Quick Navigation

Northern Illinois University

Northern News


News Release

Contacts: Tom Parisi, NIU Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-3635
Ellie Cummings, Easter Seals DuPage
(630) 282-2030 or (630) 620-4433

December 12, 2003

Channel 5 TV in Chicago will air
NIU student documentary on Christmas Day

DeKalb, Ill. — Two student filmmakers from the Northern Illinois University Department of Communication have received an early Christmas present: big-time television exposure.

"Please Wait to be Seated" — a documentary created by Casper Rice, who graduated this past summer, and Lauren Pollock, who graduates Sunday — will air at 11:30 a.m. Christmas Day on WMAQ-Channel 5, an NBC affiliate in Chicago.

The 22-minute documentary explores the life of 19-year-old Sam Williams of Elmhurst, who has cerebral palsy. Williams uses a wheel chair and speaks with the aid of a computerized speech synthesizer. The filmmakers followed him as he graduated from high school last spring (with a 4.0 grade point average) and moved on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Toni Falvo, director of research and programming at Channel 5, was impressed with the story and the students' work. " 'Please Wait to be Seated' is a heartwarming and positive film," she said. "NBC5 is proud to be able to air the program. We applaud the efforts of the students who put the film together and Sam and his family, who are an inspiration to all of us."

The student filmmakers are still pinching themselves. Rarely are independent student films shown on network affiliates. "I knew that an airing was our ultimate goal regarding the documentary, but I couldn't have imagined that it would air on NBC — on Christmas morning," said Rice, a Sycamore native who now lives in Geneva. "It doesn't seem real."

"It hasn't sunk in yet," added Pollock, whose hometown is Peoria. "I called my friends and family right away, and they had a bigger reaction than I did. My mom is showing everyone the film."

Pollock and Rice created the documentary for Easter Seals DuPage in their advanced video field production course taught last spring by Professor Laura Vazquez. Even months after the course was over, the students continued to polish the documentary with assistance from Vazquez. Pollock and Rice spent more than 100 hours editing.

Over the summer, "Please Wait to be Seated" won the Best of Festival Award at the Rock River Alternative Film Festival in Rockford. In October, Easter Seals DuPage premiered the documentary during its film and photography exhibition. Audience members were visibly moved by the humor and poignancy of the documentary, which highlights the abilities of people with disabilities.

"We had about 50 people come up to us right away, wanting copies of the documentary," Pollock said. "It really validated our feelings about the film. We wanted to show that Sam Williams is just like us — he just doesn't move like us."

Ellie Cummings of Easter Seals DuPage had originally encouraged Rice and Pollock to do the documentary. The Villa Park-based agency provides services to children and adults who have disabilities with the goal of achieving maximum independence.

This fall, Cummings arranged for a meeting between the students and Channel 5. Several weeks later, the students learned the NBC affiliate was interested in running the documentary. "I thought they wanted to do a news story on us," Pollock said. "So this was a big surprise."

"The (Channel 5) interview went well," Rice recalled. "But for them to select our film for air-time, we thought that would be crazy-talk."

Professor Vazquez said the documentary airing was the buzz of the communication department's video and editing lab in the final weeks before Christmas break.

"My current students are very proud that two of their colleagues have made this leap, if you will, to a bigger public," Vazquez said. "I'm thrilled that NBC has decided to pick this up. It demonstrates the fact that students in our program can and do produce work that is worthy of broadcast television."

-30-