The Future of the Film Industry is at Fisher

On Friday, April 26, St. John Fisher University students premiered the pilot episode of their show “Future, Now,” which was created as a part of Dr. Todd Sodano’s Television Production course. More than 20 students wrote, produced, and screened the episode Rochester’s historic Little Theatre.

“Future, Now” explores what happens when an on-campus psychology experiment shows a group of students a glimpse of their futures. The pilot episode introduces the uninspired Richard Grey and his ambitious roommate, Wayne Smalls, along with the hard-nosed Georgia Whit and the reserved Zip Morell, as they embark on a journey of self-discovery and unlikely friendships. Throughout the episode, they learn that the choices they make in the present have greater power than they originally imagined, and they question whether their futures are set in stone or if now is the time to change their fates.

Sodano, an associate professor in the Department of Media and Communication, created the course to provide his students the opportunity to learn what it takes to produce a television show from start to finish. He divided the course into two segments. The first half teaches students about the television landscape and the second half puts knowledge into action as students write and pitch their ideas.

“Unlike in semesters past, when I combined story ideas, this year, I decided to combine talent. I went forward with Connor Lacey’s idea and added Paul Vitagliano and Mailani Faucett to his writing team. The class then broke into various units, which were determined by their areas of interest,” Sodano explained.

The student teams included writing, acting, producing, directing, editing, and promotion to bring the show to life. Another group of students filmed a behind-the-scenes documentary of the show’s production.

“The joke I always tell the students in Television Production is, ‘This will be the greatest time you’ll never want to have in a college class again.’ In return, the nicest thing I hear after the semester is, ‘It didn’t feel like a class,’” he said.

Their hard work culminated in a screening of the pilot episode, which was open to friends, family, and the general public.

“Seeing their work on a screen in a local theater like the Little requires the students to show some vulnerability by having their creativity appear in front of a public audience,” he explained. “Furthermore, since we have a talkback immediately after the screening, the audience asks them questions about their process, their story, and so on, which requires the students to be honest and reflective about the choices they made.”

The students enrolled in the class include Ranya Alsalahi, Dino Begovic, Lucas Cobery, Kadence Cohen, Rory Cook, Abby Dwyer, Mailani Faucett, Valerie Flores, Grady Francis, Jules Fravil, Connor Lacey, Dominique Lawrence, Manuel Lopez, Joe Miscia, Emma Muchow, Andrew Ortolani, Nicole Pomerleau, Trevor Refici, Kydian Suarez, Matt Szydlowski, Andrew Tambasco, Kessan VanGronigen, Paul Vitagliano, and Matt Vroman.