Award-winning students at UF have taken initiative and started their own online web series, filmed and produced straight from Weimer Hall.
ChomPics Productions is a student-run organization that branches out from UF’s chapter of the National Broadcasting Society. Currently filming brand new material from Weimer, the web series ranges from commercial parodies to an entertainment news show and other projects, which are all posted online for the public’s viewing.
And at the National Broadcasting Society’s 2015 Student Electronic Media Competition, ChomPics won grand prize awards for Comedy Program Script, Video Program Opener and Animation.
This year’s web series, "Ace Watergate and the Secrets Society," is set to be completed by Nov. 20 and published in early December.
ChomPics originated in 2013 when UF telecommunication alumnus Connor Hachey, 22, found no outlet at UF that catered to his interests.
"There’s really nothing for students that are studying television and want to work in non-news programming like scripted shows, reality television and entertainment," Hachey said. "Me and a bunch of my friends all wanted to be the next Ryan Murphy or Shonda Rhimes, not the next Matt Lauer or Erin Andrews."
Hachey, along with friend Beth Benge, sent out an email to see if there were any students interested in working on a small, low-budget web series or video project. They expected to get a handful of responses — and they got more than 70 replies.
The first meeting took place in Sept. 2013 with more than 70 attendees, and eventually up to 100 people signed up to be a part of ChomPics.
"From there, we listened to what people wanted to work on and everything just got bigger and bigger," Hachey said. "Now, two years later, ChomPics Productions produces a scripted web-series, an entertainment news show called ‘The Bite,’ podcasts, commercial videos and a parody-style news program called "Sunshine State of Affairs" every year."
"Sunshine State of Affairs" is a "whimsical" biweekly parody news show with rotating hosts and characters from a uniquely Florida perspective, according to current executive producer and UF telecommunication junior Samantha Speedy.
Speedy said "Sunshine State" releases episodes biweekly on the Gator NBS YouTube channel, the first podcasts are posted to the ChomPics SoundCloud and the first episode of "The Bite" is on YouTube.
Almost every project has its own Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram to obtain an audience and gain a social media presence.
Twenty-year-old Speedy got involved as a freshman because she wanted to work in television to some degree and felt ChomPics was a good place to test out different areas of production to figure out what she wanted to do.
"ChomPics is a grassroots initiative fueled solely by the drive of students to create," she said. "It’s just a group of students trying their best to get better at what they love to do… I think in that way it’s something that all UF students pursuing their passion can relate to and enjoy watching."
Video production professor Houston Wells is the current advisor of GatorNBS and ChomPics Productions.
He was asked to fill the position in 2014 after associate professor Amy Coffey left it.
"I am thrilled that the students have sort of collectively created this outlet to practice their craft and to do so in a creative way," Wells said.
Each production is entirely made up on their own, according to the organization’s website. Just like a "real" production company, ChomPics’ production team is composed of producers, a directing team, writing team, editing team, art direction team, technical service team and a marketing/fundraising team.
Philosophically, it’s really good for them to find their own way creatively and production-wise, Wells said.
"Nobody said to these students, ‘This is what you should be doing,’ they said, ‘This is what we’re gonna be doing,’ and that’s what’s exciting to me, and I’m perfectly happy to be on the outside edge, answering questions," Wells said.
The organization can use equipment for recording through the College of Journalism and Communications. However, Speedy said that one of their biggest setbacks will be budget and almost everything they do is "by the generosity of (their) members’ time and good will."
"We’re trying really hard and putting out a good product," she said.
ChomPics continues to release material through its YouTube pages, and its members are working on reaching a wider audience.
"The inspiration for all our shows come from everyday campus life and we try to start conversations about topics that affect every type of college student," Hachey said.
Student-run organization ChomPics Productions is currently filming this year’s web series, "Ace Watergate and the Secrets Society." It is set to release in December.
