PRESS RELEASE:
February
13, 2007
CONTACT: Barnaby
Dallas (408) 687-8537 or Dallas@southbayfilmstudios.com
WHEN: March
7, 2006, 7:15 PM
TICKETS: $9
general, $5 student; 408.295.3378
www.cinequest.org/programguide
SJSU's "Reality TV" Documentary to Premiere at Cinequest Film Festival
February 13, 2007, San Jose, CA - Are TV viewers getting tired of dancing football players, cutthroat cooks, half naked contestants eating maggots, want-to-be celebrities flipping their houses, pimping their rides, or trading their spouses? Producers of the new feature documentary MAKING IT RIGHT: THE REALITY SHOW WITH A CONSCIENCE, premiering March 7 at San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival, think it may be so.
Produced by SJSU's Southbay Film Studios, MAKING IT RIGHT chronicles the creation of a new kind of reality TV show - one where teams of student contestants are challenged to solve pressing social problems in the community. Touted by Cinequest as "ambitious and affecting," the film focuses on how the students deal with the real problems individuals and families face as opposed to the manufactured challenges that dominate most "reality" TV. The student teams' efforts and their solutions are evaluated by a panel of judges, with the winning team members receiving SJSU tuition scholarships .
The 87 minute documentary film began as the brainchild of award winning documentary filmmaker and SJSU sociology professor Bob Gliner (HEIFER, PLAYING FOR KEEPS, TIME FRENZY). Gliner was struck by the fact that most reality TV shows focus on personal gain with contestants trying to become better looking, be the sole survivor, or marry a millionaire - as if material self improvement were the only valuable reward.
According to Gliner, "Despite the way we look, the kinds of furniture in our houses, who we go out with, or our singing ability, most of us must still confront the lack of affordable health care, challenging housing prices, schools which leave many children behind, and a host of other social problems. What about a reality TV show that shows young people tackling those challenges?"
Gliner brought the idea to his SJSU colleagues in TV, Radio, Film and Theatre who further developed the production. "We teach our students to be imaginative and to explore 'what if' questions," says TRFT professor David Kahn, one of the project's executive producers. "Bob came to us asking what if reality TV-style competition featured contestants trying to tackle important social concerns? We jumped at the idea of making it happen. The concept generated tremendous excitement and led to some amazing results including this film."
Fellow SJSU professors Gliner and Kahn have collaborated many times over the years on creative, curricular, interdisciplinary and service learning projects at the university.
For the viewing audience, the drama of MAKING IT RIGHT lies in following students from diverse backgrounds as they audition and are selected for the show and then as they face the challenges of competing. Four teams of three students each meet individuals and families faced with the problems they need to solve. They research possible solutions and finally come up with their own suggested solutions. As with most reality shows, the personalities of the teammates emerge and tempers flare as students struggle to balance the challenges of the show and of their own lives. For each challenge, the judges and the audience can consider how the students' solutions will work. How do the teams try to develop better than existing solutions? Are they finding innovative solutions? Which team will win, and what will they all learn from the experience?
Southbay Film Studios executive producer Barnaby Dallas believes that MAKING IT RIGHT will have wide ranging audience appeal. "It builds on a reality show genre with which audiences are familiar, but it is a completely different type of program. The audience gets to see how these really admirable students address problems they are deeply concerned about - not only to learn about possible solutions, but also how to apply them to real-life situations."
Recent national efforts such as The American Democracy Project and Campus Compact's push for a focus on civic engagement are attempts to get college students to be more active in the civic life of their communities and in the creation of public policy. MAKING IT RIGHT builds on these developments, provides a compelling story of SJSU service learning in action, and highlights the efforts of over one hundred SJSU students and faculty from all over the university who worked on the project.
The film shows students from a wide range of backgrounds and academic disciplines trying out to be on the show because they are dissatisfied with what's on television and want to do something to make a difference in the world. The creators of MAKING IT RIGHT feel there are thousands more like them and millions of others who would like to watch their efforts.
Following its Cinequest premiere MAKING IT RIGHT has a future with other film festivals or television broadcasts, showing on university campuses and as a pilot for a larger reality television series with a national focus.
"We feel we've been able to create a reality show that not only challenges what's on television, but gets Americans to consider how to address real problems in the society and world they live in," says Gliner.
The Cinequest Program Guide calls MAKING IT RIGHT "an enthralling attempt at combining entertainment with something of value."
Photos and additional information at: http://www.trft.org/makingitright
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Bob Gliner is an award winning documentary producer with some 35 programs to his credit, many of which have appeared on PBS stations around the nation (see www.docmakeronline.com) . He is also a professor in the sociology department, part time instructor in the Department of Radio, Television, Film and Theater, associate director of the Center for Service Learning, and former fellow in residence at the Center for Faculty Development under whose auspices he developed numerous interdisciplinary curriculum with a community focus.
MAKING IT RIGHT: THE REALITY SHOW WITH A CONSCIENCE
Produced and Directed by
Bob Gliner
Executive Producers
Barnaby Dallas
David Kahn
Nick Martinez
Field Producers
Ashley Dickinson
Drena Lewis
Candice Piper
Benji Umpad