Everyone has been there: late-night deliveries from the pizza boy who delivers a perfect pepperoni pizza to you and your friends, ending the night on a great note. Imagine the night from the pizza boy’s perspective; he goes door to door delivering to college students throughout Eugene, you would have to see some interesting things during a midnight delivery. This winter term tune in to watch Special Delivery, a Duck TV original produced by Gibson Toombs and directed by Cody Jameson. Special Delivery is a quirky comedy that will have silly and even slight uncomfortable scenarios played by the lead character Cedric Yu.

After talking with Gibson it was great to hear that his Duck TV success has already rocketed just in a few short months. This fall Gibson auditioned for his first term with Duck TV in hopes of eventually becoming a production assistant or a writer. However, Gibson ended up with a lead acting role in a creative show IN$TINCT. Gibson said, “I didn’t really think about acting, just wanted to get involved any way possible.” Throughout the term Gibson enjoyed acting on the show and seeing how they came together when they aired at Wednesday night screenings. With so much excitement and success that occurred during fall term, Gibson says the best part about acting was, “even though I had no experience [acting], I got thrown right into the process and really got a feel for how production works.”

Now, with the help of clever Dan Molloy, who Gibson worked with previously on the set of IN$TINCT, Gibson is more than thrilled to be writing and producing his own show. Gibson says, “I pitched the show before winter break and had a completely different vision for what it would be. It started with the idea of showing funny college students and Eugene weirdos ordering pizzas, but it has evolved into something much different.” From there the idea was sparked to make a show based off those drunken pizza orders. Soon after, when Gibson began writing episodes, the idea evolved into the idea of creating a comedy out of it. “I am having a lot of fun with the writing” says Gibson. Special Delivery captures the life of a shy and awkward pizza delivery boy that witnesses wild adventures and crazy people on his delivery calls every night. Each episode will have different witty characters and quirky plots. Tune in Wednesday night February 5th to have a laugh with friends watch the kick off episode of Special Delivery unfold!

By Ally Barclay

Inspired by events from producer Matthew Thill’s observations and experiences, Social Skills presents a brand of humor similar to that of The Office, with all of the shock value delivered by a show like Workaholics. Cohesion between both the members of its production crew and the members of its viewing audience are the key factors playing into its success.

Mitch Sawyer is a typical ladies man: very active on the social scene, with a very large friend circle, and is a local house-party legend. He’s a classic extrovert who seems to place, for the moment, the party scene over his academic responsibilities. His roommate is James Zimmerman, an introvert with extremely limited experience when it comes to females. Awkward and shy, James finds himself being taken under the garrulous Mitch’s wing to learn social skills and the ins and outs of the party scene. The pair is balanced out by Mitch’s best friend from his high school days, Lilly, who serves as the stabilizer between the two during the inevitable scuffles, since they’re on essentially opposite ends of the social spectrum. The show follows these three through their various escapades navigating the social scene. There will be scenes to give a viewer pause for their seriousness, and there will be vastly more moments of hilarity, but the underlying theme of the show is commonality: a feeling of “This has happened to me before!”

Production of Social Skills is right on track, a producer’s dream, by Thill’s accounts. The first day of shooting was Friday the 24th, and the first episode expected to be shot in about four hours. Thill also had positive things to report on his actors. “I cast them based on their natural functioning personalities…sure I had them read specific lines and such, but moreover I was watching how they carried themselves in general when they walked into the room…[I] think that they will do a wonderful job”. A key ingredient to the success of a show is cohesion within its production crew, and Social Skills has achieved such unity through group bonding sessions and a common excitement and enthusiasm about its message. While Thill handles the writing and producing, he cites his Cameraman/Director of Photography Max McDermott with managing the camerawork and visual elements.

There are, of course, some challenges that come with getting the final outcome to meet the writer’s original vision. This is where a commonality between all members of the cast and crew becomes so vitally important, and Thill feels confident in success because of the dynamic of his own team. “Whatever the final product turns out to be, I know that all of us will be behind it no matter what…and that is all I could ask for!”

By Kaylee Tornay

Lauren Schwartz returns to Duck TV this term as co-director of Public Relations. The Public Relations major says she’s excited to help Duck TV grow using new skills learned last fall while working at The i.d.e.a. brand, a medium-sized public relations agency in San Diego.
Last winter, Lauren decided she wanted a break from Eugene, but she wanted her time away to be productive. What better way to gain experience and advance her career than an internship in public relations? She chose a San Diego agency because it was a new environment and less expensive than studying abroad, and she was attracted to The i.d.e.a. brand’s organized internship program, integrated agency, and wide variety of clients, which ranges from museums to malls.
“I managed The San Diego Museum of Art’s Facebook page and Twitter account,” she says. “The museum has 37,400 Twitter followers, and I learned the importance of professional messaging through managing their account.”
Lauren went on to say she wasn’t a fan of Social Media before the internship but she now recognizes its importance in terms of spreading awareness of organizations, and she believes Social Media will be integral in the expansion of Duck TV.
“Social Media will allow us to broaden our reach to the whole student body and get our name out there so that people not only know what Duck TV is, but how to watch it on their own,” she says.
Lauren is looking forward to Duck TV growing and changing this year. With more students both on and off campus becoming aware of and tuning into Duck TV, she feels it’s more important than ever to have a strong and consistent media presence. Lauren hopes students will begin to follow Duck TV news more closely via sites such as Twitter and Facebook as the organization continues to grow.
“I believe that Duck TV should be viewed as the student run television channel for the entirety of the student body,” she says. “Just as Emerald is our school’s newspaper, I think in a couple of years, Duck TV will have the same perception of being a professional, student-run organization which the student body can go to for news, sports and even pure entertainment.”

By Katie Foster