Each episode of TV Show, the multimedia collaboration between Bomb Diggity Arts and Shoot Media Project (itself a part of Creative Trails, a community support program for adults with intellectual disabilities), explores a diverse range of topics. Past installments have featured line-dancing, ghost stories, music videos, babies, and interviews with local firefighters and artists. Episode Four, screening at SPACE Gallery at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, February 28, will delve into bats, the reality show Survivor, and a cops/chase story, among other subjects.
TV Show launched in 2010 with about six participants; with the help of the Community Television Network (which has lent equipment and a platform for broadcasting), Kickstarter fundraisers, and devoted staff members, the program has grown to about 30 "producers" — each of whom chooses his or her own subject, formulates a media treatment, and works to see the idea through from conception to screening. TV Show segments are both live-action and animation (and some are a little of both).
"To be able to make a project that definitely gets out to the world — that's a huge motivator," says Natalie Conn, team leader at Creative Trails. "You have to rely on all of these people to get it done," she adds, noting that it is beneficial for program participants to be out in the world, interacting with people in their community.
Working on TV Show becomes "an identifier," says Mandy Moorish, media coordinator at Bomb Diggity, who together with Conn works to propel TV Show forward. "It's something to think about, talk about, be a part of."
"I wrote the whole story," says Heidi, the author of the cops script in Episode 4. "It was a lot of work but it was so worth it."
"My favorite part was writing the whole thing," says Ryan, whose passion for the television program Survivor led him to create a spin-off for TV Show. "I've wanted to do something like this for a long time."
The TV Show screening sold out at SPACE Gallery last June; get your tickets in advance through BrownPaperTickets.org.
