Student-made ‘Vogel Memorial Theater’ sitcom follows ramshackle cinema crew
Maxwell Katcher, Jordan Vogel and Sam Sherman spent the summer writing and brainstorming plans for “Vogel Memorial Theater.” Now, they film on set for hours every day. Courtesy of Maxwell Katcher
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A run-down movie theater, a grouchy janitor and a son trying to make his dead dad’s dream come true — these are the ingredients for the new student-made sitcom, “Vogel Memorial Theater.”
“We’ve created these people out of thin air and it is the coolest feeling in the world to actually have something to show for all of this work, and be able to put it on YouTube and have people actually watch it,” said Maxwell Katcher, co-creator and director of the series.
“Vogel Memorial Theater” premiered on Orange Television Network Oct. 24, and is producing its fourth episode. The show follows a run-down cinema and the ramshackle crew that works there. The Syracuse University sophomores television, radio and film majors — Katcher, Jordan Vogel and Sam Sherman — created the sitcom over the summer.
Inspired by other sitcoms like “Parks and Recreation” and “Community,” the creators cycled through ideas like a newsroom drama or a sketch comedy show before settling on the community theater setting. While the goal is for the show to be a comedy, Katcher said there are some deeper messages about growing up and issues with the movie industry as a whole.
The three co-creators spent much of last summer developing the project before they knew if they could actually produce it. They spent hours developing the personalities, relationships and arcs of their movie theater employees, Vogel said.
“We were so focused on writing the show and trying to flesh out these characters as much as we could without being able to visualize them,” Sherman said. “We had long discussions about who our characters are, what their motivations are, who we want them to be.”
Once the team was back on campus, they held auditions after tabling at the Fall Involvement Fair. After they cast the actors, the writing evolved, Vogel said. The creators began tailoring dialogue and storylines to match their performers’ natural strengths.
“We wrote a good amount before we had them cast, and now that we have them cast, we’re kind of writing more for the person playing them,” Katcher said.
Bringing their vision to life required more than just a script, Sherman said. The production team used Facebook Marketplace to find props that would authentically capture a struggling independent theater. They needed everything to look slightly worn and outdated to sell the show’s premise, Vogel said.
“The point of the set is that the movie theater is independently owned and kind of run-down and not kept up the best,” Vogel said. “So we were specifically looking to get some kind of soda fountain machine that looked a little run-down and beat up,” Vogel said.
Over the summer, the creators were unsure if they possessed the skills and resources to bring their vision to production, but once they got on campus, they found it was easier than expected.
Vogel said getting the show onto OTN was surprisingly straightforward. They pitched the show to the network, enrolled in a one-credit course for those with shows on OTN and worked with faculty advisor Megan Craig to get the show going.
The real challenge came in managing the production itself with a crew of students juggling their own schedules, Katcher said. The three creators spend hours on set each day they film, but recognize they can’t expect that kind of commitment from other students.
“We film all day, and most other people that aren’t us, that aren’t insane, can’t stay all day, so we need a rotating crew,” Katcher said.
The creators have ambitious plans for the show’s future. They aim to release new episodes every two weeks next semester, and hope to extend episode runtimes as they refine their process and potentially expand their crew.
For Sherman, the show represents proof that student projects can succeed with enough determination and creativity.
“For me, continuing to work on the show, writing on concepts and stuff, and starting to write it, put it together, was just more about showing myself and other people that, ‘Hey, this is possible. You can do this,’” Sherman said.
Disclaimer: Jordan Vogel formerly worked as a staff writer for The Daily Orange. Vogel did not influence the editorial content of this article.
