Alumni Home > News & Events > Noteworthy > News & Features

"Movie Wars"

Two alumni stake their claim in the land of reality television.

Jeff Mitchell '76

In mid-December of 2002, Jeff Mitchell '76, received an email from a producer at Banyan Productions, creators of the popular television series "Trading Spaces." Banyan had an idea for a reality show pilot: a team of rocket scientists and a team of swimsuit models would compete against each other in writing, filming, and editing a two-minute movie over the course of three days.

Mitchell, who works for the Boeing Company at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida testing space shuttle payloads, is no stranger to rocket science. During the construction of the first Space Station element, Node 1, he directed the acceptance testing of the Node before delivery to NASA. He is also a professor at the Florida Institute of Technology where he has taught such subjects as Orbital Mechanics, Space Power Systems, and Rocket Propulsion. Banyan asked him to assemble a cast of scientists to audition for his team, so Mitchell sent out an e-mail to every member of the MIT Club of Central Florida.

The Swimsuit Models: Lani Todd, Britteny Broadwell, consultant Karen, Libby Batley, and Josh Phillips

Among the people who responded was Peter LaMaster EE '79, a CAD software customer support specialist for Cadence Design Systems, Inc. in Melbourne, Florida.

"I'm a little strange," said LaMaster, "and this sounded like a great opportunity."

Once assembled, Mitchell's team also included an Air Force officer and a University of Central Florida student. Banyan gave each team a $3,000 budget, a camera, an editor, a professional consultant, and a title to the films, "Silence of the Bands." The idea was to create a spoof of the movie "Silence of the Lambs."

"Dealing with Jeff's team was more comforting," said Banyan Executive Producer Neil Tagliamonte. "They had a logical approach to everything. As a producer, you like to see that. But the models didn't take anything seriously and it made us really nervous. We were wondering if they were even going to show up."

Once production began, Mitchell's team encountered a setback: their initial script was rejected by American Movie Classics, the network initially interested in buying the pilot.

"That was the hardest part for us. We were all pretty good at writing, being college educated and all, but it caught us by surprise," said Mitchell. Quickly, they came up with a second script, one that had an Alfred Hitchcock theme to it.

The Rocket Scientists: Jeff Mitchell, DJ Wittich, Andrea Wesser, and Peter LaMaster

Benjamin Ringe, the director of development for Banyan, had hoped that the dichotomy of the two groups would provide for some scintillating television. "I thought the rocket scientists would have a huge advantage and win over the models. But they didn't. They got too in-depth and tripped themselves up. The models' movie was easier to understand."

The deep plot may have been their undoing. "We were trying to make a piece of cinematic excellence," LaMaster explained. "All of us geeks tried desperately not to be geeks. We tried to be popular like the models but geeks make money. Geeks run the world. We should have been the geeks."

In the end, the judges selected the models' film as the winner but for Mitchell and LaMaster, just being a part of the project was enough reward.

"We went into it thinking, 'We don't care if we can act. That's not the point.' We just wanted to have fun," said Mitchell. Added LaMaster, "It was a life experience for me."

"Movie Wars" is currently being shopped around to different networks. American Movie Classics initially expressed interest in the pilot but eventually declined to purchase the rights. Banyan is still actively looking for a buyer.