CAITLIN WHITE
Assistant Living Editor
Pepperdine’s telecom students have always taken advantage of the many opportunities offered by the close proximity to the entertainment industry. But the ability to produce quality drama wherever one might be is an indicator of true talent. Junior Alex Skinner is one of these endowed individuals. This Creative Writing major is beginning to make a mark on the entertainment industry.
He recently returned from studying abroad in London, where he involved nearly half the students there in his creation of a completely new episode of the extremely popular comedy show “The Office.” He is also writing a show for Pepperdine’s TV26 network, and recently won an award for a parody of “The Office.” The driving force behind the success of “The Office” is certainly it’s writing, and as a screenwriter hopeful, Alex has a head start on the competition.
What inspired you to write your own episode of the Office?
I’ve loved the show “The Office” since it came on, and my love for it is a big part of what inspired the episode that I created in London. We also heard about an amateur student who had re-created an episode, he made a spoof of the show for a film festival, just recycling stuff from the show. I started thinking about it, and I figured I could make a new episode, just using the same characters everyone already knows. It was a good place to start, trying to write my own show but using characters already in existence. This helped me a lot too, to realize, that this is something I want to do for my career, and that I can do. It solidified that for me, and now I have the motivation to keep doing this, the whole thing was just such a confirmation of it.
What was it like to work together on a project with the whole London group?
It is cool, because now we have something that represents what our international program group did while we were overseas, something to remember it by. We named our production company “Princes Gate Production” because that is the address of where we stayed in London. It was just really cool to be able to film it in London, since the show was originally British, and we could use shots of like double decker buses, and the Piccadilly Circus, which is basically London’s equivalent of Times Square.
What first got you interested in the profession of screen writing?
I watch a lot of TV (I have since eighth grade) and I’ve always loved the comedy shows. There are a lot of reality shows out there right now, and not as many scripted comedies. I think people would like to see more comedy on TV. I think there is room for more shows like “The Office” or “Arrested Development.” When I first got to college, I was a music major, but I decided that just wasn’t for me, and that I wanted to be a writer. I got interested in screen writing because it’s something I thought I’d be good at, and I wanted to learn more about.
What is the contest you recently won an award for with another “Office” short?
It was actually entirely separate from the one we made in London. This was after that, the entry was only a few seconds long, the contest was to re-create one of the “talking head” moments that occur in the show — when one member has a solitary interview. We re-created one of Michael, the character who is the boss on “The Office.” It is from an episode when he buys a woman’s suit from a thrift store and is wearing it. I played Michael and Megan Carolin did all the filming and editing. She was the one who did all that stuff in London, too, there is no way I could have done either of these projects without her. We submitted our entries through YouTube, and one of the producers of the show looked at all the entries, and picked 20 finalists. These were put up on the Web site and then viewers voted for their favorites. We made the top five, so we received a signed DVD of the Office.
Are you and Megan working on a new projects together for Pepperdine?
Yes, we are actually working together on a new show called “Typewriters.” It will be aired on TV26, Pepperdine’s telecom department’s broadcast channel. It is a comedy about two writers who are trying to break into the big time. One of them is a novelist and one is a sports journalist. So we’re just waiting to finish filming it. We’re almost done with it, Daniel Polk, who is another Television Production major is also in it.
What appeals to you the most about creating TV shows?
Obviously, for me, it’s the writing aspect. My major is Creative Writing, so what I really focus on is the plot, story, the characters, everything that is written. Megan is the one who really helps make my projects happen. I can write and star in them, but without her she doing all the camera work, directing and editing, they would never happen. I wasn’t even sure if the show in London was going to actually happen until she got on board, and got excited about it.
What are the differences between just writing something, and the process of putting that script on video?
I really loved seeing the script come to production, and actually be acted out. I spent a lot of time writing it, so it was kind of weird to see it acted out and filmed, because sometimes when you write, it doesn’t quite come out the way you saw it in your head. It was interesting to see how it changed from what I had written, to how it came out. It wasn’t necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, it was just interesting. It is certainly a lot easier to be back at Pepperdine, and have all this equipment because we filmed the entire London episode with a handy cam.
What was the best part about creating your own episode of the show and what was the hardest part?
The hardest part was trying to come up with something that would be original; this is one of the most popular shows on TV right now, so it was intimidating. Also, there were only nine guys in the London house, so we had to kind of rope them in. But after the project was completed, everyone was excited and proud to be part of it.
To see Alex and Megan’s video, go to: youtube.com/princesgateprod, which stars Pepperdine students Alex Skinner, Blake Reiser, John Franscioni, Nicole Kliest, Alex Johnson and Jason Putnam.
09-27-2007
