Riptide TV producer brings his experience to the Fieldhouse.
By Peter Celauro
A&E Editor
Nicholas Sheldon is used to hard work and long hours. As the producer of Riptide TV on Pepperdine’s TV-26 television station, the senior telecommunications major specializes in taking a lot of elements – video, music and sound bytes – and pulling them together into a finished product, no matter how long it takes.
Now, he’s focusing his energy on what may be an even bigger, tougher task: producing a Madness: Reloaded no student will be able to forget.
“I’ve always been trying to push the limits in terms of how good the programming can be on the TV station,” Sheldon said of his television experience. “I really don’t want to be limited by what’s been done in the past.”
It was this attitude that made Sheldon want to get involved with Madness: Reloaded in the first place. After shooting and producing the intro video for last year’s Midnight Madness (in which Nicole Flowers, Jason Palmer, Robby Mooring and Drew Hoff had an adventure on a golf cart), Sheldon realized he was unimpressed with the way the event was put together.
“I thought it was a re-tread of the year before,” Sheldon said of Start the Madness. “I’d been shooting footage of the event for three years for the TV station and thought it wasn’t exciting. I wanted to get involved and try to make it fun, because it’s really the only cool event we have at Pep that isn’t Greek affiliated.”
And get involved he did. Working together with Jimmy Hutcheson, head of the programming board, Sheldon became a key player in organizing everything in the event, from the talent recruited to the videos played.
The first change, he said, was the event’s name. Because another school recently copyrighted the term “Midnight Madness,” it could no longer be used by Pepperdine.
The change was also necessary because the event is no longer officially affiliated with the basketball team. The event is normally held Oct. 17, the night before the team is allowed by the NCAA to start practicing. The new event, Madness: Reloaded, will be held Oct. 3.
But how different will it really be?
“You can expect a higher quality production,” Sheldon said. “There’s a lot more video this year. There will also be new outside talent … you definitely won’t see the trampoline guys this year.”
Sheldon also changed the way the hosts for the event are chosen.
“We decided from the beginning that the best way to handle this year’s hosting situation would be to have open auditions, so all Pepperdine students could get a chance to have such an awesome opportunity,” he said. “It’s nice to see people who aren’t necessarily in the spotlight regularly get that chance to experience what it’s like.”
Three hosts were selected: sophomore Adrienne Jones, junior Michael Fontaine and junior Blake Bercham.
According to Sheldon, the administration and a good number of senators elected to have Student Government Association president Jason Palmer host as well, rounding the number out to four.
“In general, the process has been an experience,” Sheldon said of organizing Madness: Reloaded. “The amount of red tape we have to go through in terms of getting the event organized is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Pepperdine has a lot of rules on things like content, facilities and process. It’s really frustrating when you’re trying to do a great event and you have to deal with so many obstacles. But we’re staying optimistic and doing the best we can.”
In the end, Sheldon’s main goal for Madness: Reloaded is the same as it is for anything he produces: to entertain the audience.
“When you walk into (Madness: Reloaded) this year, my mission is to make sure that you have a fun time, and the event doesn’t suck,” he said. “It’s all about trying to get people excited.”
When the excitement of Madness: Reloaded is over, Sheldon will have a new project to consider: what to do after graduation?
“We’re in the process of taking Riptide TV and molding it into a 30-minute show that we can get distributed,” he said. “That means trimming down everything that was boring and making a 100 percent entertaining show.”
After that, he plans to make press kits, buy some stamps and send copies of the show to as many distributing companies as possible. He figures that in L.A., someone is bound to be interested. “If that doesn’t work,” he said, “I’ll get a job in post-production in television or film.”
September 25, 2003