Sex, Lies, and Videotape
The Young and the Restless Populate BU Soap
By Vicky Waltz
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Illustration by Mark Steele (CFA'72) |
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It's not easy being a student at Beacon Hill College. Michelle is being sexually harassed by Brendan, who is being blackmailed by Michelle's boyfriend, James. Dr. Stone may have gotten Callie pregnant, Tony has enlisted Nick to rig poker games at the frat house, and Ryan has recruited a huge following for his cult. Meanwhile, Joe has confessed to killing Dennis, and everyone is shocked when news of a mass suicide rocks the campus.
If it sounds like a soap opera, it is. Since 1991, Boston University's College of Communication has aired Bay State, the nation's longest-running college soap. Produced entirely by students, the show takes place at the fictional Beacon Hill College, where sex, drugs, and murder are never more than a scene away.
"We've got everything," says Matt Cohen (COM'06), sitting in COM's Studio East. "There's a sleazy TA, a schizophrenic RA, a guy with ties to the Mafia, a girl who's in a Fem Nazi gang. Basically, the show's about a bunch of very whacked-out people, and that's what makes it fun."
As executive producer, Cohen has worked on Bay State since his freshman year. He reads every script, schedules weekly tapings, hires cast members, and assigns set crew jobs. It's a lot of hard work, he admits, but it's a great opportunity for film students to shoot a show before enrolling in higher-level courses. And, he adds, many former Bay State actors and crew members go on to careers in daytime television.
Tom Rotolo (COM'93), who created Bay State with celebrity columnist Delaina Dixon (COM'92), has worked on a number of television shows, including NBC's Caroline in the City from 1996 to 1999; he is currently production manager of the hit daytime drama Passions.
"Back then, there were no organized production opportunities outside of class," he says. "TV and film production isn't really suited to a classroom setting anyway, and I don't think we realized the experience we were getting by starting a show from scratch and sustaining it."
Over the years, Bay State has featured guest appearances by popular daytime soap stars, including Days of Our Lives actors Alison Sweeney and Austin Peck and Daily Show host Jon Stewart. During the 1990s, Bay State aired on a number of college television stations across the country, but its 1995 MTV appearance brought it national attention.
Today BU students can watch Bay State on the newly launched butv10, the University's only student-run television station. Previously, the show aired on Boston/Brookline cable access television. The crew generally produces six to eight episodes a year.
Aside from piecing together all of the plotlines, Cohen says, the biggest challenge screenwriters face is writing out characters whose actors are graduating. "This year we have seven actors who are seniors," he says, "so we're losing almost half of the cast. But figuring out ways to creatively off the characters is one of the most fun aspects of the show."
Most of the time, he says, writers choose to get rid of those characters through murder or accidental death. Some characters go undercover, some go abroad, some go insane, and — every once in a while — some just graduate.
