Award-winning student-run media production operation PLU Showrunners, in collaboration with PLU Center for Media Studies and Mast Student TV, will present a 24-episode video blog adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess, airing Feb. 9, 2015.
The work of production duo, Rachel Diebel ‘16 and Camille Adams ‘16, this new project comes on the heels of the Northwest Student Emmy nomination for Adams’ script in 2014 for “Impressions,” an original 60-minute Mast TV mystery web series.
“Dear Emily” is entirely student written, acted, directed, edited and produced. Modernized for the smallest screen, “Dear Emily” tells the story of Sara Crewe, a privileged 20-year-old diplomat’s daughter, raised on an idyllic island. When conflict in her home erupts, Sara transfers to Moss College of Winlock in the U.S. for her college degree. Sara’s naive daydreams and storytelling charm butt heads with the grittier lives of the students she encounters and the relationships she forms with her peers. When calamity strikes, Sara must learn to set aside her privilege and see her story through another’s eyes.
Camille Adams, writer and co-producer, and Rachel Diebel, director and co-producer, form the production team Better Janes Productions. Adams, an English Writing and Hispanic Studies double major, and Diebel, an English Literature major with Printing and Publication Arts and Communications minors, have produced three shows to date and founded PLU Showrunners in 2014, a production mentorship program at PLU.
Showrunners is a program that teaches and encourages professional production of quality entertainment television series for PLU students, by PLU students. The goal is to give students the opportunity to explore their passions for creating television, on and off screen, through their own initiative, regardless of academic path.
Maylen Anthony ’16, star of “Dear Emily” and alum of both previous web shows said, “Showrunners taught me patience and flexibility. It also introduced me to some of my best friends.”
Adams, a Jesuit High School alum from Beaverton, Ore. and Diebel, a Lebannon High School alum from Lebannon, Ore. are both thrilled to premiere “Dear Emily” with an exclusive pre-airing at PLU on Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, and then for the broader Tacoma and worldwide community in February. “I am so excited for all the work of the cast and crew to finally come to fruition, and I am so proud of how hard they worked to make this show come about,” Adams said.
“Dear Emily” will air on the Mast Student TV YouTube Channel at 9 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays from Feb. 9, 2015 through April 30, 2015.
