elon student television

FALL 2014 SEMESTER REPORT

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Brian Mezerski, Station Manager

Prepared December 11, 2014

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elon student television

FALL 2014 SEMESTER REPORT

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SUMMARY
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Elon Student Television continued its commitment to provide foundational learning

opportunities for students to gain pre-professional news and entertainment television
experience this semester. ESTV also continued distributing broadcast and digital
content to the Elon community. The four-student Management Team has led the
organizations largest staff to date, with ten key Executive Producers and 225 total
organization staff members. !

225

Through the production division, student members were involved

with pre-production, production, and post production processes
for original programming. The organization provided hands-on
TOTAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT
Fall 2014
production workshops to improve show quality. Students were
presented opportunities to work on show productions for
FRESHMAN 54 (24%)
additional station affiliate programming. Through the
development division, the organization implemented a refined
pitch process to bring ideas for new, sustainable shows to the
SOPHOMORE 72 (32%)
station. The Development Director initiated the process with five
new students. Through the marketing division, the organization
JUNIOR 53 (23.5%)
sponsored numerous events to connect with the campus
community. ESTV interacted with its audience through social
SENIOR 46 (20.5%)
media and launched a new website to increase collaboration
between station shows. The Marketing Director aided individual
shows with marketing initiatives.!

Most notably, ESTV has improved its internal operating guidelines and documentation in
efforts to make the entire organization more sustainable for the future. ESTV focused on
improving community. The organization achieved social and professional unity between
its news and entertainment show staffs. The Management Team refined organization
structure, policies, and procedures to accommodate rapidly growing ambition and needs
within the organization.

GENERAL ORGANIZATION INFORMATION

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ESTV Mission: Engage, Reach, & Achieve Great Television.
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Elon Student Television is committed to !

engage talented, creative and spirited students !
reach deeper, broader and closer with our content, platforms
and interactions!
achieve outstanding results efficiently!
ESTV Vision

Elon Student Television enriches the lives of the Elon University community through
student-produced television multimedia. ESTV cultivates the minds of students preprofessional television production opportunities that expand the minds of students
through hands-on initiatives, entertainment programming that share perspectives on
university lifestyles, and news programming that keep the community informed on local
events and cultures.!

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2014-2015 Management Team
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Station Manager:! !
Production Director: !
Development Director:!
Marketing Director: !

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Organization Advisors:
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Entertainment Division:!
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Staci Saltz!
News Division:!
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Rich Landesberg!

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Brian Mezerski, Senior!

Jonathan Winston, Senior!
Ben Stringfellow, Senior!
Caroline Arnold, Senior!

MANAGEMENT TEAM SEMESTER GOALS & ACTIONS

Goal 1: Create a pre-professional television and multimedia experience for all

members!
Facilitated student-produced news and entertainment television productions!
Discussed, drafted, and signed Production Agreements with show
Executive Producers.!
Managed station budget.!
Maintained communication with all organization members, advisors, and the
School of Communications!

Goal 2: Facilitate and improve entire organization collaboration, cooperation,

community and development, including news and entertainment divisions!
Conducted open, joint meetings with Management Team, Executive
Producers, and organization staff!
Hosted open and casual social events for entire organization!
Established inter-organization communication tool through Moodle!

Goal 3: Increase station integrity, passion, quality and efficiency through its
original programming!
Organized and facilitated trainings and workshops!
Facilitated new programming through developing pitch process!
Facilitated production consistency!

Goal 4: Expand station involvement and presence within campus community, and
expand partnership with other campus organizations, outside student media!
Organized campus move-in weekend and org fair presence and conducted
information sessions!
Publicized ESTV through marketing initiatives!
Created a dynamic, college-based, and appealing brand!

Goal 5: Increase distribution opportunities for original shows and station services!
Maintained join website, elonstudenttv.com!
Improved channel operations!
Explored new ground for programming!

Goal 6: Maintain passion, enthusiasm and continued momentum for a better

organization!
Maintained focus on yearly growth!
Developed and maintained organization documents!
Developed initial organization handbook!

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MANAGEMENT TEAM S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

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1. ESTV encompasses and develops a wide range of interests and talents within all
aspects of the organization. !
2. The Management Team works extremely well together as a team and has fostered
the collaborative mentality to all show Executive Producers.!
3. Original programming at the station has improved in quality from last year and is
seen as good for the college-level.!
4. ESTV has established working partnerships with other entities on campus, including
student media organizations: Limelight Music Group, The Pendulum and WSOE;
and campus offices: University Communications, Teaching & Learning Technologies
and the Office of Alumni Engagement.!
WEAKNESSES

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1. ESTV is faced with progressively ineffective infrastructure, including outdated media
software and equipment, a cramped office space, and no storage for set pieces and
resources inside the School of Communications.!
2. ESTV lacks effective distribution practices for station content, including overall
operations and staff morale.!
3. ESTV has no successful presence in the digital media space.!
4. ESTV lacks in profitability, having no established healthy revenue engagements.!
OPPORTUNITIES

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1. ESTV has the ambition to develop healthy opportunities for revenue and bring a
media-sales model to the student media climate.!
2. ESTV looks to increase collaboration between organization staff and the campus
community.!
3. The organization encourages more students to develop sustainable ideas and
provide a platform to bring new ideas to fruition. !
4. ESTVs variety clip show, The Reel, seeks to expand show structure and format to
increase its showcase of student media produced in the classroom.!
5. ESTV hopes to expand its brand and develop areas of original production, internal
and external development, marketing, education and outreach, and media business
and sales.!

THREATS

1. ESTV has rapidly increasing ambition on campus with very small staff and resource
growth. The Management Team is currently comprised of all senior members and
faces complete turnover to new leadership in the spring.!
2. ESTV has received increasing influence and input from various faculty, staff, and
advisors on campus. Each entity presents their own diverse opinions to the
organization.!
3. ESTV is increasingly hindered in appeal and productivity by outdated software,
equipment, set pieces, and props.!
4. ESTV has a concern for maintaining unity between all shows in the organization.

ORGANIZATION SEMESTER HIGHLIGHTS

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NEW WEBSITE
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ESTV redesigned its website, elonstudenttv.com.

The redesign included a new focus on original
programming content, a responsive theme, and
specialized sites for every show.!

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GENERAL AND LEADERSHIP MEETINGS
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ESTV hosted two general interest meetings at

the beginning of the semester for students to
learn more about station structure and
operations. The Management Team met
weekly to conduct station business. The
Management Team met with Executive
Producers and leadership as a large group on
a monthly basis for updates and discussions.!

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MARKETING EVENTS
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ESTV connected with the campus

community through various marketing
events. The Marketing Director
distributed free bags of candy, station
literature, and station-branded pens
during move-in weekend. The leadership team distributed free lanyards during the
campus organization fair. The Marketing Director distributed candy, stress balls, and
station-branded cups during finals week as part of an ESTV Stress-Free campaign.!

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HOMECOMING EVENTS
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ESTV participated in the 2014 Homecoming

events sponsored by SUB and SGA. The
student team was a mix of representatives from
each show, increasing morale among staff.

ESTV: 20 YEARS HOMECOMING CELEBRATION

ESTV celebrated its 20th year as a campus

organization during Elons Homecoming 2014,
October 17-19. Current students connected with
visiting alumni throughout the weekend. ESTV
partnered with the Office of Alumni Engagement to
sponsor an interactive photo booth Friday night at the
campus-wide homecoming opening ceremony and
Saturday morning at the football tailgate. Current
members took photos and conducted video
interviews asking about favorite Elon members
with any visiting alumni.!

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ELONS HOLIDAY FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
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ESTV partnered with University Communications and

Teaching and Learning Technologies to produce a live
stream and edited 30-minute TV broadcast for Elons
Holiday Festival of Lights on December 1. Student
members were in production roles such as technical
director, talent, and camera for the broadcast.!

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INITIATED NEW SHOW PITCH PROCESS

ESTV hopes to inspire and foster students to generate ideas for new shows, expanding
content and opportunities at the station. The management team developed a five-stage
rolling pitch application process. Through the pitch program, ESTV received a
remarkable five pitch applications within the first month of the semester. The
Management Team ordered the development of four pilot episodes from these
applicants, including ideas for a late night comedy show, informative talk show, street
magic show, and student-produced music video highlight show.!

NEW ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMMING

ESTV has ordered the first season, comprising of ten

episodes, for a late night comedy show. Elon After
Hours will debut Spring 2015 after successful
completion of the New Show Pitch Process. The
Management Team will work closely with two coproducers for the show during Winter Term for
successful development of show staff, format, marketing,
production, and integration into the station lineup. ESTV
is pleased to offer such a desirable show for the college
audience.!
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CONTINUED SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT MEDIA
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The Reel is ESTV's spotlight on student media.

The show highlights content such as short films,
picture stories, and other multimedia projects
created by students outside the organization. The
show accepts and reviews student submissions that
is most frequently generated in the classroom.

ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING CONTENT

Elon Student Televisions hallmark operation is student-produced news and

entertainment television programming. Students work hands-on every day within an
ESTV show, gaining experiential knowledge that leads to advanced professional
careers. ESTV is proud of the practical experience it provides to students through its
original programming.!

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61

38

TOTAL EPISODES
Fall 2014

TOTAL WEBISODES
Fall 2014

CONTENT TYPE !
(FOR ALL SHOWS)
SHOW FORMAT

35

TOTAL HOURS PRODUCED

Fall 2014

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION !
(FOR ALL SHOWS - Aug-Dec 2014)

NUMBER SHOWS

DIGITAL

REACH

IN-STUDIO

YouTube

27,704

FIELD
PRODUCTION/
POST-PRODUCED

Facebook

5,819 likes

Twitter

6,950 followers

ELON LOCAL NEWS

Elon Local News is Elons

broadcast news leader with 3
shows, a web exclusive, and a
constantly updated website week in
and week out. We strive to be as
professional as we can with
deadlines and content
development. We push for solid
content and will not just put
anything on the air, encouraging
students to produce their best.!

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News Director:!
Eric Halperin, 2015 !
ELN Executive Producer:!
Ryan Greene, 2015 !
Assignment Manager:!
Garrett Grumbach, 2016!
Production Manager:!
Brian Mezerski, 2015 !
Production Manager:!
Jonathan Winston, 2015 !
ELN Radio Executive Producer: !
Brennan McGovern, 2015 !
ELN Web Exclusive Executive Producers:!
Audrey Engelman, 2017 &!
Paige Pauroso, 2017 !

Social Media & Web Manager:!

Kelly Finneran, 2015

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer:

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GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT
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As a show our greatest accomplishment was coming

together and putting on a 2+ hour election show in
which first-year students were instrumental.!

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AREA FOR GROWTH
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Elon Local News decreased in production of

newsworthy stories this semester compared with
previous years.!

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MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER
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Elon Local News hopes to produce stronger stories with

more newsworthy and hard hitting content with as few
production errors as possible.!

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COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES
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A workshop about finding better stories would certainly

help out a lot. I also think on our part we can instill
stronger mentorship/training between more
experienced and less experienced members.!

ELN MORNING

ELN Morning covers both national

and local news, bringing campus
what it needs to know when waking
up in the morning covering weather,
sports, travel, technology and other
updates essential for our college
audience. Our show is written,
produced, hosted and run by
students, allowing us to push
ourselves knowing it is our name
and effort on the finished product.
Students support and encourage
one another, while still competing
for stories, internships and preprofessional experiences.!

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News Director:!
Eric Halperin, 2015!
Executive Producer:!
Katie Maraghy, 2015!
Hosts:!
Ashley McGetrick, 2016 &!
Paige Pauroso, 2017

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer:

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GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT
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Our greatest accomplishment this semester has come in

covering the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury
decision without being fluffy or self-serving as morning
shows are sometimes guilty of.!

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AREA FOR GROWTH
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I always wish I'd tried more and pushed harder as an

executive producer, expanding what the show can do
and improving its reach.!

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MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER
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I'd like ELN Morning to air a few "specials," whether an a

cappella showcase, or an "Around the State" show that
features various towns and cities around North Carolina
students may not know much about.!

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COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES
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In terms of resources, we'd love additional storage and

help putting the set somewhere out of the way, to
maintain show aesthetic quality.!

ONE ON ONE SPORTS

One On One is a completely

student-run sports debate show
that strives to produce a quality
product while enjoying the learning
process of television. One On One
Sports prides itself in assisting
communications students by
providing hands-on experience.
With a weekly webcast and show,
all members are guaranteed
immediate airtime and control room
practice - even as freshmen.!

Executive Producer:!
Ben Greenberg, 2016

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer:

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GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT
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One On Ones greatest accomplishment this semester

was thriving technically and production-wise. We had
just lost the single greatest - and largest - One On One
Sports class of seniors in history. We were all a little
nervous coming into this year, but we worked hard and
nailed it.!

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AREA FOR GROWTH
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Creativity. With the loss of an unbelievable senior class,

we focused on keeping the show fundamentally sound. It
certainly was, but the first half of this semester lacked
creativity and fun as a result.!

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MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER
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Again: Creativity. We had an amazing Halloween show

this semester. It was lighthearted and fun - exactly what
One On One Sports strives to be! We need to bring that
same creativity every week, even if it's just one fun or
different block per show.!

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COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES
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A new backdrop would look great in Studio B featuring

our updated logo. Other than that, weve never been a
high maintenance show and do not plan to start now.!

WIN STUFF

Win Stuff is ESTV's first and finest

pop culture gameshow! Win Stuff has
been really focused on getting firstyear students hands on experience
in any position. Everyone on our
crew knows at least two jobs. !

Executive Producers:!
Theresa OSullivan, 2016 &!
Brandon Barbieri, 2016

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer:

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GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT
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Our greatest accomplishment this year has been

producing quality content even though we started out
with a few set backs.!

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AREA FOR GROWTH
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I wish we could have trained crew a little more outside of

the scheduling of the show.!

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MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER
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I think learning to fully use the TD board would set Win

Stuff apart from past seasons.!

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COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES
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Focus on updating our set and researching potential

aesthetic purchases.

NEWSBREAKERS

Newsbreakers is a mockumentary
sitcom that follows a dysfunctional
news team and all of their antics as
they try to raise from last place in
the ratings to becoming a
successful high functioning news
team. Newsbreakers helps
students develop skills for being on
film sets and learn how to use
equipment properly and effectively.
It also teaches students how to
follow set protocol in a professional
environment and work with a crew
to achieve a finalized product.!

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Executive Producer:!
Jordan Roman, 2015!
Director/Producer:!
Frankie Campisano, 2017!
Line Producer:!
John Martin-, 2017!
Editor/Producer:!
Bella Mazzola, 2017!
Editor/Director of Photography:!
Rhett Lawson, 2017!
DP/Writer/Key Grip/1st AD:!
Franklin Kramer, 2017!
PR Team:!
Justin Veiera, 2016!
Tony Weaver, 2016!
Olivia Hays, 2018

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer:

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GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT
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Our greatest accomplishment as a show was to be able

to produce two thirty-minute episodes along with six extra
web content sketches all within the span of one
semester, as well as significantly improving the quality of
the show.!

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AREA FOR GROWTH
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I wish we would have scheduled and planned a little

more efficiently.!

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MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER
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Next semester I would like to continue to improve the

quality of the show and make the method of production
even more efficient.!

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COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES
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I think having more equipment available would help,

along with adding more staff to the show for producing
duties and scheduling would really help.

ETALK

ETALK is Elons source for all

things entertainment, health,
fitness, and local talent. This year
our members are getting hands on
experience as it pertains to the
entertainment field, such as studio
positions creating out of studio
packages and show planning.!

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Executive Producer:!
Ariana Badiali, 2015!
Show Producer:!
Kathleen Harper, 2015!
Assistant Show Producer:!
Abbey Maloney, 2017!
Webcast Producer:!
Courtney Campbell, 2017!
Radio Directors:!
Katie Klochany, 2017 & !
Katie Condon, 2017!

PR Director:!
Joe Del Vecchio, 2016!

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer:

GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT

I believe our greatest accomplishment this semester is

our smoothness with the live-to-tape filming. Because of
this I believe we will feel comfortable in the Spring to start
a live stream or broadcast.!

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AREA FOR GROWTH
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As a show, I believe we could have done better with

deadlines. Because deadlines were missed sometimes
things didnt always run as smoothly during our shoots.!

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MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER
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I believe feedback on the episodes would help a lot next

semester so we know what areas we can improve upon.

ELON TONIGHT

Elon Tonight is Elon University's

first and best sketch-comedy show. !
Elon Tonight has had a longstanding tradition of prioritizing
professional content and
production quality and is the place
where many Elon communications
students first learn the basics of
video production, from on-set
protocol and procedures, to
creating and editing content in a
fun and friendly environment.!

Executive Producers:!
Becca Evans, 2016; Matt Lee, 2016!

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Evaluation from Show Executive Producer:

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GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT
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This year we strongly prioritized growing the talent of our

group, emphasizing giving tasks and roles to new
members. Though still going through some growing
pains, this decision means that we are well on our way to
having a stronger, larger, more talented team for future
seasons.!

Line Producer:!
Caroline Grell, 2017!

AREA FOR GROWTH

Director of Acting:!
Julia Boyd, 2015!

We'd like to become more organized and better at

executing deadlines to keep work consistent rather than
piling up towards the end of the term.!

Director of Editing:!
Brian Lorello, 2016!
Production Manager: !
Ben Stringfellow- 2015!
Assistant Production Manager:!
Cappy Leonard, 2015!
Associate Content Developer:!
Rebecca Hurd, 2016!
Marketing Director:!
Peter Walpole, 2015!
Web Editor:!
Nick Boss, 2016!

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MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER
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Next semester we would love to see content quality

continue to increase.!

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COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES
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What would help our show out is a budget especially

allocated to craft services. Unlike some of the other
ESTV shows, our shoots are all day on Saturday and
Sunday. It is unreasonable to expect either that our
devoted cast and crew not eat for 7 hours or that one of
us must pay for this necessity out of pocket.