“I realized quickly that it looks just like a TV show,” he said. Roberts said he got on Zoom right away because he wasn’t familiar with the online videoconferencing system.

“In the face of all of this,” he said, “you still have to get a show on the air.” Students, he said, are facing a similar situation. He knows what it’s like to produce shows during unprecedented circumstances - he was working on The Hughleys during the 9/11 attacks. Roberts is known for his directing work on The Drew Carey Show, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Hughleys. “You can’t roll color bars and put on a note on the television saying we couldn’t finish.”īrian Roberts producing a live remote episode of The Water Cooler from his home. The productions are shot live on two soundstages inside the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, a fully digital filmmaking training center at the USC School of Cinematic Arts - the only one of its kind in the world at a university.ĭowdey’s fellow Trojan Vision instructor and adjunct assistant professor, Brian Roberts, was there when the cancellation announcement came down. “Students were breaking down.” USC’s television production pivots to Zoomĭowdey teaches CPTR 409 - Practicum in Television Production, a course that works directly with Trojan Vision to produce television shows. “When students found out it was being shut down, there were tears,” said Kathleen Dowdey, adjunct assistant professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Just a few hours before production would come to a halt, it was a typical Friday afternoon in mid-March for Trojan Vision students who were busy producing two shows: the news/comedy series The Breakdown and the sports talk show The Water Cooler.įrom the production booth, director Chris Cheshire is heard calling “30 seconds … cue host, host mic up.”īut as the final credits finished rolling, students learned that they had just produced their last show. Saturday, May 2, on Trojan Vision (cable channel 8.1 where available) and on The Breakdown Facebook page. The season finale of Trojan Vision’s news/comedy program features special guest Ray Romano.

Zoom television show