Producing “the Randumb Show” keeps senior telecom major occupied
By Jen Clay
Staff Writer
Whether they realize it or not, many Pepperdine students have spent their cold and lonely college nights with senior Penny Lane Sewell.
This year Sewell returns as one of three producers for the popular student-produced “Randumb Show,” the longest running student-produced entertainment show at Pepperdine.
As “the Randumb Show’s” director/producer last year, Sewell found herself in many awkward situations in front of the camera, including one “air-able” incident involving her underwear and a certain Halloween episode. But it is Sewell’s passion for behind-the-scenes work that truly makes “the Randumb Show,” well, random.
Sewell became interested in television production as a high school student in her hometown of Dallas. “My friends and I always got bored and made videos because there’s not much to do in Dallas,” she said. “(The videos) were usually pretty bad.”
Still, Sewell remained undecided on a major as a freshman, knowing that she “had a bunch of ideas of what I didn’t want to do.”
After her great success as a “Randumb Show” crew member during her sophomore year, then-“Randumb” host Clay Ewing asked her to produce the 30-minute, biweekly program. And the next season is “Randumb” history.
For Randumb inspiration, Sewell looks to late-night gurus David Letterman and Conan O’Brien for guidance.
“We have a segment called Mailbag that we kinda ripped off from David Letterman,” she said. “We’ll call it borrowing. We’re borrowing and re-creating it as E-mailbag.”
In addition, Sewell meets with director Mike Hurd and returning host/producer Jason Eppink at least once weekly to discuss ideas and film sketches for the show.
“Usually Jason, Mike and I end up just sitting around, talking about whatever ideas we had that day or whatever we want to make fun of. Whatever’s hot right now we try to make fun of.”
Sewell revealed plans for a mock-telethon episode for this season as well as a reality-TV inspired piece.
“The very last show of the semester will hopefully be a behind-the-scenes special on ‘Randumb,’” she said. “You’ll get to see half an hour of what goes on behind the scenes including little fights – if we have confrontations – and you’ll see the true colors of the crew.”
Outside of “the Randumb Show,” Sewell actively seeks differing outlets for her creativity, but she says she doesn’t always have time to creatively indulge. “Last semester I took a screenplay writing class that I really enjoyed. We wrote full screenplays,” she said. “It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work. I also directed and edited a short for telecom class. Those were both really good experiences, but it’s hard when you are in school – trying to write a screenplay, direct a short, go to religion. They butt heads a little bit. And then you have to go to convo every Wednesday.”
Sewell is also actively involved with Pep’s KWVS radio station. She has held station manager and program director positions in the past and is currently the PSA director.
After her May graduation, Sewell has no concrete plans but would like to work toward a career in the the film industry.
“I want to live in Santa Monica and work, hopefully for a studio or some kind of production company,” she said. “I want to eventually write and direct.”
With her Randumb acting credits, would Sewell ever consider moving in front of the camera?
“As far as being on-camera, that’s not really my style,” she said.
The first episode of “the Randumb Show” is tentatively scheduled to air Sunday, Sept. 21 on TV-26.
September 11, 2003