Of "Ellen" and Emmys: RTF grads go Hollywood

Rowan University, for years, has been building a West campus in Mantua and Harrison townships but a whole other “Rowan West” is fast developing.  

Dozens of Rowan University Radio, Television & Film (RTF) graduates – many of them alumni from the last few years alone – have relocated to Los Angeles to pursue careers in television and film, and many are making it in a big way.

What’s more, the alumni are relying on one another, networking and often living with fellow Rowan graduates as they seek and find first jobs, build resumes and establish careers.

From RTF to “Rizzoli & Isles”; Glassboro to “Game of Thrones”

Graduates say success, though never guaranteed, hinges on experience, ability, work ethic and building a strong professional network through which they can find jobs and recommend others for them.

Adam Bradshaw ’11 has had a whirlwind Hollywood experience in a few short years that included both successfully launching his career and appearing as a contestant on CBS’s The Price Is Right game show. Not only did Bradshaw appear on the show, but he won the “Showcase” – nearly $50,000 in cash and prizes – just months after graduating.

Bradshaw, 26, of Kalamazoo, Mich., started his career in New York, working on the HBO series In Treatment and Dexter on Showtime before heading out to L.A. He’s now an assistant office production coordinator on the TNT drama Rizzoli & Isles.

“My duties vary,” Bradshaw said, “but basically I work with the cast and crew in production management. I work with craft service (food & beverage), schedules, scripts, production paperwork, and a lot more.”

Like many of his peers, Bradshaw said the nature of employment in entertainment is freelance but there’s a thrill and vibrancy to both the work and lifestyle that has him hooked.

“We start in February and go until October,” he said of Rizzoli & Isles, an hour-long police drama starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. “We do 18 episodes in nine months.”

In addition to their day jobs, Bradshaw and a group of friends, many of them Rowan alumni, stay active with side projects including an annual film festival, The 48 Hour Film Project.

“We create an eight-minute film in 48 hours,” he said. “We all work on various projects for a living but then we do stuff like this on the side just because we love it.”

Bradshaw said Rowan RTF classes and faculty helped him develop a passion for the business and he built experience in student organizations like Rowan Television Network and Cinema Workshop.

“Those organizations helped us develop a network of people we knew even before we made the leap and came out,” he said. “There has to be 100 Rowan alumni or more out here now. It’s not easy but everyone I know is finding work.”

Striking Emmy gold

Bradshaw described Adam Chazen ’08 as both friend and mentor, an alumnus who, a few years ahead of him, was already establishing a career when Bradshaw and others went west.

And Chazen’s career is on fire.

Chazen, 28, of Old Bridge Township, has earned three Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones.

Like many, he credits Rowan networking with helping him get started.

“When I first moved out to Los Angeles I stayed at another alumnus’s place and it helped me get on my feet,” Chazen said.

Chazen, who’s career began with a gig on the satirical Onion News Network in New York, found his first professional film work in Bethlehem, Pa., on the movie Transformers 2, before moving to L.A.

“I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been working pretty consistently,” said Chazen, who, in this year’s Season Five of Game of Thrones, holds the title of visual effects associate producer.

His team manages all special effects on the show, from simple paintwork to computer-generated dragons.  

“To find success in this field you really have to stick with it and know in your heart that if you don’t get one job you’ll get the next one,” he said. “It’s about persistence but this town is also all about recommends. A glowing recommendation from someone who’s established in the industry will get you the job. If they don’t give it, often times, you won’t.”

Game of Thrones, which in the past year was shot in Spain, Iceland, Croatia and Northern Ireland, has taken Chazen places he never imagined he’d see, including his first awards ceremony, at 26, for the Primetime Emmys.

“It was crazy,” Chazen recalled. “You hear your name, you’re on cloud nine, and you’re just trying to remember it all.”

Just as he benefitted from an alumnus’s couch, Chazen has helped other Rowan alumni, including Jeff Reeves ’08 and Paul Russo ’12, who were looking for their first break.

Reeves, 29, of Long Valley, spent part of his first year in California waiting tables but found work as a production assistant on a recommendation from Chazen.

Today Reeves is digital asset manager on the Disney film Through the Looking Glass, a sequel to 2010’s Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp.

Though jobs tend to be temporary, film work can last a year or longer, Reeves said. The first Disney film he worked on, Oz the Great and Powerful starring James Franco, lasted a full two years.

“As digital asset manager I’m like a librarian for the visual effects department and also a post office,” Reeves said. “I manage much of the visual effects material and also distribute it.”

Communal couch

As with professionals in any industry, career arcs vary, but many Rowan alumni, armed with little more than a new diploma, a few dollars, and connections from college, are finding success in one of the most notoriously difficult job markets in America.

One reason is many Rowan alumni first landing in L.A. have an advantage other would-be producers, directors, writers, agents and actors do not. For the last few years, two rental homes in North Hollywood have provided housing almost exclusively to Rowan graduates. Alumni live together, and network, heavily.

Russo said the West Coast Rowan housing arrangement began when he, Bradshaw, and alumnus Brian Pacek found a small house for rent. The owner liked the three, told them about a second house he had for rent, and an L.A. Rowan housing network was born.

“It was all Rowan people and the perfect place to start your career,” Russo said. “We had about seven guys in the house at the time but you were out there with other people who were all trying to chase that dream. There had to be 18 or 19 Rowan people cycle through by now.”

Unlike many, however, Russo, 26, of Wildwood, moved to L.A. with an entry-level job offer in hand.

“I drove out in four days and started one week later for a company called Mob Scene, which does behind-the-scenes marketing,” he said.

Russo today works with Chazen on Game of Thrones as a visual effects coordinator, a production position that involves moving high-value data between vendors.

“I know probably 25 people from Rowan who are out here now,” Russo said. “But I also know a few who decided it wasn’t for them. I’d say 90 percent of the people I knew who came out are working and pursuing their dream.”

Destined to be a Hollywood “shooter”

Tommy Oceanak is a born “shooter,” someone whose nature is nurtured by capturing the world on film and video.

A 2009 RTF grad, Oceanak, of Vernon, built a portfolio on the East Coast (including a stint shooting videos for Rowan) before enrolling in Chapman University’s MFA film program with an emphasis on cinematography.

Situated south of L.A. in Orange, Calif., the school pairs aspiring filmmakers with award-winning cinematographers and directors.

“At Chapman you start making films right away,” said Oceanak, who graduates from the three-year program this May. “I’ve made movies every semester with Hollywood level equipment.”

Oceanak, whose goal is to become a director of photography for independent films, has worked on numerous projects since arriving at Chapman including a commercial for Toyota, a television pilot and a variety of student work.

Though now involved with the Chapman network, Oceanak has kept close with Rowan as well.

“I see both Chazen and Bradshaw pretty often and make films together,” he said. “We did The 48 Hour Film Project the last two years. It’s something we also did at Rowan.”

Executive Producer on “Ellen”

Like so many who are now trying to make their way in Hollywood, Ed Glavin ’85 started up the ladder on the very first rung – an internship.

Glavin, who landed an internship on KYW-TV’s Evening Magazine in the summer of 1985, built on that experience with increasingly demanding positions including gigs on the Morton Downey Jr. Show and Donahue.

Now one of three executive producers on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Glavin told Rowan Today Magazine this year that there’s simply no other way to find success in the TV and film business than through hard work and making breaks happen.

Starting out, he said, “you’re not going to make a ton of money and you’re going to pray and work to get noticed… If you have a four-year degree in communications, you’re going to pay your dues. And I was willing to pay my dues. And if you’re willing, amazing things can happen.”