Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to expand on a source’s comment.
“What are you all dressed up for?” asks William Sr., Will’s 60-year-old father. Will responds that he came from an interview, but didn’t get it. “Great … you’re wasting your degree,” William Sr. said.
For many college students, the moment feels less like fiction and more like an unwanted reality. However, this scene isn’t highlighting an actual encounter, but the opening of an in-progress TV pilot made by undergraduate students. “This Call May Be Recorded” follows a broke college graduate as he accepts a job at a sketchy telemarketing firm, but after realizing what the job entails, he begins to question his morals.
The creative team behind “This Call May Be Recorded” consists of radio-television-film freshmen and sophomores Cullen Ryan, director, Ava Vanna, producer, Clayton Laney, producer, Brooklyn Rice, producer and Aniredesh Mandivalli, assistant director.
Together, the group set out, using the resources from the Texas Student Television Program, to highlight the uncertainty many students face when entering the job market – especially in fields considered “unmarketable.”
Ryan, who came to UT from Virginia, described how this universal experience led him to pitch this story.
“At the beginning of the semester, I was really worried about my choice of major,” Ryan said. “Not only are jobs available scarcely (for college graduates), but they are also continuing to pay less and less. … I really wanted to highlight that stress because I feel like it’s not talked about enough.”
Throughout the writing process and other aspects of the creative process, the team drew on their own experiences. Rice described an interaction in the script where an older character belittles a younger one for not being able to secure a job, comparing it to the struggles she has seen her cousins face in landing jobs.
“That character is the best example in our film, but we’re highlighting that the two main characters are having a difficult time finding jobs. They’re recent graduates, they’re at home, they’re kind of aimless,” Ryan said. “They can’t use their degree, and they’re just wondering what their next step is.”
The team spent the majority of the first semester creating a script. In addition, they began their 30-day fundraising journey on Seed and Spark, a platform for student creatives to post their projects and gain funds. Currently, the team works to scout locations, cast and connect with mentors and crew members that the Incubator provides them with. They plan on filming the pilot in the span of two weekends, giving them enough time to polish the piece by the end of the semester.
“Just the fact that we all still like each other after the process of writing is a testament to our ability to collaborate,” Ryan said. “When you get into creative ideas and collaborative writing, it can get really touchy because people are very passionate about their ideas.”
The “This Call May Be Recorded” crew aims to showcase their completed TV pilot at the ATX TV festival this May. Looking forward, they also have a set amount of funds allocated towards entering other film festivals.
“The beautiful thing about UT (is) … everyone is so interested in RTF and what each other is doing (within the department),” Laney said. “There’s a respect and love of the process, of the filmmaking and it’s a really good community here.”
