwhelming. And that's not really something that people will teach you, but in my last year when we did the short form web series pilots, that was probably the most helpful thing. We workshopped them and then we produced them and all did a different role.”
Flyer Courtesy of Holden Barker
The encompassing nature of the TWP program has helped numerous other students as well, and getting to experience a variety of roles in the production of television shows has opened a wide variety of opportunities for the major’s alumni.
“I am a VFX PA (visual effects production assistant), which I never saw myself doing when I was growing up,” said class of 2024 television writing and production alumnus Becky Nino. “I knew I wanted to be in the movies, but visual effects seemed like something completely far-fetched. But especially with TWP, one of the most valuable lessons that you learn is to trust your instincts, and you're in an environment where they support you trying new things. That's essential, and it trains that muscle that's like, ‘Oh, I have a can-do attitude,’ to a point where you don't doubt yourself anymore. So, someone offered me a VFX gig and I have never done VFX in my life. I'm an editor. I've flirted with the idea of VFX before, but getting paid to do it as something full-time was totally scary to me. But without a doubt, I went, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’ And here we are working on a Chris Pratt movie.”
As the final television writing and production students graduate this spring, they reflect fondly on their time in the major. Despite hiccups and hurdles to overcome, they’ve given it their all and created some incredible work. Everyone whom The Panther had the opportunity to speak to had nothing but pride for their short form thesis projects and nothing but appreciation for their time in the TWP major.
“I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be able to shoot multiple projects and work with so many different directors,” Albers told The Panther. “Some that I've worked with before, and it's fun to have that closeness. Some that I hadn't worked with, but just being in the major together we already knew each other well and we could come in with the friendship already there. I'm really fortunate and grateful to be able to make these projects at all and have the resources and connections to create these films.”
The final TWP short form screenings were held in the Folino Theater on Saturday, May 17. The screening showcased each of the six projects from Short Form Television I and II: “Wheel of Damnation,” “Suzy and Jake,” “Stay Up With Me,” “Comfort Zone,” “Unrequitement” and “The TV Program.”