I was able to attend the talk that Nicole Savini gave last night at Boston University.
This is something that’s near and dear to my heart. Being from the Boston area and being a Communications major it was almost nostalgic, plus I love sitting in a room full of people who are talking about the show.
This was part of a series of talks called The Boston University Cinematheque series.
First of all, indulge me because I have to share this because it was an amazing start to the evening. I got the best parking spot right on Comm Ave.
Where I stood to take this picture is right in front of the entrance to the building and what’s more, the room where they had the talk was immediately to your left as you walk in that front door, and what’s yet even more? The parking was free! For those of you who have to travel in big cities, you know how rare it is to be able to go to any event and just drive right up to the front door, park, for free, and just walk right into the room.
Felt like royalty, I gotta say!
The room was a good size auditorium where I would imagine they have a lot of big classes where they show movies. It’s the building where WTBU, the campus radio station, is located.
Nicole graduated from BU with a degree in Communications (’99) and the BU faculty made it a point to say, a couple times, that this was an extraordinary opportunity. Wait, what I meant to say was it was an Extraordinary opportunity. Gerald Peary, the Cinematheque curator, actually said “extraordinary with a capital E”.
I know so many of the TCR staff’s names after being in the fandom for awhile so I am a tad ashamed to admit that I didn’t recognize her name upon first hearing of the event, nor did I recognize her when I saw her, but I know her now!
It started off with Nicole introducing herself briefly and explaining the pieces she produces. Then they showed seven of her segments from the show that were favorites of hers. Here are links to the pieces they showed: (beware the CN site has just totally completely changed)
Better Know a District: NJ 12, Rush Holt | The Enemy Within – Dr. Skylar Bayer | Nailed ‘Em – Polka Piracy | Stephen Reports on an Old-Fashioned Hero | Raging Art-On – Art 1 | Raging Art-On – Art 2 | Raging Art-On – Art 3
After that was a Q&A that lasted about an hour and a half. I got to ask two questions!
These were the questions that I can remember, in no particular order. The first was asked by Mr. Peary and he kinda set the tone for some awkward questions. He asked if the guests know what they’re in for when they agree to be interviewed. She explained about how Stephen tells them he’s playing a character and they try to make the person aware and that most people do understand what Stephen is trying to do. She also said that almost every Congressperson that has appeared on the show, when they have had any feedback, say it was a great experience and they end up hearing from a lot of their constituents because of it.
He went on to talk about Stephen’s potential for cruelty toward a guest, not to say he was cruel but maybe to say that guests might interpret him as being cruel. It seemed to me, and I could be wrong, that Nicole was a little uncomfortable with this. She made sure to say that comedy is king and that getting comedy out of the situation is the first priority and that Stephen is a very kind and generous person.
At one point during the evening, she said she gets questions all the time from people saying things like don’t you feel like you’re exploiting these people? You always pick Southerners, is that because it’s easier to make fun of them? She said that when she answers these questions, she doesn’t feel that way at all. She said a couple times that she loves Andy, the scallop guy and Chris, the shirtless guy in the “Too Hot to Fish” piece. She considers them real and that it’s not making fun of them at all, rather it’s a celebration of who they are. Also, she said that the scallop story was in Maine so it’s not always Southerners. She just wants them to be real. That reminded me of the way Stephen says he wants his in-studio guests to be real and he is professionally stupid at them.
One person asked about how much planning is needed and how much of it is more just a “go with it” opportunity. She quoted a saying which I can’t remember exactly and (she said that) neither could she, but it was something like, “Success equals preparation plus opportunity”. She wasn’t sure if that was the saying but it sounds good to me. As an example, she said that for the Polka piece, they did go out and hire the accordion player so that was planned, but at the end when the wife of the Polka guy was dancing, it was something that just kinda happened organically at that time. They learned that she was a dancer and they asked if she wanted to dance along and she said yes.
These were my two questions: “Have you ever gone out and shot pieces that haven’t aired and what are the reasons why they don’t air?” I actually knew for sure that at least one piece hasn’t aired because we posted this before in a previous “In the Press” piece. So I just wanted to know what reasons go into deciding to shelve a piece. She said that it’s usually because it’s basically not funny or it may be that the piece doesn’t fit, it doesn’t work with the voice of the show.
My other question which was kind of a bust, was “Did you shoot the pieces in Russia with Buddy Cole?” I really wanted to know all about the protest zone and the “nervous producer cam” and dealing with the Russian police, but alas, she didn’t do those, Liz Levin did. If I had been smart I would’ve thought to phrase it more like, “Have you ever done a shoot where you were a ‘nervous producer’, like in Russia, where you had to deal with a situation like they did in Russia with the police?”, but hindsight’s 20/20.
If I were really smart, I would’ve asked her if she can bring Stephen to Boston to do a piece, something I’ve wished to have happen for a long time.
There was a woman who brazenly asked if she could be a guest on the show to promote her book. Balls. That took balls and Nicole was very gracious and said that she wasn’t the talent booker, but that she’d be willing to take the book.
The last question of the night which should’ve been the first, was “What sort of advice would you give to people who want to get into TV production?”
She said to be willing to work as hard as you can, hustle, get your name out there, get your face in front of people. She said the NBC page program is a good place to start or an internship. She said to say yes to everything and be willing to do work for free so that you can show your value to people. She said that when you start you may have crap work like sitting in a car for five hours to hold a parking spot, but if you do it and do it willingly, you’ll be remembered as that kid who sat in a car for five hours and never complained and people will realize your value and they will want to pay you for it.
During the talk, they showed some still shots of her on some of the shoots she’s done, plus a couple of pics of her and Stephen. I snapped those two in the auditorium as people were milling about trying to talk to her after the talk was over.
That pic of her and Stephen is just friggin’ adorable and this one below is just hysterical.
An Evening with Nicole Savini – BU Cinematheque Series
I was able to attend the talk that Nicole Savini gave last night at Boston University.
This is something that’s near and dear to my heart. Being from the Boston area and being a Communications major it was almost nostalgic, plus I love sitting in a room full of people who are talking about the show.
This was part of a series of talks called The Boston University Cinematheque series.
First of all, indulge me because I have to share this because it was an amazing start to the evening. I got the best parking spot right on Comm Ave.
Where I stood to take this picture is right in front of the entrance to the building and what’s more, the room where they had the talk was immediately to your left as you walk in that front door, and what’s yet even more? The parking was free! For those of you who have to travel in big cities, you know how rare it is to be able to go to any event and just drive right up to the front door, park, for free, and just walk right into the room.
Felt like royalty, I gotta say!
The room was a good size auditorium where I would imagine they have a lot of big classes where they show movies. It’s the building where WTBU, the campus radio station, is located.
Nicole graduated from BU with a degree in Communications (’99) and the BU faculty made it a point to say, a couple times, that this was an extraordinary opportunity. Wait, what I meant to say was it was an Extraordinary opportunity. Gerald Peary, the Cinematheque curator, actually said “extraordinary with a capital E”.
I know so many of the TCR staff’s names after being in the fandom for awhile so I am a tad ashamed to admit that I didn’t recognize her name upon first hearing of the event, nor did I recognize her when I saw her, but I know her now!
It started off with Nicole introducing herself briefly and explaining the pieces she produces. Then they showed seven of her segments from the show that were favorites of hers. Here are links to the pieces they showed: (beware the CN site has just totally completely changed)
Better Know a District: NJ 12, Rush Holt | The Enemy Within – Dr. Skylar Bayer | Nailed ‘Em – Polka Piracy | Stephen Reports on an Old-Fashioned Hero | Raging Art-On – Art 1 | Raging Art-On – Art 2 | Raging Art-On – Art 3
After that was a Q&A that lasted about an hour and a half. I got to ask two questions!
These were the questions that I can remember, in no particular order. The first was asked by Mr. Peary and he kinda set the tone for some awkward questions. He asked if the guests know what they’re in for when they agree to be interviewed. She explained about how Stephen tells them he’s playing a character and they try to make the person aware and that most people do understand what Stephen is trying to do. She also said that almost every Congressperson that has appeared on the show, when they have had any feedback, say it was a great experience and they end up hearing from a lot of their constituents because of it.
He went on to talk about Stephen’s potential for cruelty toward a guest, not to say he was cruel but maybe to say that guests might interpret him as being cruel. It seemed to me, and I could be wrong, that Nicole was a little uncomfortable with this. She made sure to say that comedy is king and that getting comedy out of the situation is the first priority and that Stephen is a very kind and generous person.
At one point during the evening, she said she gets questions all the time from people saying things like don’t you feel like you’re exploiting these people? You always pick Southerners, is that because it’s easier to make fun of them? She said that when she answers these questions, she doesn’t feel that way at all. She said a couple times that she loves Andy, the scallop guy and Chris, the shirtless guy in the “Too Hot to Fish” piece. She considers them real and that it’s not making fun of them at all, rather it’s a celebration of who they are. Also, she said that the scallop story was in Maine so it’s not always Southerners. She just wants them to be real. That reminded me of the way Stephen says he wants his in-studio guests to be real and he is professionally stupid at them.
One person asked about how much planning is needed and how much of it is more just a “go with it” opportunity. She quoted a saying which I can’t remember exactly and (she said that) neither could she, but it was something like, “Success equals preparation plus opportunity”. She wasn’t sure if that was the saying but it sounds good to me. As an example, she said that for the Polka piece, they did go out and hire the accordion player so that was planned, but at the end when the wife of the Polka guy was dancing, it was something that just kinda happened organically at that time. They learned that she was a dancer and they asked if she wanted to dance along and she said yes.
These were my two questions: “Have you ever gone out and shot pieces that haven’t aired and what are the reasons why they don’t air?” I actually knew for sure that at least one piece hasn’t aired because we posted this before in a previous “In the Press” piece. So I just wanted to know what reasons go into deciding to shelve a piece. She said that it’s usually because it’s basically not funny or it may be that the piece doesn’t fit, it doesn’t work with the voice of the show.
My other question which was kind of a bust, was “Did you shoot the pieces in Russia with Buddy Cole?” I really wanted to know all about the protest zone and the “nervous producer cam” and dealing with the Russian police, but alas, she didn’t do those, Liz Levin did. If I had been smart I would’ve thought to phrase it more like, “Have you ever done a shoot where you were a ‘nervous producer’, like in Russia, where you had to deal with a situation like they did in Russia with the police?”, but hindsight’s 20/20.
If I were really smart, I would’ve asked her if she can bring Stephen to Boston to do a piece, something I’ve wished to have happen for a long time.
There was a woman who brazenly asked if she could be a guest on the show to promote her book. Balls. That took balls and Nicole was very gracious and said that she wasn’t the talent booker, but that she’d be willing to take the book.
The last question of the night which should’ve been the first, was “What sort of advice would you give to people who want to get into TV production?”
She said to be willing to work as hard as you can, hustle, get your name out there, get your face in front of people. She said the NBC page program is a good place to start or an internship. She said to say yes to everything and be willing to do work for free so that you can show your value to people. She said that when you start you may have crap work like sitting in a car for five hours to hold a parking spot, but if you do it and do it willingly, you’ll be remembered as that kid who sat in a car for five hours and never complained and people will realize your value and they will want to pay you for it.
During the talk, they showed some still shots of her on some of the shoots she’s done, plus a couple of pics of her and Stephen. I snapped those two in the auditorium as people were milling about trying to talk to her after the talk was over.
That pic of her and Stephen is just friggin’ adorable and this one below is just hysterical.