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Independent filmmaking is a tough business, but Scott Kovacs (Tannersville, Pa.) loves it. He is interning with Easton filmmaker Zeke Zelker on The Billboard Project, a multi-platform storytelling experience that includes a web series, interactive play, and feature film.
Scott Kovacs, James Moore ’14, Allie Torru ’16, Samantha Potoczak ’16, and Zeke Zelker film a scene by the State Theater in Easton.
Samantha Potoczak ’16 (Avon Lake, Ohio), a double major in international affairs and film & media studies; Allie Torru ’16 (Diablo, Calif.); and James “J.D.” Moore ’14 (Pittsburgh, Pa.), who graduated with majors in history and film & media studies, have also interned with the project.
After listening to Zelker pitch the internship during an on-campus presentation, Kovacs was hooked. A non-traditional film and media studies major who expects to graduate in 2016, he has had many titles: writer, producer, set dresser, boom operator, voice actor, and researcher. Currently, he is in charge of brand integration and sponsorship.
“The Billboard Project has been extremely challenging and demands a great deal of my time and energy, but it is well worth it,” says Kovacs. “Collectively, we are pioneering a new multi-platform frontier in storytelling, and it feels like that almost every single day. When the project is complete, I am certain that many companies or brands will wonder how we pulled off some of the things we did, and I will be there with the answers and the passion to do it all over again.”
Scott Kovacs, Allie Torru ’16, Zeke Zelker, Samantha Potoczak ’16, and James Moore ’14 and film for The Billboard Project in Downtown Easton.
The Billboard Project is inspired by the true story of a radio contest held in the early 1980s that had three men vie for a new mobile home by camping on a billboard along Route 22 in Whitehall, Pa., for more than eight months. Zelker’s film, The Great WTYT Billboard Sitting Contest!, tells the story of Casey Lindeweiler who inherits the struggling radio station WTYT 960 and decides to hold a billboard-sitting contest to raise funds for the station. The web series and interactive play tell the story of the four contestants who are competing for the prize of $960,000 and a mobile home.
This spring, Potoczak compiled information sets about different bloggers who may become part of the project, and this summer, she will assist Zelker with the casting process. Like Kovacs, Potoczak, who plans to pursue graduate studies at New York University and work in broadcasting, knew the internship would be a valuable learning experience.
“I have friends who have gotten internships where they get coffee and dry cleaning, and I knew with this project, I wasn’t going to be one of them,” says Potoczak, who plays on the soccer team along with Torru. “Zeke asks for our opinions and involves all of us in the project. I’m gaining real experience, and I’m excited to see what the opportunity turns into.”