On October 22, Television and Radio students launched a 12-episode web-based miniseries — the product of a cross disciplinary program that immerses undergraduates in every process of television production. Shot entirely at Brooklyn College, Unproductive revolves around five close-knit friends, all seniors at an unnamed college’s television department. Tasked with finishing a video for a class taught by a no-nonsense professor, the project begins to slowly fall apart when a new team member and a romantic breakup disrupt the group dynamic. “This has given our students a chance at attaining the full aesthetic experience, from creating an original concept, developing their own script in collective fashion, casting the acting crew, shooting and editing their series,” says Television and Radio Chair Stuart MacLelland, who was actively involved in the last two stages of the project. Starting in the winter intersession and through the spring semester, a group of 14 students began developing the series’ characters with Lecturer Brian Dunphy and completed a script under adjunct professor and screenwriter Nurit Koppel, who has created a half-hour comedy for Amazon TV, among other things. Actors from outside the college were cast in late May and production began in June. Each student who worked on the web series was required to take four courses — Content Development, Advanced Dramatic Screenwriting, Advanced Producing and Direction for Television, and Advanced Post-production — which ran from the winter 2015 intersession through the second summer session.
